Daily Archives: June 16, 2026

Davis as Commander-in-Chief: A Synthesis of the Dyadic Studies

Posted on June 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract This concluding paper draws together the nine studies that precede it into a comparative assessment of Jefferson Davis as commander-in-chief. It proceeds by testing which patterns recur across the dyadic case studies and which were specific to particular relationships, … Continue reading →

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The Memoir Problem and the Postwar Record: Source Criticism and the Lost Cause in the Study of Davis and His Generals

Posted on June 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The eight case studies in this volume have repeatedly anchored their conclusions in a single methodological commitment: that contemporary correspondence must be privileged over the self-justifying memoirs of the principals, and that the later Lost Cause historiography must be … Continue reading →

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Structure Over Personality: Jefferson Davis, the Department System, and the Western Command Problem

Posted on June 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The case studies assembled in this volume have proceeded dyad by dyad, treating each relationship between Jefferson Davis and a general as the unit of analysis. This paper deliberately reverses that lens. It asks whether the recurring Confederate failures … Continue reading →

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The Fateful Elevation: Jefferson Davis, John Bell Hood, and the Destruction of the Army of Tennessee

Posted on June 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The decision to replace Joseph E. Johnston with John Bell Hood before Atlanta in July 1864, and the catastrophe that followed in Tennessee that winter, together constitute the most consequential single command decision Jefferson Davis made in the Western … Continue reading →

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The Favorites: Jefferson Davis, Albert Sidney Johnston, Leonidas Polk, and the Patronage of Friendship

Posted on June 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The preceding studies examined relationships that failed through distrust, that were sustained too long through loyalty, or that were poisoned by wounded vanity. This paper turns to the obverse: the generals whom Jefferson Davis favored from the outset on … Continue reading →

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