Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief

As the infamous commander in chief of the doomed Confederacy, Jefferson Davis is often defined by his defeat. Considered difficult, egotistical, and cold by his subordinates and enemies alike, Davis’s strengths are often diminished. But has history been unfair to him? Historian James M. McPherson argues that despite the failure of Davis’s cause, no other chief executive in American history exercised such tenacious hands-on influence in the shaping of military strategy.