Here's the start of the next bit for the Western Theater. After this I'm not sure where to take it. I dont want to send the AoM into Kentucky because that would be copying OTL and its not something Johnston would have done anyway, so I need to make Buell take the offensive, but I' not sure where or how he would attempt to strike.
The West - 1862
After being driven from Corinth the Confederate Army under Joseph E. Johnston retired to Tupelo to regroup. The defeat had not been a complete one but it had been damaging, more to Confederate prestige than anything else. But Johnston was never concerned by such things and saw the defeat as a minor set back.
The loss of Kentucky, Middle-Tennessee, Nashville and Corinth appeared to be a major set back to all the political elements in the South, and, indeed, did constitute a considerable blow to emerging war manufacturing industries, and though Johnston often showed complete apathy towards political concerns he was aware of how the situation appeared to political elements. As such he sought to use this to strengthen his own position.
Throughout 1861 he had been handicapped by the situation forced upon him by Polk and Politics of holding a forward line in Kentucky and by having troops and supplies from the Deep-South denied him. Now he used the set-backs of the winter months of 1861/1862 to pressure the government and state legislatures into providing him more support.
He exaggerated his losses in a report to the Confederate High Command in Richmond and requested reinforcements and greater supplies. Davis was reluctant to provide them as it would mean stripping coastal positions and treading on the feet of state politicians to do so but eventually gave in and ordered approximately 10,000 men under Braxton Bragg and 7,000 men from New Oleans under Mansfield Lovell to be sent to Johnston’s Army of Mississippi and gave Johnston freedom to acquire whatever supplies he could from Mississippi and Alabama.
With these extra troops and supplies Johnston intended to engage the Federals somewhere near Booneville, deliver a powerful, if not destructive, blow to the Federal Army, and drive them back into the Tennessee and maybe beyond. Characteristically, Johnston did not plan this thoroughly but was preparing to rely on his ability to deal with things in the moment. Ideally he would want to ambush the Federals but that would depend on the mentality of the man opposing him.
Johnston’s opposing Commander was Don Carlos Buell. He was considered somewhat slow and lackadaisical by his contemporaries but also was recognized as a highly intelligent man and a very professional soldier full of ambition and pride. However he did not take criticism well and though he had been responsible for the failure to completely defeat the Confederates at Corinth he had passed the blame onto Grant.
With Grant being unfairly drummed out of services his Army of the Tennessee was absorbed by Buell’s Army of the Ohio, becoming two Corps under Sherman and McClernand, this making the army a three Corps system with Thomas commanding the other.
Buell had been jubilent after Grant's courtmartial and cashiering, for it left him in command of the only Federal Army in the West, and althought Helleck had been promoted to command the entire Western Theater, Buell felt that he could do whatever he wanted as it was he who commanded the largest concentrated body of Federal troops in the theater.
In his jubilent mood he had decided to march on Chattanooga. He spent just over a month preparing for this advance but once it began it went at a slow pace and he soon had to abandon it after raids by Confederate Cavalryman-cum-partisan, Nathan Bedford Forrest, threatened and disrupted his supply lines. Returning to Corinth he found himself the focus of accusations from Northern newspapers of southern sympathy (for refusing to allow his soldiers to ransack southern towns) and, even worse, incompetance.
Thus Buell was still sat at Corinth and Johnston still sat in Tupelo three months after the Battle of Corinth had been fought.
With Bragg and Lovell joining the Army of Mississippi Johnston's Army, that had lost 8,000 at Corinth and 3,000 to desertions, swelled to approximately 46,000 men, though many were still poorly armed despite the weapons coming into Confederate ports from Europe and weapon manufacturers springin up cities like Atlanta in Georgia and Mobile in Alabama, and many still lacked uniforms and even shoes. This enlargement required Johnston to reorganize his force.
Johnston chose a to employ a system of two Infantry "Wings".
One Wing Commander was Bragg. Bragg had impressed everyone with his professionalism, his discipline, his training abilities and his selflessness - he had offered to exchange his trained, experianced troops for raw recruits before - and all of these traits cemented him in Johnston's mind as one of his most talented and trustworthy subordinates. Under Bragg were the Corps of Leonidas Polk and John C. Breckinridge.
The second Wing Commander was G.W. Smith, initially. Smith was a skilled administrator and a prodigious writer of plans, memos and letters, a learned man who Johnston had once stated was capable of commanding the Army in his place, but as winter turned to spring and spring turned to summer Smith's failing health left him often incapable of exersizing command and instead Hardee stepped in to become de-facto commander. Under Smith were the Corps of William Hardee (often commanded by James Patton Anderson when Hardee stepped into Smith's shoes) and Mansfield Lovell.
In addition to his two infantry Wings, Johnston wanted to consolidate his Cavalry into one major force but did not see a stand out candidate for the role so for the time being he left the Cavalry forces as regiments attatched to the Corps. And finally W.H.C. Whiting was assigned to command the Artillery arm of the Army of Mississippi.