Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons: Staff and Headquarters Operations in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 [Hardcover]

J. Boone Bartholomees (Author), James B. Bartholomees (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons approaches topics familiar to Civil War readers from a unique perspective-that of the staff. J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr., examines how the staff officers of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and its subordinate corps, divisions, and brigades were selected, trained, and organized and explores what staff officers did, how they did it, and how effective they were. Bartholomees surveys the entire scope of Army of Northern Virginia staff operations from quartermaster and commissary duties to medical and routine administrative functions to intelligence, command and control, and combat operations. He assesses the major problems faced in each functional area and the degree of success achieved armywide and at subordinate headquarters. Bartholomees concludes that, although the Army of Northern Virginia's staff system reflected more the traditional personal style of staff operations than the modern system that was emerging in Europe at the time, the staff nonetheless managed to keep a large army in the field for four years under difficult conditions.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"J. Boone Bartholomees has produced a comprehensive and highly readable study of the Army of Northern Virginia's staff and its headquarters' operations throughout the entire war."--Civil War News

"This first substantive study of Civil War staff work . . . is a truly original and worthwhile addition to the literature, one that we hope will spur further scholarship on the inner workings of the Union and Confederate armies."--Journal of American History

"Bartholomees's detailed, informative book is worth the attention of every historian of the Civil War era."--North Carolina Historical Review

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr., is a professor of military history at the United States Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and the author of U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Policy and Strategy.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press; First Edition edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570032203
• ISBN-13: 978-1570032202
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,646,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent addition to Civil War scholarship, July 20, 1999

By 

Charles R. Bowery Jr. (Bad Windsheim, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons: Staff and Headquarters Operations in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 (Hardcover)

A book on Confederate staff work was definitely needed, and this book fits the bill nicely. The first half of the book offers very thorough descriptions of the various staff positions and agencies. The author does a good job of explaining how these positions came into being, how they were manned, and how (if at all) staff officers were trained. Also interesting to read the author's relation of these 19th c. staff positons to their modern counterparts.

If I have any criticism, it may be that the text relies a little too much on three individual staff officers- Walter Taylor, Henry Kyd Douglas, and Heros Von Borcke. I wonder if there are other memoirs out there that would expand on their accounts.

Overall an outstanding book. Very logical and readable. Fascinating treatment of a neglected topic.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons, September 10, 2009

By 

Louis B. Lee "Johnny3Steps" (Peach Co,GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons: Staff and Headquarters Operations in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 (Hardcover)

The book is a must for the Civil War buff who wants to understand the Headquarter Operations of the Army of Northern Virginia, lead by the famous and beloved General Robert E.Lee.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ancedotes humanize complex survey of CSA staff operations, August 31, 2000

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons: Staff and Headquarters Operations in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 (Hardcover)

The history of the Civil War is more than recounting the movements of armies and the fighting of battles. Someone has to gather the information and send the messages that brought the armies together in the first place. That is the focus of this detailed history of staff work in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

When the war began, the Confederacy found itself having to build everything from scratch, and their army was no different. Although they borrowed heavily from the U.S. Army's way of doing things, it eventually became clear that innovations would have to be made, both to account for the maneuvering of growing armies, but also to deal with the expanded technology -- railroads, telegraphs and the use of longer and more accurate weapons -- rarely seen before by fighting men.

"Buff Facings" is a detailed account of how Lee and his generals coped. While the depth of detail may discourage the general reader, Bartholomees offers a generous selection of ancedotes that allow for bursts of humanity to show. In the middle of an account of the development of the Signal Corps, he relates how Major General Stephen Ramseur received a vitally important message just before the Battle of Cedar Creek: "The crisis is over and all is well." It announced the birth of his daughter.