The Politics of Command ― Factions and Ideas in Confederate Strategy

The Politics of Command reevaluates the continual controversy over strategy that occurred between Jefferson Davis and his high command, and within the command itself. Thomas Lawrence Connelly and Archer Jones illustrate how Davis' decisions were affected by officers in the field, politicians, the considerable clout of the western bloc and its network of informal associations, the input of Robert E. Lee, the pressure brought to bear by P.G.T. Beauregard, and Davis' own changing concept of the departmental command system. Connelly and Jones were the first to realize that any significant assessment of Davis' strategy must examine those who influenced him, for his key decisions were products of the politics of command.

Thomas Lawrence Connelly was professor of history at the University of South Carolina and the author of, among other books, Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861--1862 and Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862--1865.

Archer Jones is professor emeritus of history at North Dakota State University and author or coauthor of many books, including Confederate Strategy from Shiloh to Vicksburg and Why the South Lost the Civil War. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.