The Army of Tennessee was officially designated November 20, 1862. But that was not the beginning of the Confederate main fighting force in the Civil War's Western Theater. Before that date it was known as the Army of Mississippi (or the Army of the West), a command organized on March 5, with its area of operations between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. That army was formed of the Army of Central Kentucky, the Army of Louisiana and elements of the Army of Pensacola, following the Confederate disaster at Fort Donelson. The force was led by a succession of commoners--P.G.T. Beauregard, Albert Sydney Johnston and Braxton Bragg--and had a series of defeats, from Shiloh to Corinth to Perryville, before winning a spectacular victory at Chickamauga. Based on the Official Records, this book details the often neglected army's organization, strength and casualties during its three year history.

This assessment of the performance of the southern soldiers in the American Civil War of 1861 deals with every aspect of an army from its senior officer to the lowliest private, following every process as the soldier tried to adapt to military life, train, and overcome the enemy.

Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee: A Portrait of Life in a Confederate Army

Winner of the Fletcher Pratt Award and the Jefferson Davis Award A companion volume to Army of the Heartland Near the end of 1862 the Army of Tennessee began a long and frustrating struggle against overwhelming obstacles and ultimate defeat. Federal strength was growing, and after the Confederate surrender at Vicksburg, the total Union effort became concentrated against the Army of Tennessee. In the face of these external military problems, the army was also plagued with internal conflict, continuing command discord, and political intrigue. In Autumn of Glory, the final volume of Thomas Lawrence Connelly’s definitive history of one of the Confederacy’s two major military forces, Connelly analyzes the factors underlying the army’s failure during the last two years of the Civil War. The army’s military operations—including such major battles and campaigns as Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Ezra Church, Jonesboro, and Bentonville—are viewed in perspective with its growing internal problems and the personality peculiarities of its commanders. In late 1863 a well-organized movement within the army against General Bragg failed. After his departure, a semblance of the anti-Bragg organization still remained, and subsequently the army’s leadership became embroiled in national Confederate politics. Connelly traces these growing problems of command discord and political intrigue and examines their disastrous effects upon the army’s political fortunes. Connelly’s first volume, Army of the Heartland, explores the military significance of the “heartland” of the Confederacy and covers the army’s operations from 1861 to late 1862. With the completion of these two volumes, the author has narrowed the historiographical gap between Lee’s Army of Virginia and the Confederacy’s “other army.”