Customer Reviews

I Rode with Stonewall

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This book, first published in 1940 - long after Douglas' death - is based on Douglas' war-time journal and personal papers. Douglas began to assemble them into book form several times, but never had them published; his relatives did......What emerges are wonderful portraits of Douglas, Jackson (for whom Douglas was a staff officer) and many other well-known (and not so well-known) soldiers and civilians caught in the Civil War. Douglas is decidedly pro-Jackson, but Douglas also shows us the real Jackson: a man who could be cruel to the extreme and then gentle and kind a few moments later. The book is fill with humorous anecdotes, which make it a "fun read" - I could not put it down. Yet there is an underlying sadness in the book, as one watches Douglas' many friends being killed off, sees the homes of his family and civilian friends burned or otherwise destroyed. Douglas never explicitly states it, but the reader can feel the anguish that Douglas - and many others - experienced....... One thing Douglas did not do was go into great detail about each battle. He reasoned that later historians, with a better overall view of things, would do a much better job. What he does do is "put you there" - whether in battle, in camp, or on some small adventure. This is one fantastic book! Along with the memoirs of Gen. E.P. Alexander, these memoirs are about the best I have ever read. Simply a great book!

"I Rode with Stonewall" is one of the finest personal narratives of the Civil War, America's most decisive and costly conflict. The author, Henry Kyd Douglas, began writing this memoir soon after the conclusion of the war, but put it aside for more than thirty years while he practiced law and raised a family. At his death, his book about the war had not been edited and it wasn't until a descendent discovered the transcript and found a publisher that it was finally released in 1940, on the even of another great martial struggle. I purchased my first copy on a visit to the Fredericksburg battlefield more than twenty years ago and after reading most of it on a flight back from Washington D.C. to California, left it on the plane and in the days before the Internet, it was hard to secure another. Fortunately, on another tour of Civil War battlefields and museums, I managed to bring a copy back for my library - it's that memorable a book. Henry Kyd Douglas was a native of Maryland and a dashing young officer who served on Stonewall Jackson's staff in the early stages of the Civil War. And, like many other Confederate officers and enlisted men, he was devoted to the stern, brilliant artilleryman. Douglas later had a field command and despite being wounded no less than six times, he survived four years of brutal war. Unfortunately, other young heroes of the Confederacy, friends of Douglas like John Pegram, Sandy Pendleton and John Pelham did not. Douglas was handsome, dashing, brave and outgoing and because of these qualities, he was popular with officers on both sides in the war and a favorite of the Southern belles. His account is peppered with fond encounters, but always chivalrous, he abbreviates the names of the women he flirted with. Although the book is full of death, of lives lost in the ill-fated cause of the Confederacy and the abominable institution of slavery, it also shows that there was an idealistic and romantic side to the war. Even in the service of a bad cause, the terrible conflict between North and South brought out the deeper qualities of the men that served. Jeffrey Morseburg

Written by a man who was close to Jackson, but published over 75 years after the fact, this account may or may not be totally factual. Nevertheless, even if it contains a modicum of BS, it is still first-hand BS, and to me this is so much more interesting than accepting someone's perhaps biased "interpretation" of the same events well over a century later.

On a trip to Gettyburg 20 years ago, I was killing time in the bookstore and happened to pick up "I Rode with Stonewall." I've read a ton of Civil War books, and this is hands down the best. It's an amazing account from the perspective of a 21-year-old general and wonderfully written. You won't be able to put it down. My only regret is that Douglas didn't write more.

Ken Johnson
Easton, Mass.

It appears that even HKD knows that slavery was a great evil on America. Nevertheless, his writing makes you understand the bonds that confederates formed in this awful war.

"While I cannot go back on the boy soldier of '61, whose hair was black as his coat is now and whose coat was as grey as his hair is now, I remember that in '99 he is wearing glasses, that few of his comrades are left, and that it behooves him to write soberly, discreetly, and fairly."

The writing speaks for itself.

I'll start with a Henry Kyd Douglas-like disclaimer: This is not a serious historical study of the Civil War. It is basically the diary of a very young man who was thrust into close proximity of many historical events and figures. He had the good fortune to survive the carnage of the war, unlike the majority of his friends and fellow soldiers, and I thank him for orginizing and writing down his thoughts. The anecdotes are priceless, Douglas' viewpoints are insightful and the picture painted of Stonewall Jackson rings true with everything else I've read about him. Don't worry about Douglas' occasionally unreliable knowledge of the war's big picture. Just enjoy the book. It's fantastic. I read a lot about all aspects of the Civil War and I find first-hand accounts such as this to be extremely valuable and entertaining.

Seeing some of the Civil War battles through the eyes of a soldier is extraordinarily insightful. The writing here is excellent and the feel of the action quite real.

This book started my husband's hobby of reading everthing "Stonewall". I thought I lost the first copy I gave him in our move. Found this to replace it...now I have 2. I'll pass one on to our son.

I read this book in 1979, and would rate it highly as a good read.
However, I was disappointed a few years ago to learn that the entire thing is a fabrication, a string of lies from beginning to end.
A lot of men lie about their military service. Apparently Douglas was one of the more flagrant exemplers.

Unfortunately, I can't back up what I'm saying. I have no source. I forget where I read it.

While re-reading a passage in Shelby Foote's narrative history, I came across the account of Stonewall sitting on the fence, eating the lemon. Douglas is, I believe, the main, if not the only source for the "Lemon Legend."
I wondered to myself, "Now where did I read that Douglas's memoir was an utter fabrication? I'll check the Amazon reviews; surely someone will have debunked this book."

So here I am. My only point is, don't believe me or Douglas.
Let the Reader Beware.

Can anyone shed some light on this?