Overview

A leading Civil War historian untangles the truth and myth surrounding Lee's leadership and legacy; Was Robert E. Lee a gifted soldier whose only weaknesses lay in the depth of his loyalty to his troops, affection for his lieutenants, and dedication to the cause of the Confederacy? Or was he an ineffective leader and poor tactician whose reputation was drastically inflated by early biographers and Lost Cause apologists? These divergent characterizations represent the poles between which scholarly and popular opinion on Lee has swung over time. Now, in eight essays, Gary Gallagher offers his own refined thinking on Lee, exploring the relationship between Lee's operations and Confederate morale, the quality of his generalship, and the question of how best to handle his legacy in light of the many distortions that grew out of Lost Cause historiography. Using a host of contemporary sources, Gallagher demonstrates the remarkable faith that soldiers and citizens maintained in Lee's leadership even after his army's fortunes had begun to erode. Gallagher also engages aspects of the Lee myth with an eye toward how admirers have insisted that their hero's faults as a general represented exaggerations of his personal virtues. Finally, Gallagher considers whether it is useful - or desirable - to separate legitimate Lost Cause arguments from the transparently false ones relating to slavery and secession.

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9780807826317

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In these essays Gary Gallagher once again demonstrates the mastery of sources, elegance of style, and lucidity of explanation and interpretation that have made him the foremost historian of the Army of Northern Virginia. (James M. McPherson, Princeton University) A wonderful blend of traditional and the 'new' military history, a balance from the perspective of high command, the soldiers, the home front, and their collective memory. By anyone's standards, this is a terrific book. (Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of Houston) Drawing on massive primary evidence, Gallagher has limned attitudes toward Lee and his army from a wide spectrum of Confederate society. The result is a formidable, definitive delineation of the subject. (Robert K. Krick, author of Lee's Colonels and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountai )

In these essays Gary Gallagher once again demonstrates the mastery of sources, elegance of style, and lucidity of explanation and interpretation that have made him the foremost historian of the Army of Northern Virginia. (James M. McPherson, Princeton University) Drawing on massive primary evidence, Gallagher has limned attitudes toward Lee and his army from a wide spectrum of Confederate society. The result is a formidable, definitive delineation of the subject. (Robert K. Krick, author of Lee's Colonels and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountai ) A wonderful blend of traditional and the 'new' military history, a balance from the perspective of high command, the soldiers, the home front, and their collective memory. By anyone's standards, this is a terrific book. (Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of Houston)

Drawing on massive primary evidence, Gallagher has limned attitudes toward Lee and his army from a wide spectrum of Confederate society. The result is a formidable, definitive delineation of the subject. (Robert K. Krick, author of Lee's Colonels and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountai )

Author Information

Gary W. Gallagher is John L. Nau III Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His previous books include The Confederate War and Lee and His Generals in War and Memory.

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