A Failure in Strategic Command

This book looks at the decision of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in November of 1862 to appoint General Joseph E. Johnston to command of the armies in the Department of the West and why that decision failed. It addresses three primary reasons for this failure which were Johnston's unsuitability for the position, Davis's inability to allow a subordinate the appropriate freedom to command, and finally, the difficulties with the command structure of the Department of the West.