Book Description
Two well-known historians of the American Civil War collect new essays on eight major military commanders of the Confederacy. Serving as both character studies and strategic analyses, these lively pieces come from some of the preeminent names in Civil War history, including William C. Davis, Charles Roland, and James I. Robertson. Taken together, they form a fascinating portrait of the Confederate command. Includes essays on P.G. T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Samuel Cooper, John Bell Hood, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, and Edmund Kirby Smith.
About the Author
Gary W. Gallagher is the John L. Nau III Professor of History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia. Joseph T. Glatthaar is a professor of history at the University of Houston. Both have authored numerous other works on the Civil War.
Leaders of the Lost Cause: New Perspectives on the Confederate High Command FROM THE PUBLISHER
In May 1861, barely a month into the Civil War, the fledgling Confederate Congress created the rank of full general. By early summer, President Jefferson Davis had appointed four individuals to the rank: Albert Sidney Johnston, Samuel Cooper, Robert E. Lee, and Joseph E. Johnston. At the end of August 1861, P. G. T. Beauregard, hero of Fort Sumter and 1st Manassas, joined the group. Throughout the course of the war, three others would rise to the rank of full general. Braxton Bragg, chief of staff under Albert Sidney Johnston, succeeded his commander after he fell at Shiloh. Edmund Kirby Smith led the Trans-Mississippi Department and received a promotion. The last to hold the rank, John Bell Hood, assumed the position temporarily when he replaced Joseph Johnston as commander of the Army of the Tennessee in July 1864. These generals had an enormous impact on the outcome of the war, yet never before have they been examined collectively. Now eight preeminent Civil War historians offer fresh perspectives on each of these leaders, analyzing their battlefield performance and highlighting the importance of politics and personality in shaping the Confederacy's war effort. Designed to be both suggestive and descriptive, biographical as well as interpretive, these essays form a fascinating portrait of the Confederate high command.
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