Customer Reviews

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (Meridian)

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Be careful what edition of this book you get. The original edition was a large, useful collection of primary sources. However, another edition was put out which, while still a collection of primary documents, was much shorter and could not be considered definitive at all. The latter was the one I wound up with, and I didn't get much use out of it.

This compendium of battle studies and reports was written by commanders of all levels: Grant, Sherman, Lee and Longstreet down to lieutenants commanding companies for points of clarification on minor skirmishes or segments of the battlefield.The accounts were set down when the war was still fresh in their memories, yet when enough time had passed for reflection.

The fact that several viewpoints, some conflicting, are given for each major battle and campaign adds immeasurably to the value of this work. Of course recent "scholarship" has eclipsed and corrected many of these accounts. However, you get the immediacy and vigor of the post-war controversies and the finger-pointing --- the first early exposition of the rift between Longstreet and the Jubal Early faction for example.

Battles and Leaders was for a long time THE source for the early critical historians of the war such as John Codman Ropes, W. Henderson (the pre-eminent biographer of Stonewall Jackson) as well as the generals themselves who wanted to cross-check their accounts. This was the case until well after the release of the Offical Records some ten years later.

There were inevitable lapses of style and critical ability in the original multi-volume edition; these for the most part have been weeded out from this accessible one-volume version.

The great part about this book for me is that one can get the flavor of the passions still raging, even though the writers attempted a detached and clinical tone for credibility's sake.

Johnson and Buell made a concerted effort to elicit a well-rounded picture for battles and episodes which were the subject of intense debate.

If you have any interest in the Civil War, and lack the time to sift through the voluminous post-war memoirs of the commanders, you'll want to keep Battles and Leaders handy.

This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!

This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!