The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy: The Death of Stonewall Jackson and Other Chapters on the Army of Northern Virginia [Hardcover]

Robert K. Krick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

No military unit in all the annals of American history exceeds in reputation Robert E. Lee's illustrious Army of Northern Virginia. In ten chapters based on exhaustive research, esteemed Civil War scholar Robert K. Krick gives eloquent examination to aspects of the army ranging from biographical sketches and the best and worst books on the subject, to Confederate troop strengths and locating soldier records. He begins with two key events: Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's mortal wounding at Chancellorsville; and Jackson's most famous quarrel with a subordinate, which resulted in the unsuccessful court martial of General Richard B. Garnett.

Krick continues with chapters on James Longstreet's failure at Knoxville and the prickly relationship between Jubal A. Early and the undisciplined Valley Cavalry. His piece on Robert E. Rodes is the first complete portrait of Lee's best division commander, whose wife methodically burned all of his letters sent home, forever preventing a full-scale biography. Krick, however, has uncovered a wide array of unpublished material on Rodes to sketch him in fresh perspective. Another essay considers the life and career of Colonel R. Welby Carter-a rogue who was cashiered by a court martial after the Battle of Tom's Brook-a character quite different from Rodes. Krick also examines Maxcy Gregg in the only article written on this politician-general.

The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy gleams with Krick's usual superior research, skilled writing, and sound analysis and sheds new light on one of the most popular Civil War subjects. It is sure to become an integral part of the historiography of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert K. Krick is the author of fourteen books on the American Civil War, including Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, winner of the Douglas Southall Freeman Prize, and Conquering the Valley: Stonewall Jackson at Port Republic.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr; Special Ed edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807127477
• ISBN-13: 978-0807127476
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,301,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slices of Civil War Life and Death!, November 13, 2006

By 

Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy: The Death of Stonewall Jackson and Other Chapters on the Army of Northern Virginia (Paperback)

Award-winning author Robert Krick has written a number of well-received books on the Civil War. Civil War enthusiasts should enjoy this collection of 10 Krick essays published by the Lousiana State University Press.

By and large, the essays deal with various aspects of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The opening essay is an exhaustive account of Stonewall Jackson's wounding and death. Wonderfully researched and well written, it's a marvelous opener to the book. Other essays deal with the ever-controversial James Longstreet, the death of General Robert Rodes, the fiery secessionist General Maxcy Gregg, Jubal Early's cavalry troubles in 1864, good & bad books on the Confederacy, locating & using Confederate army records, etc.

I enjoyed Krick's book tremendously. His essays are interesting, informative, and thought-provoking. Civil War enthusiasts will want to pick up this book. It provides not only interesting reading but much food for thought not to mention heated arguments over how good or bad certain Civil War generals really were!

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but controversial set of essays by Krick, August 18, 2009

By 

Chris "Chris906" (Biloxi, MS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy: The Death of Stonewall Jackson and Other Chapters on the Army of Northern Virginia (Paperback)

Robert Krick does a good job with his essays on various episodes and officers of the Army of Northern Virginia. I want to mention first the things I don't like about some of the essays: Krick is entirely too harsh on General Longstreet and I really don't understand why he feels so strongly in the negative about such a brave officer that he never met and why he wants to be so critical of him. Even Douglas Southall Freeman came to appreciate Longstreet in his classic 'Lee's Lieutenants'. Did General Longstreet make mistakes? Yes, of course. Every Civil War officer in high command made mistakes that they came to regret but Krick is too much from the Jubal Early blame Longstreet first crowd and his Longstreet essays are not the best the book has to offer. I don't mean to preach but it is easy to say 150 years later that in a certain battle that this movement, etc. should have been done but we have hindsight and officers like Longstreet were making the best decisions with the information they had.

On the best things that Krick does: his chapter on the accidental shooting of Stonewall Jackson is quite excellent. This essay gives the book its title but I don't think the title is meant to be taken literally. I thought it was hyperbolic on purpose. But the essay itself lays out with incredible detail about that controversial night. It is a A+ essay. There are also very nice essays on Maxcy Gregg and Robert Rodes. The Rodes essay has now been superseded by Darryl Collins excellent Rodes biography but Krick's essay is a nice short introduction to the fascinating figure of Rodes. The chapter on Jubal Early's cavalry trouble in 1864 is also very good. Also, a book review where Krick rips apart Alan Nolan's controversial (and overrated) 'Lee Considered' is quite delightful. It is good to see Nolan's book cut down to size.

The other essays are quite good just take the Longstreet essays with a grain of salt and I think everything will be okay (For those interested, Jeffry Wert has a excellent modern day biography of Longstreet that gives the man a fair shake). I think this book makes a good companion to Krick's other Eastern theater books and read it with the pioneering work on the Army of Northern Virginia by Douglas Southall Freeman and Clifford Dowdey.

Recommended!

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Longstreet Cabal, July 28, 2007

By 

Clark Thornton "powerfullion" (Atlanta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy: The Death of Stonewall Jackson and Other Chapters on the Army of Northern Virginia (Paperback)

Although this book has a number of good points, like the section on Jackson, this is really just another rant about Longstreet by the king of the anti-Longstreet cabal. Robert Krick is an excellent writer, but he has over the years unjustly presented Longstreet as the "loose cannon" of the South. Krick has made a living preaching the gospel of Longstreet . . . a severely flawed man with and equaly flawed ego, and he probably thinks it's too late to back down now. In spite of the multitude of new books and new evidence establishing Longstreet as one of the best generals in the Southern states during the Civil War, Krick continues his uneven and vitrolic diatribe about one of the South's greatest generals. He's like the energizer bunny . . . he just keeps on and on . . . repeating variations of the lies established so long ago by the Lee Cult conspirators. He doesn't seem to be able to write anything without trying to put the boot to Longstreet. I guess Lee, Johnston, Grant, and a host of others got it all wrong about Longstreet being a "capital soldier". Robert Krick is one of a group of rapidly shrinking notable historians who---dispite the evidence---have blindly painted themselves into a niffty little historical "catch-22". They're d***d if they say they had it all wrong... and they'll be d***d if they don't. But, since they've made a long living bashing Longstreet, don't expect any sudden confessions. Too bad though. What a waste. He's a great writer.

Metaphorically speaking, Krick and other historians of similiar ilk, are "cherry pickers". They use individual cases or data that seem to confirm their position, while ignoring a significant number of related cases or data that contradict that position. They belong to a class of anti-apologists or a "cabal" whose common goal is to bash Longstreet as often and as hard as they can.

A true historian is a neutral one. He presents the facts in an unbiased manner. He doesn't deal in half-truths---statements that may be partly true or even totally true, but represent only part of the whole truth. The intent of the these "anti-apologists" is to blame, not educate. It's to entertain, not illuminate. Having said all this, I will leave you with the following quote by one of the greatest historians of all time.

"It is the first and fundamental law of history

that it should neither dare to say anything that is false,

nor fear to say anything that is true, nor give any just

suspicion of favor or dissatisfaction."

Cicero