Who Was The Commander Of The Northern Flank ?

[williamlayton]

If we can hold this discussion to the Northern flank of the Confederacy---Arkansas/Tennessee/Kentucy---who was the commander/commanders?
Blessings

[reliquary]

Without going into the books (which are on loan, anyway), I think the first was Albert Sidney Johnston and after him was Bragg?

[BUGEYE]

I don't know much about it, but wasn't Crook up there somewhere.

[bkraft]

Albert Sidney Johnson until his death at Shiloh. Braxton Bragg then Joe Johnston who was given the remnents of the Western Army to stop Sherman in front of Atlanta.  I think....

[reliquary]

bkraft:
 
That's correct according to what I see in Shelby Foote's book "The Civil War-A Narrative", Volume One.  I just got my set back from loaning it out.
 
By the time JE Johnston took over, the western flank was pretty much reduced in scope.  Also, Forrest got his start in the Trans-Mississippi.
 

[williamlayton]

It is not a put down, nor is it a gig, just a thought. More like monday morning QB'ing.
It seems to me to be a little bit of a misunderstanding of directing a defense against an invader on the part of the leadership of the south.
I have always--always--considered the Souths attempt at independence to be very short sighted and without consideration of a lot of things---discorordinated may be a good word. Seems like everybody was just doing their own thing.
If--big IF--this is the fact, does this point to a real flaw in the thinking that a Confederacy was a workable form of government?
Blessings

[reliquary]

Williamlayton:
 
A confederation is a poor substitute and the weakest form of government that any group of states can come up with.  By definition, the central government has no way to enforce its decisions on the member states; they are free to ignore whatever they choose.  Our founding fathers found that out after the first revolution and went to a representative republic (we are not a democracy).
 
The Southern states wouldn't have been able to form even a confederation, had there not been threats of war to force them back into the Union.  Had the Confederacy either won the war, or been allowed to go its own way, the confederation would most likely have devolved into independent empire-states. 
 
Harry Turtledove has a masterful series based on the South winning the war.  There are 12-14 books in the set, covering roughly the next hundred years.  Great reading...this guy is THE master of alternative history. 
 
Meaning no disrespect...I can't figure out where you're going with this thread....=)
 

[williamlayton]

You just went there.
Blessings