Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant

5 From East Tennessee to Appomattox

5. FromEast Tennessee toAppomattox his enemy from Chattanooga, whence they fled following the battle of Chickamauga, Braxton Bragg wasted time quarreling with his subordinates. Personality conflicts and petty jealousies had plagued the Tennessee army for some time, and Bragg did not enjoy a cordial relationship with any of his subordinates. He often seemed more concerned with stifling dissent within his own forces than with defeating those of the enemy. Given the depth of these problems and Bragg's irascible temperament, Longstreet probably could not have oiled troubled waters had he attempted to do so. It is hardly to his credit that he never tried. For the first time in his career Longstreet was forced to operate under a commander he thoroughly disliked, and he soon joined the growing clique of anti-Bragg officers within the army.1 Energy was tragically misdirected after the Chickamaugavictory . On September 22 Bragg demanded that Polk account for the right wing's failure to attack at dawn on the twentieth. That same week Polk, who considered Bragg "an imbecile," arranged a meeting with Longstreet, Hill, and Buckner to discuss ways of ending Bragg's connection with the army. Longstreet agreed to write both Secretary of War Seddon and General Lee.2 In his letters Longstreet expressed the hope that Beauregard or Lee could be sent to replace Bragg. He certainly would have preferred working under either man to remaining under Bragg, and he 73 NSTEAD OF CONCENTRATING on a method of evicting I 74 Longstreet'sMilitary Record may even have felt some nostalgia for Beauregard, his first commander , who like Johnston was a leader in the western concentration bloc. Lee's reply was negative. He hoped that Longstreet would soon return to Virginia rather than going west. "I missed you dreadfully," he wrote Longstreet on October 26. "Your cheerful face and strong arm would have been invaluable. I hope you will soon return to me."3 Longstreet knew that Lee did not want to serve outside his native state and that Davis disliked Beauregard. He may therefore have written the letters as a gesture while hoping Davis would turn to him as a logical succesor for Bragg. Whatever his motives, Longstreet bears major responsibility for the shabby squabbling which subsequently engulfed the Tennessee army's officers. His open criticism of Bragg fueled rumors that he would soon replace the North Carolinian and damaged the unity that the army desperately needed. On October 4 Longstreet asked Hill and Buckner to meet with him to discuss the situation once more. Polk wasnot present, as Bragg had relieved him of command on September 28. At this semimutinous meeting a petition was drawn up asking Davis to relieve Bragg from command. Twelve officers eventually signed the extraordinary document, but it never reached the chief executive's hands. By early October the president was on his way to meet with Bragg, fully aware that dissent within the army had reached crisis proportions.4 Davis arrived on October 9, determined to uphold Bragg. He held to this resolution despite an embarrassing meeting at which, in Bragg's presence, each of his corps commanders recommended to Davis that Bragg be replaced. On the following day, Davis and Longstreet discussed the situation in the western theater at length. Neither the president nor Bragg seems to have realized that since Folk's departure Longstreet had become the leader of the faction that opposed Bragg.5 In his memoirs, written in old age, Longstreet claimed thatDavis had offered him the Army of Tennessee and that he had declined, suggesting instead a further concentration of forces: "The army was part of General Joseph E. Johnston's department, and could only be used in strong organization by him in combining its operations with his other forces in Alabama and Mississippi.I said that under him I could cheerfully work in any position. The suggestion of that name only served to increase his displeasure, and his severe rebuke."6 From East Tennessee to Appomattox 75 Davis's offer of the army to Longstreet was probably apocryphal, but the rest of his statement is quite believable. Longstreet knew that Davis disliked Johnston. Yet he was not showing false modesty, as he may have in suggesting Lee or Beauregard, hoping that Davis would actually turn to him as Bragg's logical successor. Longstreet's original suggestions for a western concentration would have allowed him to serve as Johnston...