[Tallguy]

Niether Lincoln nor Grant were really up to letting Sherman put his plan into effect. But Sherman knew well that splitting the south in two was the only way to speed the end of that useless and idiotic war.

Are you saying that the Union Armies did not follow the broad outline of Winfield Scott's "Anaconda Plan"? The Plan called for controlling the periphery of the south by blockading the seaports and controlling the lengths of the Ohio & Mississipi River networks. Once this was accomplished with the capture of Vicksburg, Armies would be launched from the line of the rivers into the interior.

It looks to me like the Federals pretty much followed the Plan to a tee.

Oh, and a comment as to the quality of the General Officers available to command the Western Armies is probably in order here: If not Sherman, than who? Grant had gone East. Pap Thomas, despite his efforts to mitigate the defeat at Chickamauga, was nevertheless associated with that debacle -- and he was a Virginian who might have been under suspicion in some quarters. Several other promising field commanders had already been sent packing (Rosecrans, Buell, McClerndon).

[Non-Sequitur]

If not Sherman, than who? Grant had gone East. Pap Thomas, despite his efforts to mitigate the defeat at Chickamauga, was nevertheless associated with that debacle -- and he was a Virginian who might have been under suspicion in some quarters.

The one thing Sherman had above all other potential commanders was the complete trust of Ulysses Grant. Thomas was, in many ways, the better commander but he and Grant did not get along.