Sacred Trust Talks 2024 | Timothy B. Smith, Ph.D.

The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West with Timothy B. Smith, Ph.D.
Albert Sidney Johnston is well known but not fully understood. Perhaps the best way to analyze his life and Confederate command is by examining him as a gambler. His early life showed traits of such gambling when life-or-death or life-altering decisions confronted him, and similarly there were times when he put family or army organizations at risk with gambles. Johnston certainly did so in his tenure as Western Theater Confederate commander, and much like a gambler he had to bluff and deceive with a strict poker face. He did so until the enemy upped the ante with the shocking Confederate defeats at Forts Henry and Donelson. Johnston ultimately had to call his opponent’s hand, which he did at Shiloh where he declared he must “roll the iron dice of battle.” It was a gamble to be sure, but it had to be done, or as he stated it, he and the Confederate army must “conquer or perish.” Of course, he perished, and his defeat on top of the setbacks earlier in 1862 led to a terribly dismal situation for the Confederacy, especially in the west, that far outlived his tenure as commander.
Timothy B. Smith, Ph.D. (Mississippi State University, 2001) is a veteran of the National Park Service and currently teaches history at the University of Tennessee at Martin. In addition to numerous articles and essays, he is the author, editor or co-editor of more than 20 books with several university and commercial presses. His books have won numerous awards, with his trilogy on the American Civil War’s Tennessee River campaign (Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth) winning a total of nine book awards. He is currently finishing a five-volume study of the Vicksburg Campaign for the University Press of Kansas and a new study of Albert Sidney Johnston for LSU Press. Timothy lives with his wife Kelly and daughters Mary Kate and Leah Grace in Adamsville, Tennessee.
Join us to commemorate the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg with Sacred Trust 2025 Talks & Book Signings at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center.
Details to be announced in the spring of 2025. For more information, visit www.gettysburg...

[@edouardrobert160]

Thanks Wayne &co

[@paulhendershot111]

I really enjoyed this presentation by Dr. Smith. He has some very different and refreshing views on General A.S. Johnston as well as the other generals in the western theater and, whether you agree with him or not, he does a fine job of offering his thoughts in a very entertaining way. Glad to hear a talk by "the other Tim Smith."

[@edouardrobert160]

The Tim with The PHD

[@edouardrobert160]

Aka the Tim of the west both Tim's are great

[@richardfish3650]

Tim! … oh. Tim!