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262 The American Civil WarPlans for the spring campaign
The appointment of Joe Johnston sent a
bolt of electricity through the Army of
Tennessee. After a year and a half of the
obstreperous and unsuccessful Bragg, the
men felt as if they had finally secured a real
leader. Johnston possessed an extraordinary
charisma that drew soldiers to him. Troops
felt as if he cared about them, and at least
initially, the men in the Army of Tennessee
rejoiced over his appointment. Unlike the
Commander-in-Chief, the soldiers did not
blame him for the loss of Vicksburg, and he
had the great fortune of having been
removed well before the Bragg fiasco of mid
to late 1863,
Johnston's mere presence revived the
Confederates' sinking morale, but despite
his prewar experience as the Quartermaster-
General of the US army, he could not
conjure supplies from nothing. He
addressed basic necessities like food and
clothing as well as he could, but the army
suffered from serious shortages of mules,
horses, and wagons, none of which he
could overcome.
Johnston took on the job of
commanding general with a legacy of
mistrust between him and Davis that
virtually doomed the assignment from the
start. He believed that Davis installed him
in positions that would inevitably fail,
thereby ruining the General's reputation.
Davis thought Johnston did not live up to
his potential as a military man. He was too
immersed in petty command prerogatives,
and he dabbled far too heavily in the
opposition to Jefferson Davis.
The Confederate President instructed
Johnston to communicate freely and call on
him for advice. He wanted Johnston to
produce a campaign plan, particularly one
with an offensive punch to it, Davis had
read and digested only the misleading,
positive reports of the army and convinced
himself that it should assume the offensive
that spring, Johnston kept his own counsel
and refused to provide the kind of
information his Commander-in-Chief
expected. The Army of Tennessee, moreover,
did lack the essential resources to undertake
major offensives. The best it could hope for,
Johnston believed, was to fight on theThe Red River campaign