Customer Reviews

The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A.

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The Edge of glory is an exceptional book about a Civil War general who is much maligned in history. Lamers portrays Rosecrans as an exceptional General who was successful (if not brilliant) at the strategic and tactical level. At the same time he demonstrates his weaknesses that led to his own downfall and the mistakes that drove his enemies to relieve him. It is a great book for historians and military officers with many lessons that can be learned from both his successes and his failings.

Lamer's biography of William Rosecrans is by far the best ever written on him. It's also the only one, and it's over forty years old. That having been said, it's quite good, and stands the test of time rather well.

The biggest problem with reviewing this book is that there is no others to compare it too. Civil War military historians tend to run in packs, writing and rewriting the same themes such as Lee, Grant, Gettysburg, Lincoln, etc. but leaving other fields as bare as a Georgia field after Sherman marched through it. Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland are good examples of worthy but nearly ignored subjects.

The book views Rosecrans entire life, with the lion's share of it on his Civil War generalship. Lamer's view of Rosecrans is that he was a brilliant but flawed general who combined great successes with an amazing ability to irritate superiors (such as Stanton), fellow generals (like Grant) and subordinates (future President Garfield) alike. Rosecrans also has the distinction of winning all of his battles from West Virginia to Murfreesboro and brilliantly outmaneuvering Bragg at Tullahoma and Chattanooga, losing only once at Chickamauga, but it was an important loss and cost him his job and his reputation. Lamers takes the viewpoint that Ole' Rosey was partly but not wholly responsible for the fatal order to Wood telling him to move out of the line just as Longstreet was attacking with half of the Army of the Tennessee. As a comparison, Cozzens' This Terrible Sound, the most authorative account of the battle, placed much more of the fault at Rosecrans' feet. His later service in Missouri was anticlimactic but important.

The book has a few flaws, aside from not being long enough. The maps are inadequate. His conversion to Catholicism, one of the more interesting aspects of Rosecrans' personality, isn't covered in nearly enough detail. Neither was his post-war career, aside from a final chapter which basically said he was something of a failure as a businessman. Finally, his own writings are not nearly quoted enough. I didn't get the feeling I was meeting the man, only that I was hearing somebody else write about him. His personal life is all but ignored, despite the wealth of material available to Lamers, who was an excellent researcher. These quibbles aside, Lamer's book is a very good start, although a more detailed and up to date study is badly needed.

I found this book to be one of my favorite Civil War biographies. Lamers provided insight into the mind of a great warrior; a gifted if not eccentric intellect; a commander loved by his subordinates if resented by his superiors; a general that is by far underated due to antagonistic relationships with those in significant positions. A must read for any Civil War enthusiasts.

"The Edge of Glory" remains the best biography on William Rosecrans despite having been published over 40 years ago. It is also the only biography on that important figure of the Civil War era. While the book is useful, William Lamers, who was a school official and not a historian, was only looking at a limited portion of his subject's career. Lamers does a solid job in offering the basic narrative of Rosecrans' roller coaster ride in the Union command; covering "Old Rosey's" roles in West Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. Less satisfying is Lamer's covering Rosecrans' tenure in Missouri and his oddly mismanaged bid to be Lincoln's VP in 1864.

There are three major failings in this book. Lamers is overly sympathetic to his subject and, on almost every point of controversy, gives Rosecrans the benefit of the doubt. Rosecrans was a very lively man with a great deal of energy and character however Lamers simply does not capture this. The chief flaw of the book is its limited scope. Despite being overly partial in favor of Gen. Rosecrans, Lamers does a very good job in covering his subject's role in the war. The problems are the other stages of Rosecrans' life. Rosecrans was an important public figure who had an important role in politics, railroads and developing California. For example, Rosecrans served as ambassador to Mexico during a crucial period in American-Mexican relations and chaired the Committee on Military Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives. These parts of Rosecrans' life are barely covered. Rosecrans was also an intellectual who was something of an inventor and a devout Catholic in an age of anti-Catholicism in America. Again, Lamers barely covers these subjects.

"The Edge of Glory" is certainly useful and covers the basics about Rosecrans' military career fairly well. But the book ignores other aspects of his life which were important, if not quite as dramatic. It's time for a new biography on this important 19th century American. Until then, "The Edge of Glory" passes the edge of acceptability if only barely.

In my opinion, Lamers has written an excellent biography of a general, William Rosecrans, who indeed was on the edge of glory as the book's title suggests.

While the focus is on Rosecrans' Civil War service, there are also descriptions of his involvement with his family, businesses, early life, and political involvements.

Indeed, had Rosecrans won the Battle of Chickamauga, quite possibly he, not Grant or Sherman, would have come out of the Civil War as the preeminant Northern general and could very well have been President of the United States had he chosen to run for the office. With Rosecrans' previous victories at Corinth, Iuka, Stone's River, the Tullahoma Campaign, and his earlier victories over Robert E. Lee, he could very well have been the General-in-Chief of the Northern Armies and would have faced Lee again in Virginia. However, this is only speculation and we will probably never know what would have been.

Lamers does an excellent job of describing Rosecrans' personality and how he managed to make friends and enemies in high places. The insights into Rosecrans' personality can be valuable to anyone in the military, business world, ministry, or anywhere else. Specifically, I learned:

1. Get plenty of rest - Lamers and other authors mention that while Rosecrans had tremendous nervous energy, he would at times let the lack of sleep get the best of him. These same authors believe his poor decisions at Chickamauga were due to lack of rest that eventually caught up with him.
2. Know when to talk and when to shut up - while Rosecrans made many friends, he also had the knack for alienating people with his foul language and scathing criticism. Had Rosecrans followed Grant's example of not being particularly critical of others, particularly fellow officers, Rosecrans and not Grant would have been General-in-Chief of the Union armies. Because of this, it apparently took only one mistake on the battlefied to doom him.
3. Do not badger your superiors - Rosecrans continually bothered Halleck, Grant, Stanton, Lincoln, and other superiors with incessant demands and was not willing to maintain a low profile when necessary. According to Lamers, Stanton eventually had enough and was ultimately the one who took the command of the Army of the Cumberland from Rosecrans and demoted him to the obscure outpost of Missouri in 1864 after that state had ceased to be a major battlefield during the years 1861-1863.

In summary, an excellent book and read. My major complaint was the lack of maps. Since Rosecrans was involved in so many important Civil War battles, it would have been nice to have had more maps to follow troop movements.

Still, this is an excellent read. Highly recommended.

If you read virtually any book on the Civil War, or any of the biographies of Grant, you'll find repeated over and over again a set of charges against Rosecrans that are derived from Grant's repeated libels against probably the best general the Union army fielded. So-called historians did not go to the original sources or conduct any analysis, contenting themselves with echoing the words of other historians who, in turn, never bothered to study Rosecrans themselves. Reading Lamer's biography, you'll discover just what a genius Rosecrans was and in this careful analysis, how much he's been mistakenly maligned. I wish I could send a copy of this book to those who parrot Grant or repeat the usual nonsense. In this, the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, it's time Rosecrans had his due.