Customer Reviews

Confederate General of the West: Henry Hopkins Sibley

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I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War in the Southwest. Understanding Sibley is the key to understanding the successes and failures of the invasion of New Mexico. This book provides a great deal of detail on the invasion, the centerpiece of Sibley's career and the high point of a mediocre military career.

There are a number of typos and poorly worded passages that lead me to believe this book was never thoroughly edited, but they are minor and the reader can overlook them. The narrative flows easily and the book is organized mostly in chronological fashion.

I found myself wanting to know more when I was finished. The author was very thorough in most respects but some small questions were left unanswered - why it took 70 years for his grave to get a headstone - what was the resolution of his lawsuit against the government for residuals on the sale of the Sibley tent and whether his family ever got any money from such a settlement - why Sherman was so involved in helping Sibley later in life (it was never made clear if they were close before the Civil War or if they served together for any significant period).

But these unanswered questions do not detract from the excellent job the author did in portraying Sibley. I feel a greater sense of sympathy for him now because I understand more about him - the author brought him to life.

General Sibley was in charge of the Confederate Army that invaded New Mexico in 1862. He drank a bit! This bit of Civil War history never makes it into the books. This book is very informative and is very good reading. In "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" this is the Civil War campaign that the film is based around.

I originally purchased the book to add to my collection on the American Civil War in the Southwest US. Of the various characters in the Campaign, Sibley is the most tragic, as a mediocre Federal Officer that gets a big oppurtunity with the Confederate Army. I feel it is important to understand the person behind the decisions, to cut past their defects and see why certain things were done. I appreciate that in this biography they do not try to sugar coat Sibley's drinking.

I grew up in New Mexico before the topic had again become popular again, and was taught in school. This book is an easy read, and gives some depth to the character of Sibley, who is often dismissed as just a drunk and another mediocre officer. I really liked how the book took the time to explore his early life, his pre-civil war career, and his post civil war career in Egypt. It focused on more than just his time concieveing the New Mexico Campaign for a change, and even discusses his further command in Louisianna during the civil war.

All in all I felt the book was good, and worth my time. Like some of the other reviewers have mentioned; there are a few typos, and further into the book there are also some unanswered questions. But those are not rreally things that played into the life of Sibley while he was alive so are easy enough to overlook.