I could not have written this book without the pioneering scholarship of William J. Cooper, Jr., and William C. “Jack” Davis, whose biographies of Jefferson Davis provided much of the framework for my own research. That research was made possible by the professionalism of Lynda Lasswell Crist and her fellow editors of The Papers of Jefferson Davis at Rice University, whose scholarly thoroughness provided me with access to all known documentation on Davis as commander in chief, supplementing the earlier edition of Davis’s speeches, letters, and telegrams edited in the 1920s by Dunbar Rowland.
I am grateful to Scott Moyers of The Penguin Press for suggesting that I undertake this project and for keeping faith in it from first to last. Copy editor Adam Goldberger improved the accuracy and readability of my prose, while Mally Anderson and production editor Bruce Giffords shepherded the manuscript through the process of publication. Bill Nelson skillfully drew the maps. To all of them I owe a big vote of thanks.
My wife, Patricia McPherson, tolerated my preoccupation with Jefferson Davis, who is not her favorite historical character. But she recognizes that we cannot understand the Civil War and its meaning without coming to grips with the Confederate as well as the Union commander in chief.