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Nashville, The Western Confederacy’s Final Gamble

by James Lee McDonough. Illustrated, maps, notes, bibliography, index, 358 pp., 2004. The University of Tennessee Press, 110 Conference Center, Knoxville, TN 37996-4108, $39.95 plus shipping.

James Lee McDonough, long time faculty member at Nashville’s David Lipscomb College and retired professor of history at Auburn University, is the author of a host of books on the military history of the Western Theater of the Civil War. In this, his latest work, McDonough presents an in-depth study of the battle that saw the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under John Bell Hood at the hands of George H. Thomas and the Union Army of the Cumberland.

While McDonough presents detail on the maneuvering of both armies down to the brigade and regimental level, he never loses sight of the Nashville Campaign’s place in the overall history of the Western Theater and its significance to the completion of the war. For example, readers of this book will receive a clear understanding of the relationship of Nashville to Sherman’s March to the Sea.

McDonough also does a good job of explaining clearly how and where commanders on both sides were successful or failed. He carefully utilizes available documentation, indicating where sources differ and then gives his opinion as to which remembrance is correct. If the facts are not clear, he is not adverse to admitting to the reader that he cannot explain what happened.

McDonough tries to be sympathetic to John Bell Hood, but the facts lead him to condemn the crippled Confederate general’s tactical and strategic thinking and actions. He is not overly impressed with John Schofield, despite having once written a biography of the man. George H. Thomas remains a shadowy figure in the drama, although McDonough takes Thomas’s side against Stanton, Halleck and Grant regarding the initiation of combat during the final Nashville battle. In fact, however, it is the lower level commanders, rather than the top leaders, who receive the most attention in this book.

The interesting part to this reviewer is McDonough’s discussion of the activities of black Union troops in the campaign. He finds them to be courageous and non-flinching under the most dire conditions and points out how enraged and brutal Confederate soldiers were when faced with them in combat.

Significantly, considering the present-day insistence by some individuals and groups that there were up to 90,000 black Confederate soldiers, McDonough finds absolutely no evidence of such individuals in the Nashville Campaign. He objectively discusses this issue in a note on page 329.

In summary, this is a well-researched, fair-minded and excellently written study which will remain the final word on this topic for a long, long time.

John F. Marszalek

John F. Marszalek is Giles Distinguished Professor Emeri-tus of History, Mississippi State University. He is the author of numerous books including Sherman, As Soldier’s Passion for Order. His biography of Henry W. Halleck will appear in 2004.

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