CompleteMartialArts.com - General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse
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Manufacturer: Free Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.742
EAN: 9780684827872
ISBN: 0684827875
Label: Free Press
Manufacturer: Free Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 624
Publication Date: 2008-03-18
Publisher: Free Press
Studio: Free Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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"You would be surprised to see what men we have in the ranks," Virginia cavalryman Thomas Rowland informed his mother in May 1861, just after joining the Army of Northern Virginia. His army -- General Robert E. Lee's army -- was a surprise to almost everyone: With daring early victories and an invasion into the North, they nearly managed to convince the North to give up the fight. Even in 1865, facing certain defeat after the loss of 30,000 men, a Louisiana private fighting in Lee's army still had hope. "I must not despair," he scribbled in his diary. "Lee will bring order out of chaos, and with the help of our Heavenly Father, all will be well." Astonishingly, after 150 years of scholarship, there are still some major surprises about the Army of Northern Virginia. In General Lee's Army, renowned historian Joseph T. Glatthaar draws on an impressive range of sources assembled over two decades -- from letters and diaries, to official war records, to a new, definitive database of statistics -- to rewrite the history of the Civil War's most important army and, indeed, of the war itself. Glatthaar takes readers from the home front to the heart of the most famous battles of the war: Manassas, the Peninsula campaign, Antietam, Gettysburg, all the way to the final surrender at Appomattox. General Lee's Army penetrates headquarters tents and winter shanties, eliciting the officers' plans, wishes, and prayers; it portrays a world of life, death, healing, and hardship; it investigates the South's commitment to the war and its gradual erosion; and it depicts and analyzes Lee's men in triumph and defeat. The history of Lee's army is a powerful lens on the entire war. The fate of Lee's army explains why the South almost won -- and why it lost. The story of his men -- their reasons for fighting, their cohesion, mounting casualties, diseases, supply problems, and discipline problems -- tells it all. Glatthaar's definitive account settles many historical arguments. The Rebels were fighting above all to defend slavery. More than half of Lee's men were killed, wounded, or captured -- a staggering statistic. Their leader, Robert E. Lee, though far from perfect, held an exalted place in his men's eyes despite a number of mistakes and despite a range of problems among some of his key lieutenants. General Lee's Army is a masterpiece of scholarship and vivid storytelling, narrated as much as possible in the words of the enlisted men and their officers.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A history of the Army of Northern Virginia
Comment: This is a fascinating book. On the one hand, its depiction of the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) is well known. On the other, it goes into considerable detail on the everyday lives of Lee's (and, earlier, Johnston's and Beauregard's) army. As such, it does add considerably to our grasp of what the ANV went through. The focus? In the author's own words (Page xv): ". . .scholars and enthusiasts have written thousands of books on various aspects of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, but no one has embarked upon a major investigation of the army throughout the entire war." Joseph Glatthaar also develops a statistical data base (See Appendix I for more details) to provide greater information about the ANV. He worked with political scientist Kent Tedin to get a representative sample of soldiers from the army, 600 in all. For each, the author searched records to get personal information, unit information, and so on. Included as well are graphic comments from letters and other documentation. It makes for a fascinating look at Lee's army.
All in all, almost 200,000 troops, in all, fought in the ANV. A horrifying number were killed or wounded. The army bled a great deal during the Civil War.
This book covers a huge territory: Why the troops joined the army and fought (slavery, by the way, appears to have been one major motivator), the early battle experience and how poorly prepared soldiers were for the conflict, the early history of the army (under Johnston and Beauregard, before the latter was transferred west and the former injured at Seven Pines), Lee's accession to command, the Seven Days' Campaign (where Union General George McClellan, in essence, caved in), the second battle at Bull Run (or Manassas), and so on.
Some of the high points. . . The ups and downs of soldiers' morale. Religious revivals sometimes surged through the troops, as one way of helping deal with the horrors of the conflict. The book addresses the odd juxtaposition of independent, individualistic southern troops with the need for discipline among them. There is nice discussion of the uneven quality of commanders and Lee's predilection of moving his (perceived) less competent high officers to other commands (e.g., transferring Magruder from the ANV to Texas).
If you wish a great amount of detail on actual battles, from First Bull Run through the retreat to Appomattox Court House, this book will not satisfy. But that is not its focus. If you want a sense of the day-to-day lives of soldiers, the challenges in managing an army, Lee's key role in keeping citizens and soldiers motivated to continue, the decline in morale among citizens and soldiers as Sherman's advance after Atlanta continued, and so on, then this book will be of interest.
Anyhow, this strikes me as an important volume, giving readers a detailed perspective on the Army of Northern Virginia.
Customer Rating:
Summary: War To The Hilt
Comment: The Army of Northern Virginia was one of the greatest fighting forces in the history of the world. Interest in it remains high, even some 143 years after it ceased to exist.
General Lee's Army is an exceptional book. It looks at the ANV from every possible angle. Indeed, so comprehensive is Mr. Glatthar's study that one might call it the biography of Lee's Army.
Glatthar sows how the Civil War was truly about slavery. Of course it was, but Glatthar adds to the evidence. He shows how more soldiers in the ANV supported slavery than was ever previously supposed, and he does this convincingly.
He also demonstrates that one reason Lee's Army suffered defeat was because its soldiers could not be disciplined--that they were raised in a society that had little discipline. Thus, the men of Lee's Army would often do what they thought was best despite their officers' orders to the contrary. For instance, after a victory, the men would drop out of ranks to plunder the battle field for food, clothing, weapons, and ammunition. This sometimes prevented Lee from following up a victory. Of course, the lack of discipline was but one small reason among many for the ultimate defeat of Lee's Army. And this lack of discipline may have been one reason why this army was so unique and was able to fight so well for so long against overwhelming odds.
Glatthar's book is not without its faults. He lists several reasons for the defeat at Gettysburg. He does not include, however, some of the most important reasons for this defeat. He makes no mention of the impact of Stonewall Jackson's death on the battle. This was the first campaign since Jackson's death, and his presence at Gettysburg may have changed everything. And though Glatthar explains Lee's reorganization of the army from two corps to three after Jackson's death, he does not show the impact of the reorganization at Gettysburg. Some two-thirds of the army were under new commanders at several levels. Two of the corps commanders had no experience commanding a corps. This certainly influenced the outcome. Neither does Glatthar fault James Longstreet for his surly behavior. Longstreet did not support Lee's battle plans and carried them out with little enthusiasm. As a result, Longstreet's attack on July 2--which was supposed to be done simultaneously with an attack on Culp's Hill-- was several hours late.
In spite of these few shortcomings, General Lee's Army is a fantastic book and will serve as the history of that magnificent army for many years to come.
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Summary: Do We Need Another Book on Lee and his Army?
Comment: Do we "need" another book about Lee or his army? Yes, and Joe Glatthaar delivers exceedingly well. His seminal work "General Lee's Army" is a definite must for both professional and amateur historians. The general reading public will also be captivated by this in depth study of the inner workings of perhaps the most storied Army in American military history, the Army of Northern Virginia.
Glatthaar spent decades researching Lee and his army; employing extensive primary source repositories and statistical analysis to help the reader develop an comprehensive understanding of these men and their motivations. For those "Lost Cause" enthusiasts, your position is seriously weekend by this study. Glatthaar spends significant time debunking this Southern postwar bandwagon. "Their official justifications for leaving the Union offer unshakable proof that their principal motive was to protect and preserve slavery." He examines the non-slave owning Southerners (a majority in the South) to prove they too were dependent upon the peculiar institution. His statistical analysis proves, beyond all doubt, that these Southerner volunteers for Lee's army were directly tied to the slaves of the South as were those on the home front. Slavery was at the forefront of the Southern cause and the battle for Southern "rights."
The hub of this work is the words of the soldiers themselves that fought for Bob Lee. Every chapter contains voices of the South that we don't often hear; privates, lieutenants, and others that tend to fly under the radar in most works. This preponderance of evidence is powerfully interwoven throughout the narrative to solidify Glatthaar's contentions. This lends an air of authority to the work. Not only does Glatthaar include these men and their ideas but he endnotes every paragraph, a method more historians should employ. I love footnotes so I am not forced to flip through the book and break my thought sequence. Joe chose to position them at the end and this works because the references are to sources rather than amplification or ideas. I found myself searching the endnotes when I was curious where he found his sources.
One of the more unique features of "General Lee's Army" is his approach to battlefield accounts. If you are looking for a battles and leaders book, this one is not for you. While each engagement of the ANV is covered (though I found the section on the first Maryland Campaign a bit wanting), these chapters are deftly separated by brightly written sections dealing with the humdrum of camp life as well as the administrative, logistical, medical arms of the army; topics not more often than not that escape the eye of the casual examiner. These are combined with a look at Blacks in the ANV, trench warfare, the Home Front, religion, and ordinance help Glatthaar paint a canvas unlike any other Civil War historian before. The level of detail leaves no doubt in the readers mind that this is the seminal work on the Army of Northern Virginia which will benefit historians seeking to understand this showpiece of the Confederacy.
The statistics provided with the help of Dr. Kent Tedin from the University of Houston Political Science Department provide the capstone for this work. The analysis of Census Records, Service Records, Pension Files, obituaries, county and family histories, till now mostly unused, provide an insight into the Army rarely seen and justify the length of time such a project requires to produce and to read.
Move over on the shelf "Lee Lieutenants" its time to pay homage to the next generation of historians and their toil. Joe Glatthaar has produced a work that will stand the test of time. Do we need another study of the Army of Northern Virginia? Not any more, "General Lee's Army" fills that void.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not a Book about Battles
Comment: Not a Book about Battles
Dr Joseph T. Glatthaar's General Lee's Army is NOT a book about battles, although it does an adequate job of summarizing the basics of General Lee's major engagements. Rather, it is an in-depth socio-economic study of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia: What it was, who the personnel were, what they did, and how the army basically functioned. There was more, so much more, to Lee's grand army than just fighting. What was the real morale like? How and what did the soldiers eat and do when not fighting or on "the march"? What happened in camp during those long periods of inactivity? In essence, how did the army function when it was not engaged in combat, and when it was fighting how did the front line soldiers react? Much has been written about civil war combat, strategies, and tactics, but little has been written about the mundane non-combat life of a civil war army. Dr Glatthaar does a superb job of analyzing, investigating, and documenting (over 108 pages of Notes and Bibliography) the everyday workings of Lee grand Army of Northern Virginia.
Not a book if you are looking for the taste and feel of battle. But an excellent source for the "rest of the story" of Civil War army life. Dr. Glatthaar's writing style is easy and flows with an interesting chronological time line. He subtly points out how General Lee's army changed as the war progressed and more of the veteran leaders and soldiers were killed or become incapacitated. He highlights through personal quotes how many of the problems associated with any army also plagued Lee's Army. Not everything was chivalrous and honor. Thievery, desertion, skulking, straggling, lying, quibbling, cowardice, drunkenness, etc., all plagued General Lee's heroic army. The most interesting aspect of this book is how General Lee handled these problems.
One of the highlights of Dr Glatthaar's book is his extensive use of personal quotes from the various participants: From generals to privates. This gives the reader a feel for how these men, and women, really thought and felt about the intense times they were living in. Many times not flattering about General Lee or his army, but then, that is the way of a soldier's life.
Highly recommended for a more in-depth analysis of how a Civil War army functioned on a daily basis. Again, NOT a book about battles, strategies, or tactics, but rather a look at the more mundane daily life of a soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia.
*My only real fault about this excellent book is: It would have been nice if Dr. Glatthaar had incorporated some of his many overwhelming facts in a few more appendices in tabulated form. That way the reader could get a better feel for it all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: No longer any doubt the Civil War was about slavery
Comment: For all those who still cling to the absurdity that the Civil War was fought for reasons other than slavery, Joe Glatthaar's monumental study of Lee's army will disabuse such individuals of their delusions. Glatthaar's thoroughly researched opus, complete with a quantitative breakdown of the rank and file and officers of the Army of Northern Virginia relative to slaveholding, proves beyond all doubt that white Southerners fought to preserve their "peculiar institution."
Equally impressive is Glatthaar's wonderfully engaging, seamless narrative. Not one chapter was "overdone" or "over the top." That's quite an accomplishment in a book of over 600 pages. Finally, Glatthaar is to be commended not only for his substantially argued thesis but for providing all those interested in Civil War history with a readable, comprehensive, and exciting account of the exploits of the war's most storied general and his army.
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