From the Pulitzer Prizewinningauthor of Battle Cry of Freedom a powerful new reckoning withJefferson Davis as military commander of the ConfederacyHistory has not been kind to Jefferson Davis Hiscause went down in disastrous defeat and left theSouth impoverished for generations If that causehad succeeded it would have torn the UnitedStates in two and preserved the institution ofslavery Many Americans in Daviss own time and inlater generations considered him an incompetentleader if not a traitor Not so argues James MMcPherson In Embattled Rebel McPherson shows usthat Davis might have been on the wrong side ofhistory but it is too easy to diminish him because ofhis causes failure In order to understand the CivilWar and its outcome it is essential to give Davis hisdue as a military leader and as the president of anaspiring Confederate nationDavis did not make it easy on himself Hissubordinates and enemies alike considered himdifficult egotistical and cold He was gravely illthroughout much of the war often working fromhome and even from his sickbed NonethelessMcPherson argues Davis shaped and articulatedthe principal policy of the Confederacy with clarityand force the quest for independent nationhoodAlthough he had not been a fire-breathingsecessionist once he committed himself to aConfederate nation he never deviated from thisgoal In a sense Davis was the last Confederate leftstanding in As president of the Confederacy Davis devotedmost of his waking hours to military strategy andoperations along with Commander Robert ELee and delegated the economic and diplomaticfunctions of strategy to his subordinates Daviswas present on several battlefields with Lee andeven took part in some tactical planning indeedtheir close relationship stands as one of the greatmilitary-civilian partnerships in historyMost critical appraisals of Davis emphasizehis choices in and management of generals ratherthan his strategies but no other chief executive inAmerican history exercised such tenacious hands-oninfluence in the shaping of military strategyAnd while he was imprisoned for two years afterthe Confederacys surrender awaiting a trial fortreason that never came and lived for anothertwenty-four years he never once recanted thecause for which he had fought and lost McPhersongives us Jefferson Davis as the commander in chiefhe really was showing persuasively that whileDavis did not win the war for the South he wasscarcely responsible for losing it.
