Stephen Davis (2) (1948–)

Excellent concise but thorough coverage of the Atlanta campaign. Davis makes a solid case that the passivity of Joe Johnston meant that by the time Hood took over, with the Army of Tennessee only five miles from Atlanta, any opportunity of saving the city had already been lost. Davis tears down any defense of Johnston’s supposed “Fabian tactics” while also showing that Hood’s aggressive actions after taking command were not only well planned, but exactly what was expected of him by Jefferson Davis. Even the culminating battle at Jonesboro, which has been used by generations of historians to excoriate Hood, is shown by Davis to be analogous to the fog of war endured by Lee a month previously when Grant crossed the James River without Lee’s knowledge. But Lee held Petersburg, and Hood lost Atlanta. Hood has been unfairly maligned by history ever since… (altro)