Commanding Voices of Blue & Gray: General William T. Sherman, General George Custer, General James Longstreet, & Major J.S. Mosby, Among Others, in Their Own Words [Hardcover]

Brian M. Thomsen (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2002

The agony and anguish of the War Between the States affected all aspects of American life. Many quarters suffered, but one in particular seemed to prosper in the postwar aftermath: the publishing industry. Though the success of Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant (as published by Mark Twain) is a clear milestone in publishing's history of bestsellers, it was only one of many highly successful Civil War memoirs penned and published by veterans in the postwar years.

Never before in America had such a plethora of eyewitness accounts of a war existed, nor so many by those in a position of command.

Drawing on the best of these accounts, most of them long out of print, Commanding Voices of Blue & Gray presents in a single volume the personal words of these leaders and provides an overview of the command experience in the Civil War.

Selections include:

General William Tecumseh Sherman on his infamous march through Georgia

General George B. McClellan on the battle of Antietam and the legendary lost order that should have tipped him off to Lee's plans

General George Armstrong Custer's experience of going straight from studying at West Point to the Battlefield

General (CSA) James Longstreet on serving under Robert E. Lee

General (CSA) G. Moxley Sorrel on serving under General James Longstreet

Major (CSA) J. S. Mosby on the South's guerrilla campaign

General (CSA) Jubal Early's memoir of the last year of the war

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For this anthology of Civil War leaders' writings, editor Thomsen has ferreted out revealing and informative pieces that can't be plucked off the average bookshelf, such as Jefferson Davis' first inaugural address and two of Lincoln's 1861 policy statements. Plunging onto the field, he includes an excerpt from John Mosby's memoirs about the delights of being a Confederate Robin Hood who got to keep the loot and Captain Abner Doubleday's account of his third day at Gettysburg. George McClellan shows no awareness of how his own failures prevented the execution of a fine plan to quash Lee's army, and Lew Wallace tells the story of his command at Monocacy Junction, Virginia, in one of the most obscure decisive battles in American history. The penultimate contribution comes from Jubal Early, fighting rebel and founder of the lost-cause myth; he argues like the good lawyer he was, and in a way that won the erstwhile Confederacy much of what had been lost on the battlefield. Fine, readable fodder for Civil War mavens. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"For this anthology of Civil War leaders writings, editor Thomsen has ferreted out revealing and informative pieces that can't be plucked off the average bookshelf, such as Jefferson Davis's first inaugural address and two of Lincoln's 1861 policy statements. Plunging onto the field, he includes an excerpt from John Mosby's memoirs about the delights of being a Confederate Robin Hood who got to keep the loot and Captain Abner Doubleday's account of his own third day at Gettsyburg. George McClellan shows no awareness of how his own failures prevented the execution of a fine plan to quash Lee's army, and Lew Wallace tells the story of his command at Monocacy Junction, Virginia, in one of the most obscure decisive battles in American history ...Fine, readable fodder for Civil War mavens" - Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765305836
• ISBN-13: 978-0765305831
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,155,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Civil War Chronology through Speeches, January 29, 2009

By 

M. Nyhof (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Commanding Voices of Blue & Gray: General William T. Sherman, General George Custer, General James Longstreet, & Major J.S. Mosby, Among Others, in Their Own Words (Paperback)

Absolutely wonderful book. Commanding Voices is a compilation of speeches, memoirs, and personal recollections made personally by major Civil War figures. Each section is stands alone and can be read by itself, but the sections are arranged chronologically, so that if you read the book front to back, you'll get a first-hand view of the Civil War in proper order.

This book is not meant to be any kind of novel or narrative reading. It's strictly a compilation of speeches and (partial) memoirs. They're nicely arranged, of course, and you end up with a sense of satisfaction after you've finished, but don't expect there to be a "introduction, conflict, plot, and climax." This is not a historical fiction novel.

The speeches and memoirs themselves are first rate, and some are downright entertaining. The book begins with Lincoln's Address to Congress before the Civil War and proceeds from there. Major points in the Civil War are taken from major characters involved.

A wonderful book all around. Highly recommended.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Matt's Book Review, May 14, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Commanding Voices of Blue & Gray: General William T. Sherman, General George Custer, General James Longstreet, & Major J.S. Mosby, Among Others, in Their Own Words (Hardcover)

When I started reading "Commanding Voices Of Blue And Grey" By Brian M. Thomson, I'll admit I wasn't exactly thrilled to read it, but after a while it started to grow on me. The book was kind of hard to read because it wasn't in a story format like I'm used to. This book didn't really have a main character through the whole book, and it was kind of like a textbook, except much more interesting. Brian M. Thomson did a terrific job turning the experiences of different people that served in the civil war into short story like scenes. This book had some good battle scenes and some very important people that turned the tide in the war. This book was extremely good about showing both sides of the story. This book helped me completely understand the civil war and it was also surprisingly good.