Customer Reviews

At the Right Hand of Longstreet: Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer

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

 

 

There hardly exists a more insightful look at the Confederate High Command than Moxley Sorrel's memoirs. Personally, I rate it #2 among those of CSA general officers; following closely behind Edward Porter Alexander's "FIGHTING for the CONFEDERACY." Besides his fairly objective view of operations and personalities within both the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee; Sorrel's detailed observations of the inner workings of the ANV's command and staff greatly enhance the military historian's understanding of events. It is a MUST for any Civil War library. I look forward to my fourth reading of this enjoyable work.

The Book was an absolute pleasure to read, especially from a person that was actually there. I can not understand why any negative comments would be generated about this entertaining book. Sounds like someone had an ax to grind!

Sorrel offers a look at the War for Southern Independence throught the experiences of his years as a staff member for some of the Confederacy's top brass - more to the point, Genl James Longstreet. Indeed, the reader is reminded that this account is NOT a war-account per se, nor a review of military actions. At best it is a somewhat rambling, though very coherent series of musings on a variety of topics. There is however, a light-hearted tone to the memoirs. G. Moxley rarely has a "bad" thing to say about anyone - he certainly seems to have no agenda, as those other writers of the postwar years who tried to settle their accounts by writing their own venomous, more mean-spirited versions of events to cast themselves in a better light. Finally, I'd suggest this for more versed readers of Civil War lore. Sorrel's constant "name-dropping" or battle references are quite meaningless to a novice student. Also of interest is to witness the writing style (vernacular) from that period. The flowery speech, sentence structure, etc., is an experience as well. It is reprinted in the "original" format as first published - another twist! You get the real "feel" of reading this as if it WAS just published. Again, despite my modest ranking, I would recommend this for those with a more Confederate slant (like me!)

Moxley Sorrel was one of the best staff officers in the Confederate army. He served as one of the key staff officers in the service of Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps. This book, in his own words, is one of the more insightful books by an "insider" from the Civil War.

The book provides some brief background, prior to Sorrel joining Longstreet's staff (which, by the way, appears to have been one of the better corps staffs on the Confederate side--east or west or trans-Mississippi).

His career was distinguished and he had a rare opportunity to observe Longstreet and other major Confederate officers. The book portrays Sorrel's views on major battles of the war--from the Peninsula to Seven Pines to the Seven Days to Second Manassas and on to Gettysburg. Then, an examination of the First Corps' movement to the western theatre, where it played a key role at Chickamauga.

Sorrel became a battlefield figure at the Wilderness, as he led a flanking attack on Union General Winfield Scott Hancock. He finished the war as a battlefield commander rather than a staff officer.

What is best about this book, though, is his careful and thoughtful analysis of events and officers. A very nice work indeed.

General Gilbert Moxley Sorrell's memoir of the War Between the States is a must-read for any serious student of the War and a fascinating historical account of soldierly life and experiences. Sorrell served in Longstreet's Brigade beginning at Manassas and as his staff officer until his promotion to Brigadier-General in 1864. He paints a vivid picture of camp life and of the political climate of the times that is often overlooked in military accounts. Highly recommend

This late memoir seems to have been one of the most heavily used sources for scholars of Lee, Longstreet and other generals and the Gettysburg campaign in particular.

As a memoir, it's not very personable, with the author's personal experiences and even his serious injury told in a distant manner, which is not uncommon for works of this kind. It is interesting as an account of Longstreet and others around him, although it shouldn't be taken as absolute gospel; Sorrel's opinion on the Gettysburg campaign in particular seems calculated to deflect any possible criticism from his erstwhile chief.

There are some interesting and unexpected tidbits here -- for one, the role of the spy Harrison, whose very existence has been questioned by some writers. Far from appearing only once on the eve of Gettysburg, he appears in Sorrel's memoir as a regular contact of Longstreet's and one who was still living when the memoir was written. This would seem to strengthen the argument that Harrison's information about Federal activities in the Gettysburg campaign would have been useful to the Confederate command.

It's also interesting (and refreshing) to see how non-teetotal Sorrel's Army of Northern Virginia is -- whiskey everywhere, and even a priceless scene of Longstreet and other officers singing arias while standing on a table.

Like other auto biographical books popular to the day, Sorrel has followed in his fellow soldiers' style of seldom covering their lives while detailing Confederate Army history. While following the Confederacy as an aide to Longstreet during the Civil War, Sorrel rarely gives us an opportunity to look inside of him and judge for ourselves his emotions, thoughts or ideas during the years he served in as Longstreet's aide. Instead, we are offered a vague history of the events unfolding that this man saw firsthand. It was refreshing to read that he didn't include other events that he wasn't a part of like a John Gordon did in his reminiscences. Sorrel is fair to all of the events and persons involved though his story isn't truly told. His accounts of Gettysburg and other more memorable events during the war were disappointedly covered. He would sometimes write of an incidence or event in his life though it was vague, quick and lacked useful information. This book reminds me of Walter Taylor's who was General Lee's aide which was written in the same format with the same lack of information or personal style. Sorrel does cover very little of his soldier life while spending many words focused on army movements and battles. I was also disappointed to read very little about Longstreet as I would have hoped to have. In conclusion, Sorrel writes very well, though unfortunately we are left with little content that reveals his true character or General Longstreet's for that matter leaving the reader wanting more.

maybe it was because Longstreet wasn't a very talkable sort I don't know but this book does provide some interesting insights and seldom bogs down.

VERY GOOD BOOK, I ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH, WROTE VERY WELL

I have never found a Civil War book I did not enjoy, even the ones not worth reading.....

until......

I read Moxley Sorrel's book.

It has no detail, it has no substantiated opinions, it has no documentation, and it says nothing new.

An old man is entitled to such ruminations in private, but why inflict them on us?