Four Years With General Lee [Hardcover]

Walter H. Taylor (Author), James I. Robertson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

Walter Taylor was 'first to last the closest' of all staff officers to General Robert E. Lee, and his intimate relationship with his commander gives Taylor's writings signal importance in any study of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Taylor devoted a considerable portion of his postwar years to settling controversies relative to Lee's command. Rarely are his conclusions disputed, because he possessed a memory known to be both cohesive and accurate. He became in effect 'an unofficial court of last resort' in the arguments that abounded in the half-century after Appomattox. A recognized classic, "Four Years with General Lee" first appeared in 1877 and was a collector's item by the turn of the century. For many years a standard authority on Confederate history, it is the source for dozens of incidents that have now become a part of every biography of Lee. This annotated edition, first published in 1962, was prepared by noted Civil War historian James I. Robertson, Jr., who has provided a new introduction for his paperback reissue.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JAMES I. ROBERTSON, JR., is Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech. His books include General A. P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior, Soldiers Blue and Gray, and The Civil War Virginia: Battleground for a Nation.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 218 pages
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253330718
• ISBN-13: 978-0253330710
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,917,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique insights., July 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Four Years with General Lee (Paperback)

Colonel Taylor was the Adjutant-General of the
Army of Northern Virginia, and Lee's right-hand man
at Headquarters. Most of the orders and dispatches
went out in Taylor's handwriting, and he was uniquely
positioned to observe Lee's thinking
and generalship close-up.

In addition, Taylor was responsible for the "returns"
(manpower statistics), and so is able to correlate
the accounts of campaigns and battles with the
actual strength of Confederate forces. The
conclusion is inescapable: few military commanders
have done more, with less, than Lee, and fewer
still can have emerged with his reputation as a
human being.

The book concludes with the Address on the Character
of General R.E. Lee, by Captain John Hampden
Chamberlayne, delivered in 1876, which is a fine
analysis on the career and character of the great
General.

(The numerical rating above is a default setting
with Amazon's format. This reviewer does not
employ numerical ratings.)

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great history of General Lee, March 27, 2000

By 

Charles Rhoads (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Years with General Lee (Paperback)

Four Years with General Lee is a well written book by his "right-hand man", COL Walter H. Taylor. COL Taylor served as the Adjutant General of the Army of Northern Virginia and as such, he was the authority on the strengths of the Confederate Army. So many books give estimated strengths or incorrect strengths for the various armies, but this one is accurate. Much of the book is based on personal letters sent home by COL Taylor to his wife during the war. This is a great book if you want to get the real facts about General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Four years of Confederate history..., April 11, 2002

By 

Todd E. Newman (Valparaiso, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Four Years with General Lee (Paperback)

Taylor's approach to covering the history of the Confederate struggle is encouraging to read. Though the title of this book tends to be a bit misleading. It should be called Four years of Confederate history. Taylor tends to describe battle movements and give calculations as to the manpower of divisions, brigades and regiments to a dragging sense. This books I recommend highly for those trying to get an accurate count of soldiers available for each battle, how many were casualties, after battle net amounts,etc.. Rarely are daily affairs of Lee covered. When I read this book I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't a book about General Lee and his daily livelyhood as I wanted to read about. Since Taylor was Lee's secretary I thought who better than to describe Lee's motives, attitudes, triumphs and defeats? Very rarely did Taylor ever mention Lee in this manner. Not enough to capture the man and tell his story. This book is a quick refresh of battles and movements throughout the war of the Army of Northern Virginia which hardly fits being called Four Years With General Lee. Credit is due to Taylor's ability to calculate total manpower and army positions throughout the four years though falls way short in covering Lee.