Jefferson Davis as Military Leader

Jefferson Davis as Military Leader

  • Great

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Good

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Average

    Votes: 12 24.0%
  • Bad

    Votes: 21 42.0%
  • Horrible

    Votes: 16 32.0%

  • Total voters
    50
My brillant, extremely good looking, military genius friend just read, "Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief". So i thought i'd put this up.

Was he a:

Great Military Leader

Good Military Leader

Average Military Leader

Bad Military Leader

Horrible Military Leader
 
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Gaius Julius Magnus

Gone Fishin'
Seeing as how his "country" didn't survive his presidency, no. Granted I don't think anyone could have won the war for the southern rebels but he certainty didn't do a good job. Lincoln or Washington's equal he was not.
 

Driftless

Donor
Davis has a reputation as a military meddler. Enough knowledge to back-seat drive, and to forget where the line between politico & military leadership should be.
 

Redhand

Banned
Depends on what you mean. He was a god awful Commander in Chief, and that is well documented.

However, his tactical performance in the Mexican War was solid and he acquitted himself well in combat. As far as leading troops, I guess he was okay from what information there is. But he was a terrible strategic leader.
 
I'm not arguing Davis was great, but for all the talk about his meddling in warfare, it's not like the Confederacy had any golden opportunities that he threw away. Aside from him appointing Leonidas Polk in 1861...
 
He would have been a decent brigadier general, which may have translated into divisional command. I doubt he would have been suited for anything higher.

He was an obvious failure as commander in chief.
 
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Since everything so far has been mostly negative, can anyone think of something good Davis did for the war effort?:D

Because of his military experience he knew, by reputation if not personally, most of the generals on both sides. This made him a fair judge of competence, if not character. Most of his command choices were decent: Beauregard, A.S. Johnston, J.E. Johnston, Bragg, and of course R.E. Lee. In contrast to the first set of Union generals, who were a very mixed bag, the first set of Confederate generals were generally competent.

On the minus side, he tended to let personal animosity color his decisions and occasionally interfered with operations to an extent not seen again until Vietnam, with equally poor results. His appointment of Lee as generalissimo in 1865 was four years too late; had he let Lee direct operations from the beginning while he stuck to being President the Confederate war effort would have been much better organized.
 
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