With the Army of the Potomac reeling, Lee should have a little breathing space and could actually send guys west without too much fuss. The big question if he's sending them too late
But the Confederacy is still facing their OTL problems now that Britain has pulled out of the war: too long a coastline and too many Union uniforms. It's fun to see them try and make the hard decisions.
Unless Britain crippled the Union Navy (shy of the Great Lakes, inland rivers and the Pacific, something that wasn't likely to happen) the Confederacy was always going to face the specter of a renewed drive to blockade their coasts and ruin their trade. How well they've prepared for that is an open question...
But the Union can once again bring its numbers to bear in a way that will be extremely uncomfortable. Unfortunately for Lee, unlike the situation in 1862 where Joseph Johnston and McClellan faced off against one another with armies over 100,000 strong each (the combined totals being in excess of 250,000 men on both sides) Lee now has an army that is roughly only 75,000 strong, even with Whiting's troops detached at Annapolis. The Army of the Potomac has taken its worst beating ever, but they can call on probably 30,000 replacements coming from New England and Canada. If Lee gets 10,000 men he's lucky, and with Farragut's plan to go for the throat, Lee isn't going to get lucky.
These last months of 1864 are where he has to make the most with less, because after that he's facing an army that might finally get its act together.
Definitely didn't foresee Davis coming west to hash it out with Beauregard, I wonder if he'll be able to achieve anything with his "exile".
great chapter! loved the little high school drama thing between Jefferson davis and Bragg and Breckenridge and beauregard.
And its all based on true events. OTL Davis did go out West to settle the animosity in the high command of the Army of Tennessee during the Chattanooga Campaign, here thanks to A. S. Johnston being alive and the man with Davis's unquestioned ear until early 1864, he hasn't had to intercede in events so much because everyone accorded Johnston for running some rather clever campaigns. However, with him resigning and no clear successor the toxic attitudes that were always just under the surface in the Confederate Western command get to rear their ugly heads again. OTL Davis never sorted it out to anyone's satisfaction, so we'll see whether Bragg makes himself any more lovable than he did historically.
but how come the western fight scenes are always less detailed?
Unfortunately I can rarely find detailed maps of the regions I'm writing battles in. The gall of historians to make only extremely detailed depictions of areas just beyond where I'm looking for! The number of times historical source maps have stopped
just short of where I'm plotting a major battle is incredibly frustrating.
Writing the Battle of Savage's Factory was a mild nightmare for instance because the battle took place across two counties and the maps did not line up precisely! The current topography of Kentucky Grant and Bragg are fighting over has similarly poorly detailed maps for me to fill in enough gaps. Let's hope they go somewhere familiar...
Even in most IRL mindsets, the fights in the west never dominated headlines the way Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run, Seven Days, and all the rest did. ITL it’s probably a result of the massive eastern battles as well, with the Battle of Mine Run being the largest, with the Siege of Washington, Frederick, Ticonderoga and Saratoga dominating the minds of scholars
Also an astute observation. There's a solid line of reasoning you've developed
Though with fights that stir the American psyche like the Second Battle of Ticonderoga and Saratoga alongside the Siege of Washington, which very well could have ended the war in 1863, the Western theater has thus far had rather mixed results and generalship which has ranged from the inspired to the idiotic...