General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse, Joseph Glatthaar, Free Press, 624 pages, 19 maps, 41 photographs, appendix, notes, bibliopraphy, index, $35.00.

An exceptional history by professional standards and a thoroughly entertaining work! Glatthaar's General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse is a finely balanced match of statistics and story. Not driven by campaigns and chronology, but by the soldiers and their voices, Glathaar's effort opens the Army of Northern Virginia in a way unlike Douglas Southall Freeman's Lee's Lieutenants. Recently, several battle studies have used soldiers' diaries in an intimate way; Rable's Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!; John Michael Priests' Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle, Tracey Power's Lee's Miserables: Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox and Noah Trudeau's Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage. Glathaar has managed in 472 pages of narrative (yes, there are 150 pages of appendix, notes, bibliography and index) to re-introduce both the scholar and the lay reader to the Army of Northern Virginia.

Those readers who enjoy Bell Irvin Wiley's Johnny Reb and Billy Yank, John Billings' Coffee and Hardtack or Sam Watkins' Company Atchshould confidently approach General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse. Individual chapters focus upon religion and morality, arms and ammunition, combat, the homefront, medical care, desertion, and black Confederates. Campaigns and their battles are covered as they impact the soldiers in the ranks. Lee is treated honestly and without hagiography or disdain. Slavery is put in its place as a cause of the war, as a cause worth dying for and as a cause for regret.

CWL will place it on the Top Ten of 2008 and will return to General Lee's Army: From Victory of Collapse again. Most moving for CWL were three chapters 'The Grind of War', 'Spiral of Defeat' and 'The Final Days.' The collapse of the Army of the Northern Virginia, after a year of sacrifice beyond endurance by the men in the ranks, is nearly heartbreaking.

An excellent book as far as I can judge. It not only contains the big picture of generals' performances and their effect but also goes in depth down to logistics, medical services and the soldiers's performance. The book is also very readable even for an amateur historian such as myself.

Well written and well documented. Approached the subject from the standpoint of the individual soldier and their writings...letters home or diaries. Well worth the time.

This is a fascinating book. On the one hand, its depiction of the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) is well known. On the other, it goes into considerable detail on the everyday lives of Lee's (and, earlier, Johnston's and Beauregard's) army. As such, it does add considerably to our grasp of what the ANV went through. The focus? In the author's own words (Page xv): ". . .scholars and enthusiasts have written thousands of books on various aspects of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, but no one has embarked upon a major investigation of the army throughout the entire war." Joseph Glatthaar also develops a statistical data base (See Appendix I for more details) to provide greater information about the ANV. He worked with political scientist Kent Tedin to get a representative sample of soldiers from the army, 600 in all. For each, the author searched records to get personal information, unit information, and so on. Included as well are graphic comments from letters and other documentation. It makes for a fascinating look at Lee's army.

All in all, almost 200,000 troops, in all, fought in the ANV. A horrifying number were killed or wounded. The army bled a great deal during the Civil War.

This book covers a huge territory: Why the troops joined the army and fought (slavery, by the way, appears to have been one major motivator), the early battle experience and how poorly prepared soldiers were for the conflict, the early history of the army (under Johnston and Beauregard, before the latter was transferred west and the former injured at Seven Pines), Lee's accession to command, the Seven Days' Campaign (where Union General George McClellan, in essence, caved in), the second battle at Bull Run (or Manassas), and so on.

Some of the high points. . . The ups and downs of soldiers' morale. Religious revivals sometimes surged through the troops, as one way of helping deal with the horrors of the conflict. The book addresses the odd juxtaposition of independent, individualistic southern troops with the need for discipline among them. There is nice discussion of the uneven quality of commanders and Lee's predilection of moving his (perceived) less competent high officers to other commands (e.g., transferring Magruder from the ANV to Texas).

If you wish a great amount of detail on actual battles, from First Bull Run through the retreat to Appomattox Court House, this book will not satisfy. But that is not its focus. If you want a sense of the day-to-day lives of soldiers, the challenges in managing an army, Lee's key role in keeping citizens and soldiers motivated to continue, the decline in morale among citizens and soldiers as Sherman's advance after Atlanta continued, and so on, then this book will be of interest.

Anyhow, this strikes me as an important volume, giving readers a detailed perspective on the Army of Northern Virginia.

The Army of Northern Virginia was one of the greatest fighting forces in the history of the world. Interest in it remains high, even some 143 years after it ceased to exist.

General Lee's Army is an exceptional book. It looks at the ANV from every possible angle. Indeed, so comprehensive is Mr. Glatthar's study that one might call it the biography of Lee's Army.

Glatthar shows how the Civil War was truly about slavery. Of course it was, but Glatthar adds to the evidence. He shows how more soldiers in the ANV supported slavery than was ever previously supposed, and he does this convincingly.

He also demonstrates that one reason Lee's Army suffered defeat was because its soldiers could not be disciplined--that they were raised in a society that had little discipline. Thus, the men of Lee's Army would often do what they thought was best despite their officers' orders to the contrary. For instance, after a victory, the men would drop out of ranks to plunder the battle field for food, clothing, weapons, and ammunition. This sometimes prevented Lee from following up a victory. Of course, the lack of discipline was but one small reason among many for the ultimate defeat of Lee's Army. And this lack of discipline may have been one reason why this army was so unique and was able to fight so well for so long against overwhelming odds.

Glatthar's book is not without its faults. He lists several reasons for the defeat at Gettysburg. He does not include, however, some of the most important reasons for this defeat. He makes no mention of the impact of Stonewall Jackson's death on the battle. This was the first campaign since Jackson's death, and his presence at Gettysburg may have changed everything. And though Glatthar explains Lee's reorganization of the army from two corps to three after Jackson's death, he does not show the impact of the reorganization at Gettysburg. Some two-thirds of the army were under new commanders at several levels. Two of the corps commanders had no experience commanding a corps. This certainly influenced the outcome. Neither does Glatthar fault James Longstreet for his surly behavior. Longstreet did not support Lee's battle plans and carried them out with little enthusiasm. As a result, Longstreet's attack on July 2--which was supposed to be done simultaneously with an attack on Culp's Hill-- was several hours late.

In spite of these few shortcomings, General Lee's Army is a fantastic book and will serve as the history of that magnificent army for many years to come.

Not a Book about Battles
Dr Joseph T. Glatthaar's General Lee's Army is NOT a book about battles, although it does an adequate job of summarizing the basics of General Lee's major engagements. Rather, it is an in-depth socio-economic study of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia: What it was, who the personnel were, what they did, and how the army basically functioned. There was more, so much more, to Lee's grand army than just fighting. What was the real morale like? How and what did the soldiers eat and do when not fighting or on "the march"? What happened in camp during those long periods of inactivity? In essence, how did the army function when it was not engaged in combat, and when it was fighting how did the front line soldiers react? Much has been written about civil war combat, strategies, and tactics, but little has been written about the mundane non-combat life of a civil war army. Dr Glatthaar does a superb job of analyzing, investigating, and documenting (over 108 pages of Notes and Bibliography) the everyday workings of Lee grand Army of Northern Virginia.
Not a book if you are looking for the taste and feel of battle. But an excellent source for the "rest of the story" of Civil War army life. Dr. Glatthaar's writing style is easy and flows with an interesting chronological time line. He subtly points out how General Lee's army changed as the war progressed and more of the veteran leaders and soldiers were killed or become incapacitated. He highlights through personal quotes how many of the problems associated with any army also plagued Lee's Army. Not everything was chivalrous and honor. Thievery, desertion, skulking, straggling, lying, quibbling, cowardice, drunkenness, etc., all plagued General Lee's heroic army. The most interesting aspect of this book is how General Lee handled these problems.
One of the highlights of Dr Glatthaar's book is his extensive use of personal quotes from the various participants: From generals to privates. This gives the reader a feel for how these men, and women, really thought and felt about the intense times they were living in. Many times not flattering about General Lee or his army, but then, that is the way of a soldier's life.

Highly recommended for a more in-depth analysis of how a Civil War army functioned on a daily basis. Again, NOT a book about battles, strategies, or tactics, but rather a look at the more mundane daily life of a soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia.

*My only real fault about this excellent book is: It would have been nice if Dr. Glatthaar had incorporated some of his many overwhelming facts in a few more appendices in tabulated form. That way the reader could get a better feel for it all.

Do we "need" another book about Lee or his army? Yes, and Joe Glatthaar delivers exceedingly well. His seminal work "General Lee's Army" is a definite must for both professional and amateur historians. The general reading public will also be captivated by this in depth study of the inner workings of perhaps the most storied Army in American military history, the Army of Northern Virginia.

Glatthaar spent decades researching Lee and his army; employing extensive primary source repositories and statistical analysis to help the reader develop an comprehensive understanding of these men and their motivations. For those "Lost Cause" enthusiasts, your position is seriously weekend by this study. Glatthaar spends significant time debunking this Southern postwar bandwagon. "Their official justifications for leaving the Union offer unshakable proof that their principal motive was to protect and preserve slavery." He examines the non-slave owning Southerners (a majority in the South) to prove they too were dependent upon the peculiar institution. His statistical analysis proves, beyond all doubt, that these Southerner volunteers for Lee's army were directly tied to the slaves of the South as were those on the home front. Slavery was at the forefront of the Southern cause and the battle for Southern "rights."

The hub of this work is the words of the soldiers themselves that fought for Bob Lee. Every chapter contains voices of the South that we don't often hear; privates, lieutenants, and others that tend to fly under the radar in most works. This preponderance of evidence is powerfully interwoven throughout the narrative to solidify Glatthaar's contentions. This lends an air of authority to the work. Not only does Glatthaar include these men and their ideas but he endnotes every paragraph, a method more historians should employ. I love footnotes so I am not forced to flip through the book and break my thought sequence. Joe chose to position them at the end and this works because the references are to sources rather than amplification or ideas. I found myself searching the endnotes when I was curious where he found his sources.

One of the more unique features of "General Lee's Army" is his approach to battlefield accounts. If you are looking for a battles and leaders book, this one is not for you. While each engagement of the ANV is covered (though I found the section on the first Maryland Campaign a bit wanting), these chapters are deftly separated by brightly written sections dealing with the humdrum of camp life as well as the administrative, logistical, medical arms of the army; topics not more often than not that escape the eye of the casual examiner. These are combined with a look at Blacks in the ANV, trench warfare, the Home Front, religion, and ordinance help Glatthaar paint a canvas unlike any other Civil War historian before. The level of detail leaves no doubt in the readers mind that this is the seminal work on the Army of Northern Virginia which will benefit historians seeking to understand this showpiece of the Confederacy.

The statistics provided with the help of Dr. Kent Tedin from the University of Houston Political Science Department provide the capstone for this work. The analysis of Census Records, Service Records, Pension Files, obituaries, county and family histories, till now mostly unused, provide an insight into the Army rarely seen and justify the length of time such a project requires to produce and to read.

Move over on the shelf "Lee Lieutenants" its time to pay homage to the next generation of historians and their toil. Joe Glatthaar has produced a work that will stand the test of time. Do we need another study of the Army of Northern Virginia? Not any more, "General Lee's Army" fills that void.

For all those who still cling to the absurdity that the Civil War was fought for reasons other than slavery, Joe Glatthaar's monumental study of Lee's army will disabuse such individuals of their delusions. Glatthaar's thoroughly researched opus, complete with a quantitative breakdown of the rank and file and officers of the Army of Northern Virginia relative to slaveholding, proves beyond all doubt that white Southerners fought to preserve their "peculiar institution."
Equally impressive is Glatthaar's wonderfully engaging, seamless narrative. Not one chapter was "overdone" or "over the top." That's quite an accomplishment in a book of over 600 pages. Finally, Glatthaar is to be commended not only for his substantially argued thesis but for providing all those interested in Civil War history with a readable, comprehensive, and exciting account of the exploits of the war's most storied general and his army.

I am not what you would call a Civil War buff or expert of that war, yet I do have many volumes on that conflict in my home library, with several of my ancestors fighting for and perishing in the conflict for the Union. A few years ago I felt a volume on Lee's retreat from Gettysburg was needed, and a book from the University of North Carolina soon appeared that did deal with that very subject. Many times I've thought a book was also needed on the mainstay of the Confederacy, the Army of Northern Virginia. and now this volume appears. This new book is both well overdue and well done.

Sometimes when doing a review it seems I have read a different book than many other reviewers doing reviews on that book. Sadly, I get that same feeling here. In the author's own words he has been crafting this book since the late 1980s, and much of the book is based on the participant's own words from their own letters. How anyone can quibble with what these men wrote is beyond my understanding. And in reading these letters, many of the writers did not live beyond the war, so one just must accept what they wrote, felt, saw, and how they prioritized their last months. Many saw state's rights as #1, others saw northern invasion as #1, while others mention slavery as #1. Doesn't really matter, does it, all of these items forged them into what became the Army of Northern Virginia. And early on, one fact the author mentions, is the affect of the home on the battlefront and conversely how the battlefront affected the home. As a newly formed nation, they knew their future depended on supporting one another if there was to be any chance of a successful outcome.

Don't be mislead by the fact of my living in Virginia: I was born and raised in Ohio, and except for my own years of military service, I never really left the state of Ohio for 50+ years. Yet in retirement for various reasons, I have chosen to reside permanently in Virginia.

These letters, facts, and expressed opinions as laid out in this book are not only interesting in many ways to me but they also confound me in some ways. My views, since I remain a northerner or a "Yankee" down here, would certainly not entirely match the views of many Virginia friends, but a book such as this is needed if for no other reason than to show exactly what those Virginians of the war period thought and felt. What drove them to defy a country many of their grandparents had helped to fashion and build. They were very much aware they were in process of destroying what earlier Virginians felt worth building.

Also the Virginia of 2008 in many ways is not the Virginia of the 1861-1865 period, so in a wonderful way the book also puts the contemporary reader in touch with what it meant to be a Virginian back then. Back then Virginia was a commonwealth as it is yet today, and back then Virginians also felt themselves equally blessed and special, as most of that holds true even today.

This book makes interesting reading while offering many facts previously unknown to me, also offering facts I must digest and ponder whether I willingly want to believe in them or not. Though I live in Virginia as an ex-Ohioian I cannot express how many wonderful people I have met here and the feeling too that I myself am now blessed by living in this great state of Virginia. It is almost as if there is something in the land and air, and as I write, this is yet a wonderfully patriotic and faith based state.

Praise this book or curse it, but unless you read it without bias, you will never truly know what it was like to be and feel as a Virginian was and felt in the war years of 1861-1865. And once General Lee's army was through and done with, so too was not only Virginia, but the entire Confederacy as well. When one talks about the Army of Northern Virginia one is speaking, whether realized or not, of the heart of the Confederacy as well. And that heart stopped beating when the Army of Northern Virginia died.

Semper Fi.

I am not what you would call a Civil War buff or expert of that war, yet I do have many volumes on that conflict in my home library, with several of my ancestors fighting for and perishing in the conflict for the Union. A few years ago I felt a volume on Lee's retreat from Gettysburg was needed, and a book from the University of North Carolina soon appeared that did deal with that very subject. Many times I've thought a book was also needed on the mainstay of the Confederacy, the Army of Northern Virginia. and now this volume appears. This new book is both well overdue and well done.

Sometimes when doing a review it seems I have read a different book than many other reviewers doing reviews on that book. Sadly, I get that same feeling here. In the author's own words he has been crafting this book since the late 1980s, and much of the book is based on the participant's own words from their own letters. How anyone can quibble with what these men wrote is beyond my understanding. And in reading these letters, many of the writers did not live beyond the war, so one just must accept what they wrote, felt, saw, and how they prioritized their last months. Many saw state's rights as #1, others saw northern invasion as #1, while others mention slavery as #1. Doesn't really matter, does it, all of these items forged them into what became the Army of Northern Virginia. And early on, one fact the author mentions, is the affect of the home on the battlefront and conversely how the battlefront affected the home. As a newly formed nation, they knew their future depended on supporting one another if there was to be any chance of a successful outcome.

Don't be mislead by the fact of my living in Virginia: I was born and raised in Ohio, and except for my own years of military service, I never really left the state of Ohio for 50+ years. Yet in retirement for various reasons, I have chosen to reside permanently in Virginia.

These letters, facts, and expressed opinions as laid out in this book are not only interesting in many ways to me but they also confound me in some ways. My views, since I remain a northerner or a "Yankee" down here, would certainly not entirely match many Virginia friends, but a book such as this is needed if for no other reason than to show exactly what those Virginians of the war period thought and felt. What drove them to defy a country many of their grandparents had helped to fashion and build. They were very much aware they were in process of destroying what earlier Virginians felt worth building.

Also the Virginia of 2008 in many ways is not the Virginia of the 1861-1865 period, so in a wonderful way the book also puts the contemporary reader in touch with what it meant to be a Virginian back then. Back then Virginia was a commonwealth as it is today, and back then when Virginians felt themselves equally blessed and special, as most of that holds true even today.

This book makes interesting reading while offering many facts previously unknown to me, also offering facts I must digest and ponder whether I willingly want to believe in them or not. Though I live in Virginia as an ex-Ohioian I cannot express how many wonderful people I have met here and the feeling too that I myself am now blessed by living in this great state of Virginia. It is almost as if there is something in the land and air, and as I write, this is yet a wonderfully patriotic and faith based state.

Praise this book or curse it, but unless you read it without bias, you will never truly know what it was like to be and feel as a Virginian was and felt in the war years of 1861-1865. And once General Lee's army was through and done with, so too was not only Virginia, but the entire Confederacy as well. When one talks about the Army of Northern Virginia one is speaking, whether realized or not, of the heart of the Confederacy as well. And that heart stopped beating when the Army of Northern Virginia died.

Semper Fi.

General Lee's Army is a long book about a long horrific odyssey of mayhem, death and defeat. It is the story of the Army of Northern Virginia which suffered over 50,000 deaths during the Civil War. The army was commanded from the days of the Seven Days battles in the spring of 1862 by that complex military genius Robert Edward Lee. The author of this splendid retelling of a familiar story is Dr. Joseph T. Glatthaar of the University of North Carolina. The book has been praised by such eminent historians as James McPherson; Gary Gallagher and Robert K. Krick. When scholars of their caliber praise a work it deserves to be read and absorbed by the Civil War student.
This book of over 600 small printed pages is buttressed by over 100 pages of primary and secondary resource material the author researched in the many years it took to produce this outstanding work. Glatthaar spends many pages recounting first person accounts of battles and soldier life as discovered in the diaries of the men who experienced the hell of combat. Diaries and letters from wives, girlfriends and family members on the homefront are also prominently featured.
The book tells in brief accounts the story of each of the major battles fought by the ANV from Bull Run to Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Overland Campaign, Siege of Petersburg and flight to Appomattox. The author has walked the fields, read the stories of the particpants from officer to enlisted man acquiring a solid knowledge of the battles. The Army of the Potomac was a tough and ultimately victorious foe over Lee's outnumbered troops.
The book devotes chapters to such areas of army life as: Transportation, equipment, weapons, prison life, hospitals and medical care, Southern morale, leadership in high command, camp living and other topics giving the reader an excellent glimpse into the life of Johnny Reb.. We learn that the South main reason for fighting was to preserve the institution of slavery and become independent of what they viewed as a government which had violated states rights. Glaathaar peals the onion of the Lost Cause to discover slavery at the heart of the southern motivation to keep fighting against overwhelming odds.
Though an academic the author writes in a literary style which is clear and understandable to both a Civil War buff and a general reader. This book is an excellent addition to my Civil War bookshelf. It is destined to become an essential resource in exploring the Army of Northern Virginia led by the incomparable Robert E. Lee. Excellent and recommended!

When I was asked to review Joseph T. Glatthaar's latest book, General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse, my first impression was, "What? Yet another book on the Army of Northern Virginia?" While not as abundant as books on Gettysburg or Abraham Lincoln, there have been plenty of previous works that dealt with Robert E. Lee and his men. However, this new work quickly changed my mind. It is, quite simply, the most complete overview ever written on the Army of Northern Virginia. Brilliantly researched, using a variety of primary sources not often used in other contemporary works, this book offers page after page of fascinating new information that adds depth to the historiography of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.

Glatthaar of course deals with the battlefield combat prowess of the ANV and its legendary campaigns and fights, as well as its leader and his subordinates. More importantly, he studies the men of the army, as well as the impact their military service had back on the home front. Tucked in between chapters dealing with the various campaigns are some real gems -- chapters that deal with a diverse range of topics that considerably add to the overall portrayal of what life was like for Lee's army.

These include treatises on religion and morality and their impact on the ANV's morale and spirit; discipline and issues within the ranks; infighting between leading officers; early recruits constrasted to the replenishments of 1862 and beyond; supply and logistics; desertion and reasons why; arms and ammunition; blacks within the Confederate ranks; and medical care. In effect, Joe Glaathaar touches on virtually every aspect of the Army of Northern Virginia in this magnificent work that is sure to become THE authoritative book on Lee and his troops.

The book is hardback, and at 600 pages is quite hefty, but is very readable and it flows well. Published by the Free Press (a division of Simon & Schuster), the book is a must have for any Civil War buff interested in understanding the most celebrated army in Southern U.S. military history, and for we descendants of Yankee soldiers, it provides an excellent look at the vaunted force that our ancestors faced at Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and at the rag-tag depleted force of the trench warfare and Appomattox. Appropriately subtitled "From Victory to Collapse," General Lee's Army is a masterpiece of modern scholarship.

I very much want to like this book and keep trying to find good things to say about it. The author's book "Forged in Battle", in my estimation, is one of the most important Civil War books of our time. Forged, which I reviewed at five stars, is instrumental in renewing study of the USCT and is a landmark event in the modern study of the war's history. We have some excellent one-volume army studies in the last few years. Steven E. Woodworth's "Nothing but Victory" and "Days of Glory" by Larry J. Daniel is similar in size to this book. Both of them cover one Civil War army in detail. I am not suggesting that these books are the "last word" on how an army history should be done but will say that they provide an idea of what works.
"General Lee's Army" is a very ambitious book, attempting to be all things at once. There is a military history section, an in-depth statistical analysis, a physiological portrait of the men and chapters on supply, high command, civilian interaction and a multitude of other subjects. The author tries to bundle all of this into a coherent story of an army at war. The presentation of military history is in chorological order, each campaign season being a major chapter. The majority of the in-depth statistical analysis is in an extended introduction prior to the military history. However, the physiological portraits, chapters on supply, civilian interaction and slavery are interspersed throughout the book. Each of these chapters is a complete history of the subject. Readers are required to shift back from 1865 at the end of these chapters when we return to the military history. This leads to some "What year is it?" problems, a minor problem in a better book but considering the other failings it is worth mentioning.
The Army of Northern Virginia had a number of serious "Human Resources" problems, the removal of D.H. Hill being one of the worst. Hill simply disappears from the story for no reason. A second major problem is the charges Jackson brought against Richard Garnett. This case became a major question in the army and in Richmond. Again, nothing is mentioned. Neither is the arrest of John Bell Hood in 1862. The removal of Magruder, Holmes and Huger at the end of The Seven Days Campaign is for "dissatisfaction with the level of aggressiveness". Little is said about the command problems throughout The 7 Days campaign or the fiasco of Malvern Hill.
The 1862 invasion of Maryland signaled a shift away from fighting defensive war, which was unpopular with many solders. These men objected to invasion exhibiting strong feelings that resulted in many temporary reassignments. The author rejects this, stating that the 1862 invasion was popular and part of a long-term Southern strategy to win the war. His version is that their is little objection and the soldiers were happy to invade the North. Only in an endnote does he acknowledge this version is at odds with the majority of historians. However, he provides little information to allow the reader to understand this departure from accepted history. This departure is hardly acknowledged and his version is presented as the accepted one.
At Chancellorsville, Howard's refusal to entrench is not mentioned. Reasons why the Union flank is unprotected and the serious moral problems in the XI Corps rate zero lines. Hard fighting by Jackson's men coupled with Lee's brilliant strategy is the story. Little is said about Hooker being knocked unconscious by a cannon ball. We read even less about the impact Hooker being disabled has on Union command & control during the second day of battle. Steven Sears considers these major events affecting the entire battle but they hardly rate mentioning in this book.
Religion is a major story in the history of this army. Lee and Jackson were very religious and this was communicated to the men. Steven E. Woodworth details this in "While God is Marching On". This excellent book covers religion on both sides during the war. While not everyone was religious, chaplains were not all cowards and more than 10% of the men were involved in the great revivals. Once again, the author's unverified account is at odds with what other authors say.
I am not sure we are talking about the same battle of Gettysburg. Coddington cannot be right if the author's version is correct. There is nothing about the possible agreement between Lee and Longstreet on tactics for the campaign and expected battle. Longstreet has no objections to or problems with Pickett's Charge. July 3 is a well-planned day. The only problem being on Culp's Hill, where early Union attacks to straighten the line upset the timetable. The author informs us that Pickett is flanked on the South because Perry's Brigade veers away. However, Pickett's Charge was broken prior to Perry going forward.
The author states that the Army of the Potomac's Iron Brigade was routed during the battle of the Wilderness. In fact, most histories of this brigade end with Gettysburg where the unit took over 1,200 casualties. Wikipedia states "The Iron Brigade lost its all-Western status ... following its crippling losses at Gettysburg ... However, the brigade that succeeded it ... included the survivors of the Iron Brigade." Alan T. Nolan's definitive study of this unit ends at Gettysburg. The Iron Brigade is not around to be routed at the battle of The Wilderness and neither is the parent I Corps. Both of the units were disbanded due to losses at Gettysburg.
The chapter "Blacks and the Army" is an example of the good work Joseph Glatthaar is capable of doing. In this chapter, he talks about Black Confederates and the demise of slavery in Virginia. Throughout the book, we hear about black body servants, free blacks and slaves working with and for the army. Here he admits to a consistent black population throughout the war in the Army of Northern Virginia. While numbers are open to question, the fact of Black Confederates is not.
The statistical analysis seems complete and is rather detailed; I am not in a position to evaluate his numbers. They do not seem inconsistent with other numbers. The author writes well and while a dry subject, it is presented in a readable manner.
Two excellent background chapters are "Arms and Ammunition" and "Medical Care". Both are detailed and cover a complex subject in an understandable way. The AoNV suffers bad artillery ammunition throughout the war. This chapter presents the technical explanation of why. The author's treatment of medical care is very fair, demonstrating an understanding of what they knew.
The chapter on POWs is poor. In it, the author states that men in Northern POW camps except for boredom were no worse off than in the trenches. Even if this is statistically supportable, it is an incurable statement. I doubt few men at Elmira would have hesitated to exchange places with a man in their regiment in 1864. "While in the Hands of the Enemy" is a very fair history of Civil War POW camps and the reason why POWs were so badly treated.
One review states the author has an agenda. I cannot agree or disagree with the reviewer. The author spends much of his time on slavery, percentages of soldiers owning slaves, soldiers from families that own slaves or from households with slaves. He is convinced that the war is over slavery and states that multiple times. However, he follows the Lost Cause Mythology during the Overland Campaign. Grant is a butcher with no ability to plan or to do anything but throw his troops at entrenchments. Gordon Rhea's study of the Overland Campaign debunks this idea. Other times, whatever the subject, the glass always seems half-empty when talking about the Confederacy. He is consistent in having the glass half-full when talking about Lee. This produces an odd narrative balance that is disconcerting and seems dishonest.
This is a readable book with logical arguments. Many readers will accept the author's history as fact. This will require them to unlearn most of this book. An experience reader can throw out the errors and gain some information from the background chapters. I am very disappointed, having eagerly anticipated reading this book.

When Civil War historians of the stature of James M. McPherson and Gary W. Gallagher praise a book, we should all pay attention. They couldn't have been more correct about Joseph Glatthaar's latest offering. This is a magisterial, definitive work of Civil War history, fully worthy of all five stars and even more, if they could be offered. The text represents an impressive blending of military and social history. General Lee's Army deserves a prominent place in every Civil War library, public or personal. Glatthaar has provided us with a rich tapesty of understanding that does not overly idolize Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia but treats them farily and honestly in their triumphs and failures. In two words: Highly Recommended.

Mr. Glatthaar seems to have had a preconceived agenda, a point to make, and he put a great deal of labor into making it. It cannot be denied that he quoted numerous sources, and documented them quite well. However, his work falls short of those of other historians such as Richard Wheeler, Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr., and Gordon C. Rhea. He set forth a premise and then went looking for evidence to support it, the exact opposite of what a better historian would do. If one would enjoy a virtual cornucopia of what was wrong with The Army of Northern Virginia, then this is the book for you. Expect to read of little else, and expect to have a great deal of contemporary evidence ignored so that this newest stab at revisionist history might come off as making a legitimate contribution. It will be put on the shelf with 600 other volumes in my library on The War Between the States. After that, it will be used little as there are so many other available works which are more balanced and less biased for genuine research purposes. I commend his arduous work - his conclusions and methodology are found wanting.

Joseph Glathaar's "General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse" is not the kind of Civil War book I ordinarily buy -- my shelves hold relatively few Confederate-specific titles. By geography and ancestry my fundamental orientation is pro-Union (several members of my family served in various Union Army regiments, none in Confederate units) and a part of me must view the Confederate Army as "the enemy". But what I saw of Glatthaar's new volume on the bookstore shelves persuaded me to buy it. It is in part a narrative history of the campaigns and battles of the Army of Northern Virginia (I suppose I would say that this forms the skeleton upon which to hang the main narrative), but is much more a "socioeconomic" look at the common soldiers (and common field officers) of the ANV, especially how their attitudes and morale evolved over the course of the war. Glatthaar bases his study in part upon a statistical analysis of many soldiers in the ANV, but the main thrust of the book is firmly based on good-old history drawn from innumerable primary sources, and it provides an excellent look at the men who served for so long in a terrible struggle. I found it worthwhile reading, even for a dyed-in-the-wool-uniform New England Yankee.