Cecily zander and ive got a little bio here and it says important official things about her that ill share. But she came to me because Gary Gallagher recommended her. Now, i dont know about you, but gary is a credible civil war source to me. You know, he generally knows what hes talking about when it comes to the war. And he said to me, this woman is gangbusters. She is on fire. And if you think about all the students that gary has mentored over the years, for him to give a particular endorsement like that to one of them, really spoke volumes. And i saw that myself in the work that i read from cecily when she first started doing guest posts for us. Like this woman, she can write. Shes got smart things to say. Shes insightful. This is fantastic. And its really been wonderful role as the editor in chief to watch her journey with emerging civil war as kind of this young, upcoming, brilliant, bright star. And to see her star rise as it has. And so this past year, she was named emerging civil wars news chief historian. And so its really kind of exciting for me to be able to bring her out deep from the heart of texas, to bring her. I told her its going to be like, youre southern w a taunt unveiling. Yeah, if you will. Like the good Old Fashioned days. Cecily grew up in northern colorado, where she spent her childhood visiting army forts and Historic Sites across the american west. She attended the university of virginia, graduating with highest distinction in 2015. She then made her way north from charlottesville all to happy valley, pennsylvania. Im a pitt alum. I dont know if i can say that she went to penn state there at penn state. She spent six years completing a masters degree in 2017 and a ph. D. In 2021. Since 2021, shes been a postdoctoral fellow at the center for president ial history at Southern Methodist university, where shes completed the manuscript for her first book, which im told continues to change at the whim of the publisher. And so if youre searching for the book, write this down. Army under fire any time. Miller. Transition. No, i see you. Look at that. I can even read anti militarism in the civil war era. Its due out in five during she recently accepted a teaching position at texas womens university. When shes not writing or thinking about the civil war, she can be found cheering on her favorite sports teams watching classic movies, listening to lyle lovett or walking with mo, the border collie. That sounds so charming. And then shes going to ruin all that by talking about Braxton Bragg lee. Come on. Right. Shes going to have smart things to say, and i assure you, youre going to leave. Leave tonight with a better appreciation for a man who is one of the most reviled, easiest to make fun of, and most misunderstood figures of the civil war. Ladies and gentlemen, my friend cecily nelsons an. Well, i cant live up to that. Chris also left his notes up here so i can know what he was really supposed to say about me. Im going to set a timer here. I will say its a little bit of a weird experience for me to go first in anything. My last name begins with a z and in the fourth grade my class was the last person in the entire school to get lunch and we lined up alphabetically. So i was the last student in the entire school to get lunch and im sure this did not have lasting psychological impacts that im still exploring in therapy. Its also difficult to go first and talk about someone like this, a guy you all know and know well. But im going to do my best. Im going to try and keep my remarks around 40 to 45 minutes. So we can have some q a, because i am almost certain you all have thought about Braxton Bragg and his eyebrow. Is one of the best in the war. So ill begin with that. Id say as, as chris alluded to, a definitive ranking of civil war era punching bags would no doubt find Braxton Bragg near the top of the list. He might, in fact, take the top slot. One of the few victories that civil war historians have granted, the irascible north carolinian and bragg in many ways is easy to treat as a joke. He counted one real victory to his name during the civil war and really ask anybody credit for that achievement. Chickamauga was due to the timely arrival of James Longstreets first corps of the army of Northern Virginia, a collection of men who had been trained and schooled by robert e lee and had already achieved resounding victories against a long list of the union armys supposedly best and brightest officers George Mcclellan, ambrose burnside, Joseph Hooker and yes, john pope before going toe to toe with William Rosecrans on the tennessee georgia border. But bragg was also one of seven men to rank as a full general in the Confederate Army, and he undoubtedly had the ear and the loyalty of Jefferson Davis. Well come to that in due course. And commanded the second most Confederate Army for longer than any other officer overseeing a theater much larger in size than that in which lees army of Northern Virginia operated and arguably of greater economic and logistic value to the confederacy, though i wouldnt say more political or military value. And none of us, i think it is fair to say, would have wanted Braxton Bragg job. I certainly wouldnt. I tell my students this all the time. I, i think if i was in the army the second day that my feet were wet, i would need to go home. I just i couldnt have dealt with it. And so i think i have to always take a pause and say these people were up against remarkable odds in terrible conditions and they didnt have allergy medication. So we might all give them a break from time to time. Ill just pause here to say im not here to compare Braxton Bragg and robert e lee. Thats not really a fair thing to do. Im not going to tom connolly this im not going to say that we should appreciate bragg on a level that weve appreciated. Lee but im going to ask us to think about braggs leadership, the ways in which it was compromised and how the people around him helped or hindered his efforts in 1862 and 1863, i already told sara and chris im going to cheat a little bit. I dont think i can fully give you an appreciation of bragg. And without talking a little bit about kentucky. So ill begin there. Im going to lay out the challenges he faced, which im going to contend no other confederate officer had to deal with, at least to the same degree or on the same scale. And then i will cover again cheating slightly that unceremonious ejection from kentucky in 1862. His Joseph Johnston esq retreat through middle tennessee, his attack at chickamauga and failed defense at chattanooga. And so theres a handful of things i want to emphasize in my three Key Takeaways in the talk tonight are first, that confederate grand strategy beyond the operations of lee and his army was abysmal. Im not going to thats how im going to put it. Im not going to be kind about it. Jefferson davis managed the war on the grand strategic level very poorly. The system of uncoordinated departments and disadvantaged most confederate officers, especially those who were not named robert e lee. Second, the confederacy lacked generals who could get along regardless of their individual capacity d for command. And even though each of them was in their own way on our confederate writ and a strident advocate for confederate independence, the officers in braggs army simply did not Work Together effectively. Personality conflict defined the high command in braggs army and accounted for much of the failure that army subsequently met with. And then finally, without a deep bench to draw on Jefferson Davis really had few other options to try and place of rank. And we can all spin out the alternatives and they pretty much all end up in the same place. And there wasnt anybody as good as lee to command the second largest Confederate Army. And some historians and some of you in this room may put this down to davis is Blind Loyalty to officers that he liked and appreciated. And we know the Braxton Bragg was certainly on davis is good side but i think its important remember that davis was a pragmatist. Hed managed the entire army as secretary of war in the 1850s, and he probably knew when he needed to call in another option. I just dont think he ever felt he had one. And the ones who settled on ultimately didnt do very well. And on this last point, ill note that talking about Braxton Bragg in 1863 is a sneaky way for me to talk about Jefferson Davis, too, and to some degree, Joseph Johnston. Another one of the top ranking civil war punching bags, if you will, because they both worked alongside bragg throughout 1862 and 63, helping to create the conditions for chaos, but also having the authority to remove bragg from command at various points and refusing to do so. So. These two buckaroos are also going to get some attention today. All right. So historians invariably, i think, describe the confederate high command in the civil war as western theater with the single word dysfunctional. Historians have questioned why confederate president Jefferson Davis did not act sooner to relieve bragg of command of the army of tennessee, especially because daviknew as well as anyone that positive battlefield results in the west would have helped to sustain his fledgling nati in the face of superior resources and manpower on the part of the United States. Righ both davis and lcoln have a sense of the importance of places like tennsee and kentucky. Right. The west matrs in the grand political, grand strategic picture ofhe w. So braggs tractability in davis. His stubbornss combined to produce decidedly negative results for the confederacy. And throughout 1863, Jefferson Davis, in support of bragg, proved injurious to confederate hopes for independence, especially after the latters failed invasion of kentucky. The abandonment of middle tennessee, and the failure to consolidate victory at chickamauga leading to defeat at the hands of Ulysses S Grant in the battle for chattanooga. Unlike Abraham Lincoln, who recognized the successes of his western generals and promoted them to important command positions, Jefferson Davis treated the western theater as a dumping ground for some of the civil wars. Most cantankerous and incompetent officers events in the western theater may not have determined which side won. The american civil war, but daviss management failures and loyalty to Braxton Bragg lag became a hindrance to the confederate fight for independence. And its interesting because on paper, Jefferson Davis far out qualifies Abraham Lincoln to be commander in chief of an army. He had an incredible degree of military experience that he brought to the war. By 1861, hed served in the u. S. Army, the regulars. Hed graduated from west point. Hed held the office of secretary of war. And as historian Frank Vandiver observed, quote, davis trusted himself and meddled much, sometimes to a detriment, sometimes to success. And then vandiver notes, the davis quote, knew wars and generals and found it hard to leave the field to others and he liked and trusted some generals as himself. And these were favored long and over. Well, okay, lets unpack that. The first name on vancouvers list of officers who were favored long and over well, Braxton Bragg and davis. His contemporaries knew this and they knew it was one of his great military weaknesses. And we need to go to no Greater Authority on this than ulysses grant, who pinpointed the problem immediately as grant, often does. Quote, i speak advisedly when i say mr. Davis prided himself on his military capacity, grant explained in his memoirs. He says so himself virtually in answer to his notice of the nomination to the confederate presidency. Grant says it from day one. Davis intended to take charge of the confederacys military operations, and he tended to do it his way. Even though he had a secretary of war, he had james snedden, he had people around him to advise him. He doesnt listen to them. And we know one of lincolns great strengths is acting when he needs to, but listening to advice most of the time before he does act and he brings in people like halleck and grant and slowly assembles a team that can win the war. Jefferson davis doesnt do that because Jefferson Davis knew better right. And we can we can go to a fight between these two gentlemen. Two, two, really encapsulate that in brief. So when the confederacy is formed, they need to appoint general officers. They need to appoint them. And Joseph Johnston at the time is t quartermaster general of the united stes army. And he thinks great, im going to be the highest ranking ficer in the confederacy because im the highest rking guy who resigned their commission in the United States army. Not so, says Jefferson Davis in fact, johnston falls behind samuel cper, albert sydney johnston and robert e lee. So hes not even the first johnston. Hes hes his fourth and the second johnston and i mean, he was upset. Ill say that in march 1861, Confederate Congress had authorized the appointment of five officers to the great a Brigadier General and the law stipulate to that quote the relative rank of each grade should be determined by the former commissions in the u. S. Army. A perfect joe johnston has the highest rank, but it didnt distinguish between staff and line. And so johnston believed he was the senior officer. Davis ignored this. He simply appointed the people that he thought were the best in the order in which he basically judged their military ability. Johnston sends a crazy number of letters. He didnt have email or text. He was physically writing letters saying, hey, i dont think this is fair. Davis received each letter, wrote insubordinate in on it, flipped it over and moved it to the side of his desk. Davis wasnt about to hear it from joseph johnson, and they come to loggerheads, right . But this is how davis manages his military resources, right . He has five generals. He needs to keep them all happy. And hes not even able to do that. And the first shots of the war havent even been fired at fort sumter. And davis has already got issues with managing his generals. I just need to give you a sense of how obstinate Jefferson Davis could be when it came to these issues and these two figures, davis and johnston, are going to be all over the western theater because when davis doesnt know what else to do with johnston, he kind of uses him as a stopgap in all kinds of instances. And ill mention that a little bit more here as we go forward. So we know the Braxton Bragg begins the war, pensacola, he could have been overseeing the firing of the first shots of the war had lincoln chosen to resupply fort pickens rather than fort sumter. Right at the beginning of the war. But fort sumter gets the title and we have bragg training men at pensacola. Theyre doing quite well. Theyre really enjoying him. They think hes a very good hes very good at taking the raw material of citizen soldiers and turning them into an army. Hes actually quite noted for this. He ends up at shiloh. Hes in the hornets nest for much of the fighting. And then after the battle, when Albert Sidney johnston dies of his wounds appear gustav to Tommy Beauregard and you always do have to say all four names takes over command of the army and then decides he needs to take a little Mental Health day and he goes to a spa and he doesnt ask Jefferson Daviss permission. Davis doesnt like this, he says, is out. Braxtons in. So bragg takes command of the army of tennessee in. 1862, and from there he has to kind of form it into an army that will basically become the largest army in the western theater. Bragg he had he had very little more than his relationship with Jefferson Davis to recommend him for this job, especially over other prominent confederate officers who were available for the post, including Joseph Johnston, who had been wounded at seven pines by the time and was available. He was waiting for reassignment to be designated to go back up to the majors. Braggs in 1837, west point graduate, he graduated quite high in his class. Thats why he goes into the artillery. He chooses his branch. He leaves the regular army. In 1856, telling secor tree of war Jefferson Davis that he could not see the use in chasing indians with six pounders. As he said, you could never catch ketchum. And it frustrated bragg. He he was considered a hero by many of his countrymen. There we have bragg and his planter days in 1856 and this was largely due to his actions at the battle of buena vista in the war with mexico. Two critical interventions carried the day for zachary taylors forces in that fight, braggs employment of artillery against the mexican defenders in the city. The famous phrase a little more great, mr. Bragg, when taylor advises him how to conduct the fight and also the defense of the american a