Customer Reviews

Lees Lieutenants (3 Volumes In One Abridged) : A Study in Command

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4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I developed a strong interest in the Civil War four years ago after reading a biography on President Lincoln that touched on how frustrated he was with trying to find competent officers to lead the Army of the Potomac. When I drove to Knoxville, Tennessee I took the audio books Gods and Generals, and The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara with me. The descriptions of the battle ground and unfolding battle were so vivid that I could see it clearly in my mind. By the time, I was finished with both audio books I was hooked.

Since I completed both audio books by the time I drove from Utah to Tennessee, I picked up a copy of Grant Moves South (which is the story of the Union's western campaign) by Bruce Catton at Chattanooga,Tennessee when I went and saw the Chickamaga battlefield. After seeing the war from the western point of view on the Union side I wanted to see the war from the Southern point of view on the eastern campaign - that led me to this book.

This book is an abridgement of the original three-volume version (the footnotes have been taken out). It is an incredibly well written book. It is a history of the army of Northern Virginia from the first shot fired to the surrender at Appomattox - but what makes this book unique is that it is a biography of around 150 Confederate officers. The book discusses in depth all the tradeoffs that were being made politically and militarily by the South. The book does an excellent job describing the battles, then at a critical decision point in the battle, the book focuses on an officer - the book stops and tells the biography of that person, and then goes back to the battle and tells what information the officer had at that point and the decision he made. At the end of the battle, the officers decisions are critiqued based on what he could have known and what he should have known given his experience, and that is compared with 20/20 hindsight.

An excellent read.

Bah, humbug. Having read the original 3-volume works (my parents gave it to me for Christmas of 1954), and re-read it from time to time, I found this abridgement unsatisfying and almost a mockery of the original. I recommend that any person seriously interested in the Army of Northern Virginia spend the additional money for the original.

I supposed the current work would be satisfactory for a newcomer to the Civil War and might even give this work five stars. Freeman was the undisputed giant with respect to Southern History, also writing the 4-volume set "R. E. Lee, A Biography," and editing the 52-volume set of the "Southern Historical Society Papers," which is usually purchased as an adjunct to the 130-volume "War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies." All of these are still available (for up to $2,500.00), and they are indispensible for the committed Civil War Historian.

Freeman's prose is as lively and readable today as it was when he wrote in the 1930s and 40s. In fact, I would give five stars to all his works including "George Washington" and "The South to Posterity." I am not sorry I purchased the LL abridgement, as it is of course a good read, but not the reference the original was.

So buy this abridgement, but then move up to the original or buy the original in the first place.

Freeman develops all of the subordinate commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia, with a particular emphasis on Stonewall Jackson. Personnel from Major Pelham on up are treated with sympathy and respect even when their battlefield performance was not up to par. It is as if Freeman was emulating his hero, Robert E. Lee, who spoke kindly whenever possible about his people. There is no attack-dog writing here, but the reader will be able to form valid and accurate judgments from Freeman's evidence and commentary. Many of the generals featured in this work are not household names, not having been spectacular failures or featured prominently at Gettysburg. Officers like Ramseur, Rodes, Pegram, Anderson, Rosser, Early, A.P and D.H Hill, Pender, Gordon, Mahone and Field all come alive in Freeman's work, lightly in the abridgement, but thoroughly in the original.

There is much to learn here, and much to be proud about for all Americans, Union and Confederate.

Douglas Freeman leaves no doubt that his heart lies with the doomed Southern cause. Yet he does not on that account engage in blind worship of poor generalship. Of course this is the war as seen through the experiences of the Army of Northern Viriginia, as the title clearly asserts. It is more than that, it is one of the pioneering works that tries to take the reader into the minds of the various commanders by presenting only that information which was available to them at the time. This avoids the type of hind-sighting that armchair strategists can indulge in the comfort of their study.

Freeman acknowledges some serious shortcomings in the Confederacy's efforts on the whole. For example, he points out the woeful lack of formal military education in the junior field-grade officers who were often placed at the head of a brigade without any more background than barracks-rooms tales or childhood games with toy soldiers. Their lack of foresight with respect to supply and munitions expenditure (the all-imortant, though "boring" logistical considerations)would negate the most meticulous plans made with map and pen and protractor.

Freeman finds Lincoln to have been a more astute wartime Commander in Chief than Jefferson Davis despite the latter's military background. His complaint that southern officers were often selected more for their political connections than their military prowess is one that affected the North equally.

Freeman acknowledged as well the tendency of Lee's subordinates to rush headlong into offensive operations without considering alternative methods of picking ground so as to force the enemy to come to them, thereby gaining the advantage of cover and superior position. This has almost become a commonplace but Freeman's excellent narrative provides example after example.

Most importantly the power of the writing carries the reader along...this is no dry academic text. This is, as the subtitle mentions, a "study in command" but one marked by considerable insights into the physical and psychological limitations of the chaotic 19th century battlefield, given the primitive nature of communications -- telegraph and semaphore notwithstanding.

The abridgement is judiciously accomplished retaining most of the essence of the three-volume original.

Published in 1942, Lee's Lieutenants, despite the bulkiness of the original set, was carried overseas by American Army and Corps commanders for inspirational reading. One Korean war analyst mentioned that he was apprised after the war that a Chinese general kept a heavily underlined copy of the translated third volume with him.

Lee's Lieutenants is the most in-depth, comprehensive study of the officers of the Army of Northern Virginia that I have ever read. Not only are the officers we here so much about, like Jackson, Longstreet, Stuart, D.H. and A.P. Hill adequately covered, but other brave and dependable officers like Early, Rodes, Pender, Ramseur, Hampton, Fitz Lee, Hood, Pelham, Alexander, Mahone and countless others including staff members of the major officers, are all given due credit and attention. One of my favorite officers of the confederate command was the young Georgian by the name of John B. Gordon. Gordan was one of those rare men who never had formal military training, but gained such a reputation on the field that as the war progressed, he became one of Lee's most trusted and able officers. The ANV had the advantage of good officers, but as the long, bloody war progressed, so many of these fine officers from the ranks of colonel to lieutenant general were killed. Freeman covers the situation in detail in the latter part of the book. The army fought its way to the very end. At this point it was an army of starving troops, few capable officers, and shattered divisions, brigades, and regiments. A detailed book that covers the officers, the battles, the strategies, and the devotion of the fighting men of the South. A must read for any student of the Civil War. I do agree with the reader who stated that the maps were not all that good.

My uncle had read the three volume series of Mr. Freeman's work on Robert E. Lee's generals and wanted me to do the same. If I start something I like to finish it and I just didn't want to conquer the couple thousand pages in the three volumes so I opted for the one volume abridgement. It is well written, a classic of Civil War history, and gave great insight into the minds and actions of the Confederate military leadership. From reading the introduction this abridgement was made possible not by excising the main text, but by eliminating a majority of the voluminous notes and addendum material present in the three volume series. I don't know what I missed, but what remained was fascinating, extremely readable, and well recommended. At this point I would be very interested in acquiring and reading the three volume set.

Abridgements of great works in and of themselves are not a bad thing. As I read through this volume I could not but help noticing how poorly it reflected upon Freeman's original three volume work.

Douglas Southall Freeman's Magnum Opus is distorted quite significantly in this abridgement. If you have not read his original work I suppose this volume will suffice. But why settle? I frequently come across the original volumes at used bookstores for around $50-$60.

Mr. Freeman's writing is good literature apart from being great history. Though the original work is dated it still is a magnificient example of historical writing. Mr. Freeman's work is what got me interested in Civil War history.

Having read the unabridged version I approached this abridgement. My experience can be described as comparing the painting of the Mona Lisa with a pencil rendition. The absence of the appendices and the explanatory footnotes together with the gouged text made less traumatic with artificial bridging (abridgement) results in nothing more than a mere pencil sketch of a true masterpiece. There is no substitute for the full version.

Very well written book that is really three volumes that looks at Lee's command of his Army of Northern VA. from the perspective of his leadership and the relationship and performance of his key generals. There is newer information on many of the individuals in this classic such as Magruder, Longstreet, Gordon and Hill but Freeman does one of the best blow-by-blow accounts of the battles then anyone. When I first read the book I was very impressed with the detail even about the Battle of Williamsburg and I clearly recall Freeman's description of Jubal Early getting shot down when trying to take redoubts not knowing that Hancock had already arrived on his left. He provides a fascinating analysis of each key officer at the beginning of each volume. The only weakness is that Freeman was a huge admirer of Lee and he accepts Jubal Early's post war philosophy that Lee did not fail but was failed by others. Note that in each volume, the character description of Longstreet grows dark as Freeman starts to write about Gettysburg. Stonewall has less luster in the book as well but in spite of that, the volumes are quite fascinating.

"Lee's Lieutenants" was for many years, the seminal work on the Civil War. This series of volumes almost single-handedly defined Civil War military history, and was a textbook in military academies throughout the world. In fact, it was so authoritative that it focused academic and popular attention on the Army of Northern Virginia and the Eastern Theater; almost denuding the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters of any mention at all either in the classroom, or popular histories. Although originally published in the early '30's, it is still "required reading" for Civil War historians in the early 21st Century. The current edition in a single volume retains the power of the original series, but without the extraneous appendices and footnotes. The result is a scholarly history that moves quickly, and holds your attention.
That being said, the book certainly reflects the agenda of its author, even with (or maybe because of) skillful editing. Growing with the propaganda of the "Lost Cause" permeating his home and surroundings, Mr. Freeman wanted to capture many of the storis of the ANV he heard as a youth, supported by original research. In areas, this desire almost turns the prose into a Confederate Iliad, with perfect physical specimens joyfully lusting for combat. Certainly no discussion of the higher rights and wrongs of the rebellion will be found here (unusual considering that R.E. Lee opposed both secession and slavery and would've made an interesting sidelight into his pysche). That caveat in mind, this is STILL required reading for anyone seriously interested in the ANV, or command as practiced by Civil War armies. Highly recommended.

Don't buy this. BUY THE ORIGINAL 3 VOLUME. You can try to justify why the abridgment is better but it's all a bunch of nonsense. It says this book is 900 pages; volume 1 of the full set is 700 pages, which means the abridgment is lacking most of the real story. Would you watch a version of Titanic thats 30 mins long, or would you even want someone to buy watered down versions of your work? The original is amazing, buy that one instead.