Lee at Chattanooga: A Novel of What Might Have Been

One of the Great What-Ifs of the Civil War Of all the Confederate generals of the American Civil War, none is as revered as Robert E. Lee or as despised as Braxton Bragg. While Lee was invaluable to Jefferson Davis, Bragg was a longtime friend of the president and had his unwavering support.

Bragg was in a precarious position at Chattanooga in August 1863. The Union Army of the Cumberland, which had swept him out of Middle Tennessee only a month earlier, was poised before him again. With his depleted ranks of barely thirty thousand men, Bragg faced fifty thousand Federals. When he finally called for reinforcements, Richmond responded with a pledge of twenty thousand men, They were to come from Joseph E. Johnston’s army in Mississippi and Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Lee dispatched James Longstreet’s corps, totaling some twelve thousand men. It was also rumored at the time that Davis pondered sending Lee. That is the possibility explored in Lee at Chattanooga. What might have happened if Lee had been sent to Chattanooga in September 1863?

Many intriguing variables are entertained in this thought-provoking answer to the question. These include such observations that Lee would have faced Grant six months sooner than he did. Possibly Lee’s mission could have paralleled his earlier campaign in western Virginia. Bragg might have resented Lee’s presence and relied on his close ties to Davis to limit Lee’s influence. Dennis McIntire has done an excellent job of researching the possibilities, and his narrative makes for enjoyable reading as the story is told with the authentic voice of his nineteenth-century characters. FICTION; CIVIL WAR 6” X 9”, 320 PAGES PAPERBACK