Sometimes it is the others in the smaller spotlight that make the biggest difference. The star can dominate the headlines, receive the most praise and adulation, be critiqued the most and the harshest, but sometimes it comes down to who is playing the other parts that matter in determining the outcome. That is/was the case in the American Civil War with General Lee and the rest of the Confederate commanders who received the rank of full general. The book Leaders of the Lost Cause edited by the Civil War heavyweights Gary W. Gallagher and Joseph T. Glatthaar takes a look at just this topic.
The editors of this title, Misters Gallagher and Glatthaar, have gather together some of the brightest minds and authors of all things American Civil War and had each of them take new critical looks and write new biographical essay on those individuals who attained the rank of full general in the short life of the army of the Confederate government. The list is illustrious, a who’s who so to speak of well known individuals in the Amy of the Confederacy: Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnson, Joseph E. Johnston, Edmund Kirby Smith, and John Bell Hood. The author list of each essay is just as illustrious: the aforementioned Gary W. Gallagher, Charles P. Roland, James I. Robertson, Jr., William C. Davis, Stephen D. Engle, Robert K. Krick, Glatthaar, and Keith S. Bohannon respectively.
Of course Gallagher’s essay on Lee was mostly a positive one, though no one would doubt it wouldn’t be. What I was more curious about was the story of the other generals who were not as popular, who did not share the bright spotlight with Lee.
The Beauregard story was interesting to me. Here was a man of grand ideas, but what it seemed to me was one who was afraid to act and in turn fail. He seemed to be very comfortable criticizing and finding fault with others, but did not seem to be able to turn the jaundiced eye upon himself. For all his faults, President Davis seemed to find him irreplaceable, like he did with the majority of the others, and when he needed to be disciplined, Davis just seemed to move him to another theater of the war and gave ‘the problem’ to someone else.
Bragg on the other hand, seemed like he had a half-way decent mind on his shoulders. His problem stemmed from the fact that he only had a half-way decent mind on his shoulders as well as a terrible personality. There were not too many out there that liked this guy. The one that did was Davis, who is also the only one that counted.
Samuel Cooper was a mystery to me. I had never heard of this man, but as it turns out not many really have with the exception of some die-hard scholars. He, as it turns out, rarely wore a uniform, never appeared on a field of battle against the Union army, but was very influential in the war as a member of the front office personnel (I envisioned him as someone who would be on the Joint Chiefs of Staff in today’s world). Mr. William C. Davis I thought did a very good job of introducing him to the reader and keeping him interesting even though he isn’t the most romantic story out there.
Albert Sidney Johnson was a general that President Davis though very highly of, maybe more so than even Lee. He was given a huge and almost impossible work load, and died way to early to allow him to live up to any of the hype.
Joseph E. Johnston was similar to Beauregard, but maybe more childish and one who held grudges more so than anyone of the other generals. Krick’s writing reflected a very bitter and small man to a degree that I was unaware of.
I did not know hardly a lick about E. Kirby Smith. In fact, he was one of the main reasons I got the book in the first place. I had heard and seen his name in many places, but never really knew anything about him. His story reminds me of Albert Johnson’s, someone of ability who was given way to much for one man to accomplish successfully.
John Bell Hood was shown to be more of a fighter than a thinker. The title of his essay says it all “’A Bold Fighter’ Promoted Beyond His Abilities”.
I like this book very much. None of the essays were too long to not read in a couple sittings at the most. The authors know how to write which made for exceptional prose for the most part. The essays were filled with much of the high points as well as the low points of each of their subjects lives. What I am not too sure of was the complete and utter negativity of the overall evaluation of the generals (with the exception of Lee and somewhat of Cooper) Confederate careers. What I took away from this read was that one man, Lee, could not do it all for the Southern nation, though even he had his faults. Others that were looked upon to lead did not pull their weight, play their part to the best of their abilities, and accept they had a part to play at times, or were just given Sisyphusian job to do. Which in the end led to the failure of the Confederate experiment.
I would definitely recommend this to others who are interested in gaining more insight into the leadership, if you can call it that, of the Confederates. It has created in me a need to find out more about these intriguing individuals (they can’t be all this negative…can they?). Great, just what I need, another excuse to get more books… ( )