Uncle Beau

And now we're headed Southward,
Our hearts are full of woe
We're going back to Georgia
To find our Uncle Beau.
--sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas"​


In OTL, General Joseph E. Johnston replaced General Braxton Bragg as commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in January 1864. But what if, instead, General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, who had recently distinguished himself by his handling of the defenses of Charleston, had been selected for this command? How might the Atlanta Campaign have progressed with "Uncle Beau" in command instead of "Uncle Joe?"​
 
My knowledge of Beauregard's military career is somewhat hazy. The two victories to his credit that I am aware of (excluding Fort Sumter) are the Siege of Charleston and his holding action outside of Petersberg to prevent Grant from capturing the city while giving Lee time to reinforce him with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia; and I am ashamed to say the exact details of either battle are not firmly imbedded in my memory. One thing I do know about Beauregard is that it was his idea to orchestrate the Confederate attack at Shiloh into waves, which reduced the effectiveness of an otherwise flawless surprise attack. So, I don't know about Beauregard's real effectiveness as a general, although he seems to be the middle ground between Johnston and Hood, Johnston being at the extremely conservative end of the spectrum, while Hood assumes a position closer to the more aggressive end. Beauregard seems adept at defending positions (as well as evacuating them--like in the Siege of Corinth). So his organizational skills are redoubtable, and seems to be at least a modicum more aggressive than Johnston (although Johnston did commedably in his tenure in the campaign--if Davis hadn't removed him from command, then Atlanta may well have held out until November). I don't know how the campaign would go--but Beauregard's holding action at Petersburg would have to be successfully conducted by someone else, which renders the point of defending Atlanta moot if holding Richmond becomes untenable.
 
P.G.T Beauregard was a good general in terms of ability and natural talent but a bad general in terms of understanding what he was capable of.

His victories over the course of the war are Fort Sumter, 1st Manassas, defending the South Carolina and Georgia coastline, the Bermuda Hundred and 1st Petersburg. The best performance Beauregard gave during the war was the Bermuda Hundred and the Petersburg battle. His failures were Shiloh and 1st Corinth.

Beauregards main problems are the Davis hates him and that his plans have little standing in reality.

Davis hates him because he's an outspoken critic of Davis and because he took time off after Corinth without Davis' approval.

Beauregard's overly optimistic planning is a thing of legend itself. Bory's plan for 1st Manassas, for example, was to converge all his raw, untried and poorly trained forces over a network of very complicated roads and bring them upon McDowell at Centerville. It was far too complex a plan for such an untested army to complete. His plan's during the war included that one about the torpedo ram fleet retaking New Orlean while the Confederate's unite the ANV, AoT & AoM then destroy Grant and Rosecrans and march onto the Ohio. After 1st Petersburg Beauregard wanted to take a large portion of man power from the ANV and invade the north, destroy the forces that would undoubtedly oppose him and try to end the war.

So not totally realistic.

Now, when Joe Johnston took over tha AoT in OTL he replace the interim commander William Hardee. Hardee, to make himself look good, lied to Davis and said that the Army was in fine form and prepared to go on the offensive at a moments notice despite the fact that nothing had been done to sort the damaged morale or the organizational nightmare caused by the Bragg Purges.

Davis sent Johnston an order saying that he should advance to Knoxville and join the AoT (42,000 effectives) with James Longstreet's command (about 16,000 effictives) and defeat Burnside at Knoxville then cross the Tennessee River and advance on Nashville.

Johnston - who found the AoT no where near ready mentally, physically or logistically to lanch and offensive of any kind - rufused but proposed another course of action. Bring Longstreet to Dalton, he said, and link up our numbers then we will prepare for a federal attack thoroughly which we shall defeat and drive off and then we shall launch a counter attack.

Johnston was ignored.

With Beauregard in charge instead of Johnston then this idea for an attack that Davis ordered might very well take place and it would probably end up similar to Hood's Franklin-Nashville Campaign - as complete failure.

If Beauregard does launch an attack towards Knoxville and Nashville then Joe Johnston - commanding in Mississippi - will likely have to come into Georgia with whatever forces he could muster from Mississippi and Alabama to defened the Confederate Heartland. Which, if what Polk brought into Georgia in OTL is any judge, would consist of about 20,000 men and perhaps 7,000 cavalry men under Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Even if Beauregard doesn't attack towards Knoxville and Nashville then Johnston will still likely come into the state with whatever troops his could muster. Afterall, it's either protect Georgia or get trapped between the Mississippi and Federal juggernaught.

Still I cannot see Beauregard doing any better than Johnston did.
 
Top