244 The American Civil WarMississippi and Tennessee, and force them to
yield the territory they had taken since
Fehruary. Once Confederate troops trod on
Kentucky soil, Bragg was sure thousands
would flock to his army and take up arms
against the Union.
By rail, Bragg shifted 30,000 men to
Chattanooga, where they began an advance.
From Knoxville, Tennessee. Edmund Kirby
Smith with 21,000 men, including a division
of Bragg's, left in mid-August, passing
through the Cumberland Gap and driving
deep into Kentucky. Yet the march into the
Bluegrass State was not much cause for local
celebration. Few volunteers rushed to the
Rebel banner.
Prodded by military and political officials,
Buell finally undertook pursuit in early
October. After much maneuvering on both
sides, portions of the two armies collided inThe despised commander of the Army of the
Tennesssee. Braxton Bragg had been a hero in the
Mexican War, where he made a favorable impression on
Jefferson Davis. His failure to follow up at Chickamauga
may have been one of the greatest mistaxes of the war.
He resigned command of the army after the debacle at
Missionary Ridge. (Library of Congress)
some hilly terrain around Perryville,
Kentucky. Because of an acoustic shadow,
neither Bragg nor Buell heard any shots and
they did not know the battle was taking
place. As a result, soldiers who were literally
a few miles from the battlefield did not
participate. Despite 7,500 casualties, neither
side gained an advantage, and Bragg
withdrew his forces back to Tennessee.
The raid into Kentucky exposed serious
flaws in both the Confederate and the Union
commanders. Crumbling over Bragg filtered
back to Richmond, and Confederate
President Davis, himself a man of
considerable military experience and
accomplishment, proposed an interesting
solution. General Joseph E.Johnston, who
had suffered a serious wound at the Battle of
Seven Pines several months earlier, had
recovered enough to return to active duty.
He could not get his old command back;
General Robert E. Lee had been so effective
with it that the soldiers and the public
viewed the army as his. But Johnston
possessed leadership skills and experience
that the Confederacy needed. Rather
than replace Bragg or the new commander
around Vicksburg, Northern-born
Lieutenant-General John C. Pemberton,
Davis superseded them.
All along, Davis hoped his commanders
could assume the offensive, but when the
Federals advanced, the Confederate President
wanted army commanders to concentrate
manpower and other resources by tapping
neighboring departments. Johnston's new
assignment was to oversee military forces
from the Appalachian Mountains to the
Mississippi River. Davis expected him to
coordinate their military activities, help
them formulate plans, inspect, critique, and
advise. Of course, when he was present,
Johnston should command, but Davis
wanted him to focus on the strategic and
operational, not the tactical, levels. Johnston
never grasped the concept.
Similarly, on the Union side, Lincoln had
soured on Buell. Cautious to a fault, Buell
followed Bragg hesitantly as the Rebel army
escaped from Kentucky. By late October, an