Richmond Views the West - Larry Daniel

How did politicians, bureaucrats, reporters, and civilians in Richmond understand a war being fought a thousand miles away? Expert Civil War historian Larry Daniel shows for the first time how poor intelligence, fierce politics, and cultural prejudice affected Confederate strategy in the Western Theater. In his novel approach to understanding the Western Theater of the U.S. Civil War, Larry Daniel brings new insight and understanding to the war without ever setting foot in the West. Rather, he takes readers to Richmond, Virginia, to see how the war was understood in the Confederate Capitol. We see in real time how the Jefferson Davis administration received, understood, and reacted to reports from the front, which often arrived in Richmond days after they were written. Daniel gives voice to cabinet members, War Department clerks, congressmen, capitol reporters, and even civilians, all watching the war unfold hundreds of miles away. Although most of their attention was given to the enemies at their doorstep, Richmond was still rocked by the disastrous losses across the Appalachians, especially Fort Donelson, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Atlanta. Still, incomplete information and biased press reports deified certain western generals in the public imagination, including P. G. T. Beauregard, Sterling Price, and Joseph E. Johnston, whose performance did not justify such public adoration. Richmonders’ “Virginia-first” military strategy and their aristo
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