Dixie Betrayed: How the South Really Lost the Civil WarFor more than a century, conventional wisdom has held that the South lost the Civil War because of bad luck and overwhelming Union strength. The politicians and generals on the Confederate side have been lionized as noble warriors who bravely fought for states? rights. But in Dixie Betrayed, historian David J. Eicher reveals the real story, a calamity of political conspiracy, discord, and dysfunction that cost the South the Civil War. ø Drawing on a wide variety of previously unexplored sources, Eicher shows how President Jefferson Davis viciously fought with the Confederate House and Senate, state governors, and his own cabinet. Some Confederate senators threatened one another with physical violence; others were hopeless idealists who would not bend even when victory depended on flexibility. Military commanders were assigned not on the basis of skill but because of personal connections. Davis frequently interfered with his generals, micromanaging their field campaigns, ignoring the chain of command, and sometimes trusting utterly incompetent men. Even more problematic, some states wanted to set themselves up as separate nations, further undermining a unified war effort. Tensions were so extreme that the vice president of the Confederacy refused to live in the same state as Davis. ø Dixie Betrayed blasts away previous myths about the Civil War. It is essential reading for Civil War buffs and for anyone interested in how governments of any age can self-destruct during wartime. |
Contents
Birth of a Nation | 17 |
DIXIE | 18 |
3 | 37 |
4 | 49 |
5 | 63 |
6 | 77 |
7 | 91 |
8 | 108 |
15 | 206 |
16 | 224 |
17 | 244 |
18 | 256 |
S 36 R 2 | 276 |
ND P ASS P AGES | 278 |
Executive Officers of the Confederate States 18611865 | 293 |
DAVID J EICHER 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 | 294 |
9 | 123 |
BETRAYED | 124 |
10 | 134 |
11 | 153 |
12 | 166 |
I think it important that we should at least seem united harmonious to the enemy | 172 |
13 | 180 |
14 | 194 |
Acknowledgments | 300 |
Notes | 303 |
316 | |
318 | |
RD P AGES P | 319 |
325 | |
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Common terms and phrases
AGES MASTER AGES P ASS Alabama Aleck Stephens April ASS DIXIE BETRAYED attack battle Beauregard began Benjamin bill Bragg Brig brigadier Brown campaign Capitol Charleston Chattanooga city’s command Confederacy Confederate confidence conscription Constitutionalist Davis’s days later debate Department enemy Executive Federal fight fire Foote forces Genl Georgia governor Grant habeas corpus Hill Historical Society Papers House Howell Cobb Jackson James Jefferson Davis Joe Johnston John Keitt Lee’s army Library of Congress Lincoln Louis Wigfall Manassas March MASTER P ASS Mississippi Montgomery moved navy ND P ASS North Northern officers peace political politicians Porcher Miles President Davis president’s prisoners Provisional RD P AGES Richmond River Robert Robert M. T. Hunter secretary seemed Senate Sherman slaves soldiers South Carolina Southern Historical Society Sumter Tennessee Texas tion Toombs troops U.S. Army Union Varina Vicksburg Virginia Washington William William Porcher Miles wounded wrote Yankees