Customer Reviews

Four Years With General Lee

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.)

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.

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.

As did Gilbert Moxley Sorrel (Longstreet), staff officer Walter Taylor offers his insights of the War of Southern Independence. Indeed, Taylor has rightful claim to his judgements, as his acquaitance with Lee offered him first-hand knowledge of events. However, I caution future readers that this is NOT a memoir or diary per se - Taylor rarely gives any unique slants to anything, and more often than not, seems occupied with setting the "numbers straight" - many, many, many tables and charts are provided giving the numbers available for this battle and that battle, etc...I suggest this book only for serious students of the war - and more particularly, those wanting "first-hand" data on "numbers." Of final interest, though, is Taylor's disdain for Hiram U. Grant (accurately recognizing Grant as a true butcher - merely throwing big numbers at an under-manned, under-supllied army) and the insertion of a speech given upon the anniversary of Genl Lee's birthday (albeit NOT written, or presented by Taylor himself)

A history of the Civil War by Lee's aide Walter Herron Taylor.

This is more a history than a memoir, and I get the impression that Taylor's other book has more personal reminiscence, though I haven't had a chance to see it yet. It clearly has served as a major source for generations of scholars; it describes most of the ANV's actions with a fair amount of detail and also discusses Lee's early campaign in West Virginia. The numerical strengths of the armies are tabulated in detail.

Taylor's hero-worship of Lee is clear in his analyses of events and in the appended anniversary address, which doesn't make this a less useful source but should be taken into account.

Wonderful book describing the massive work and devotion to duty that General Lee adhered to. Written by his A.A.G. A must read for southern patriots.

Taylor, as Lee's trusty staff member thoughout the war, is a great reference on Lee. Not all his words are to be taken at face value, however. For example, he had provided himself with a lovely suie with a piano and all he needed, far grander than Lee's abode. When Lee commented that Taylor had himself "finely fixed" there, Taylor responded " It will do." Lee was rightfully astounded, and left, although Taylor does not phrase it this way. Just a warning.