A Civil War history classic, now back in print.

Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, Volume I, examines General Braxton Bragg’s military prowess beginning with his enlistment in the Confederate Army in 1862 to the spring of 1863. First published in 1969, this is the first of two volumes covering the life of the Confederacy’s most problematic general. It is now back in print and available in paperback for the first time.
 
A West Point graduate, Mexican War hero, and retired army lieutenant colonel, Bragg was one of the most distinguished soldiers to join the Confederacy, and for a time one of the most impressive. Grady McWhiney’s research shows that Bragg was neither as outstanding nor as incompetent as scholars and contemporaries suggest, but held positions of high responsibility throughout the war.
 
Not an overwhelming success as commander of the Confederacy’s principal western army, Bragg nevertheless directed the Army of Tennessee longer than any other general, and, after being relieved of army command, he served as President Davis’s military adviser. Of all the Confederacy’s generals, only Robert E. Lee exercised more authority over such an extended period as Bragg. Yet less than two years later Bragg was the South’s most discredited commander. Much of this criticism was justified, for he had done as much as any Confederate general to lose the war. The army’s failures were Bragg’s failures, and after his defeat at Chattanooga in November 1863 Bragg was relieved of field command.

Grady McWhiney (1928–2006) was a noted historian of the American South and of the Civil War. He authored many important works that continue to shape conversations and research to the present day including Southerners and Other Americans, Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tacticsand the Southern Heritage, and Cracker Culture. He enjoyed a distinguished 44-year career teaching at a number of institutions, notably at The University of Alabama and Texas Christian University.

“Thoroughly researched, effectively organized, and gracefully written, Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat presents Bragg as a brave, almost impetuous, meticulous, and undeniably successful line officer who seems to have lost his touch when given the task of managing large bodies of troops in the field . . . This study is a must for any serious collection of Confederate military history.”
—Choice

“The real importance of this volume is that it undermines the traditional stereotype of Bragg, molded in the war and passed down through successive generations of writers, as an incompetent and counter-productive presence in the Rebel high command. The image of Bragg that I retain is of a dedicated soldier who gave valuable service to the Confederacy, particularly as an administrator.”
—Florida Historical Quarterly