Jeff Davis dies Apr 1st 1862

A few days before Little Mac starts the Peninsula Campaign Jeff Davis is killed crossing the street by a runaway horse. Alexander Stepans is the new president of the CSA. How does this change things? Is Stephans more flexible than OTL when he is actually at the helm and the responsibility for the CSA falls on his shoulders? How is CSA policy changed?
 
Personally I think Stephans would have made a better president than Davis as I believe he would have been a bit more flexible if he were the one in the hot seat. Not right away of course as he believed what he said but once the realities of the CSA came to the fore I think that would have changed. He would be more diplomatic, less likely to play favorites and would have at least surrendered once it looked hopeless saving thousands of lives.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Stephens is more likely to listen

A few days before Little Mac starts the Peninsula Campaign Jeff Davis is killed crossing the street by a runaway horse. Alexander Stepans is the new president of the CSA. How does this change things? Is Stephans more flexible than OTL when he is actually at the helm and the responsibility for the CSA falls on his shoulders? How is CSA policy changed?

Stephens is more likely to listen to his military advisors than Davis, given the differences in their education and experience.

Who those advisors may be, however, is an open question. No guarantee its Lee, for example.

Best,
 
Pretty low bar...

They probably could've done worse, but honestly my understanding is that Davis was a "moderate" meant to keep the likes of John Breckenridge out of office.

I do not know if Stephens would have listened more closely to his military advisers or not.

An interesting point here is that Alexander Stephens and Abraham Lincoln were both formerly of the Whig Party, and had been close friends before the war broke out.
 
Top