Reorganize the Army of Tennessee

A challenge fore those who are interested:

As those of use who have studied the American Civil War, somewhat at least, know the Confederate Army of Tennessee had very few victories to their name. This was not a result of being less able then their Virginian cousins in the Army of Northern Virginia or having less talented commanders, Lee being the exception, but it was a result of infighting amongst the command structure in that Army as well as having to fight some of the most driven and dangerous of the Union Generals.

After the death of Albert Sidney Johnston and the removal of Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard the Army of Tennessee fell under the command of Braxton Bragg and Bragg, though a good trainer, was extremely hard to get along with and alienated all the generals below him but kept hold of his job because the President was an admirer of his and did not believe that there was anyone available who could replace Bragg. Eventually Bragg was forced to admit he lost control after Missionary Ridge but he had been in charge for a long time and the Army was in almost complete uheavel.

Bragg's replacement Joe Johnston started well enough when his only direct subordinate was William J. Hardee. He raise morale, got the backing of all the generals and men within the army as well as other high ranking generals in the Western and Trans-Mississippi theatre (like Edmund Kirby Smith) but his work was soon to be undone. He wanted to reorganised his Army into a three Corps system but was told by the President that a reorganisation wasn't needed and that his new Corps commander would be John Bell Hood.

Hood had befriended the President while he was in Richmond recooperating from losing his leg at Chickamagua and had made a good impression on the President and so he was chosen to command the second of the Army of Tennessee's Corps. Hood wasted little time in criticising General Johnston to the President and the Presidents advisor Bragg and continued to do so throughout the Atlanta Campaign until he had finally politiced his way into Johnston job.

Hood was not all that popular amongst the men, he was liked enough but not to a great extent, but as he led them into bloody assault after bloody assault after bloody assault his standing fell dramatically within the Army until finally he reached Franklin. At Franklin, before the battle, he appeared to have lost the confidence of Generals Nathan Bedford Forrest and Patrick Ronayne Cleburne and after the Battle he had lost the confidence of most of the Army but kept them moving because he had just sent most of its Generals to their death. He would then go on to blame the Army itself for their destruction at Nashville.

So the challenge is this: Using only the Generals who served with the Army of Tennessee in its OTL life time reorganize it so that it stands a better chance of Victory. You can use the existing two corps or add more and you can go into as much detail as you wish.

A list of Potential Generals for you to consider: Albert Sidney Johnston, P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, John Bell Hood, James Longstreet, Richard Taylor, William J. Hardee, Leonadis Polk, John C. Breckenridge, D.H. Hill, Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, Benjamin F. Cheatham, Thomas C. Hindman, S.D. Lee, Joseph Wheeler, Nathan Bedford Forrest
 
A most interesting idea, and a tough one as well.

First things first, Bragg has to go. Maybe do a McClellen and let him train but no field command.

From your list my choice would be John Breckenridge, who was in command at New Market in the Shennandoah Valley and would be the last Confederate Secretary of War. However, James Longstreet would also be a good choice. Following his natural instinct he'd let the Federals attack him and try to pull off repeat Fredericksburg's to weaken them enough to where he could attack with a good chance of victory.

But whoever's in charge has a tough road to follow.
 
How ASB are we allowed to make this? Because the ideal command structure will almost certainly involve people who were dead at the same time as those who were colonels.

For non ASB-structures, at various different times, I offer:

Pre-Shiloh:

Albert Sydney Johnson
I - Hardee
II - Bragg
III - Cheatham
Cav - Forrest


Between Shiloh and Chickamauga:

Beauregard
I - Hardee
II - Bragg
III - Taylor
IV - Smith
Cav - split between Forrest and Wheeler


Chickamauga to Chattanooga:

Longstreet
I - Hardee
II - J. Johnson
III - D. H. Hill
IV - dual command of Polk and Hood (they cancel each other out)
V - Cheatham
Cav - split between Forrest and Wheeler


Atlanta Campaign:

J. Johnson
I - Hardee
II - Breckenridge
III - D. H. Hill
IV - Cheatham
Cav - Wheeler (Forrest is raiding)


Post-Atlanta:

D. H. Hill
I - J. Johnson
II - Breckenridge
III - Clerburne
IV - Hindman
Cav - split between Forrest and Wheeler



If you want the overall best ASB structure (and admitting that it will have easily 80,000 men in it) I offer:

A. S. Johnson
I - Longstreet - divisions Hood, Kershaw, Polk
II - D. H. Hill - divisions S. D. Lee, Cheatham, Taylor
III - J. Johnson - divisions Bragg, Smith, Hindman
IV - Clerburne - divisions Beauregard, Breckenridge, Preston
Cav - Forrest, with Wheeler semi-independent division command
 
Put Patrick Cleburne in charge of a corps, and give his division to John Bell Hood.

Let Albert Sidney Johnston survive Shiloh and give him four corps, which are command by Joe Johnston, Pierre Beauregard, James Longstreet and Cleburne. Then give the rest divisions.
 
Not much love for Richard Taylor then? This is the same Richard Taylor that Stonewall Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest considered one of the finest military minds on the continent. The same Richard Taylor that with between 6,000 and 12,000 men humiliated a 30,000 man Army in the Red River Campaign.

Surely he deserves at least a corps command.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Commander- J. Johnston
I Corps- William Hardee
II Corps- John Breckinridge
III Corps- Patrick Cleburne (qualified- see below)
Cavalry- Joseph Wheeler
Artillery- Francis Shoup

While my admiration for Cleburne knows no bounds, as he was very possibly the best division commander of the war, I am not sure how he would have done as a corps commander. His one effort at corps commander, when he temporarily lead Hardee's corps at the Battle of Jonesboro, was a fiasco. Look at Hood- an excellent division commander, a mediocre corps commander, and a disastrous army commander. But this is ideal spectulation. For all I know, it may be that he would have excelled at corps command.

As for Forrest commanding the army's cavalry, I don't think it would have worked very well. Forrest was by far the best cavalry commander of the war, but he did his best work when he was able to operate freely. In situations where he was forced to take orders from others (i.e. the Franklin-Nashville Campaign), things didn't go so well.

Also, I do not think that Joe Johnston would have worked well as a corps commander.
 

burmafrd

Banned
Forrest was way too indendent- he made Stuart look like the ideal soldier.
He was brilliant in the field but trying to put him under any real control would have been a disaster. Wheeler definitly for the Cavalry.
I would have left forrest by himself to do what he did best- harass and raise hell. The corps commanders shown would have been excellant.
BUT I would still have Longstreet as the overall army commander.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
BUT I would still have Longstreet as the overall army commander.

I'm not sure if he would have done well. He was an ideal corps commander, but during his experiences in independent command (the Suffolk Campaign, the Knoxville Campaign), he proved to be somewhat disappointing.
 
My particular preference would be this:

Commander - Joseph E. Johnston

1st Corps:

Commander - P.G.T. Beauregard

1st Division Commander - Benjamin F. Cheatham
2nd Division Commander - D. H. Hill
3rd Division Commander - Stephen D. Lee

2nd Corps:

Commander - William J. Hardee

1st Division Commander - Patrick Ronayne Cleburne
2nd Division Commander - Thomas Carmichael Hindman
3rd Division Commander - John C. Breckenridge

3rd Corps:

Commander - James Longstreet

1st Division Commander - John Bell Hood
2nd Division Commander - Lafayette McLaws
3rd Divison Commander - Alexander P. Stewart

4th Corps:

Commander - Richard Taylor

1st Division Commander John S. Bowen
2nd Division Commander - Carter L. Stevenson

Cavalry Corps Commander - Joseph Wheeler

I would have picked Forrest to command the Cavalry but I think that he would be too restricted in that role to have any real effectiveness and so Forrest's best postion is as a commander of his own Cavalry unit that works in tandem with the Army of Tennessee to help it defeat its enemy.
 

burmafrd

Banned
Longstreet never really had an independent command- not like the Army of Tennessee would have been. The constraints he was under in those situations really prevent a fair evaluation as to how he would have done.
 
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