The Warrior Generals: Combat Leadership in the Civil War

by Thomas B. Buell

Book Overview

master historian gives readers a fresh new picture of the Civil War as it really was. Buell examines three pairs of commanders from the North and South, who met each other in battle. Following each... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517595710
• ISBN13: 9780517595718
• Release Date: February 1997
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 494 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Good, thought provoking

Buell analyzes three COnfederate and three Union soldiers with six very different leadership styles. Buell gives a title to each of the six different men and they are: The Yoeman: Ulysses S. Grant The Aristocrat: Rboert E. Lee The Knight-Errant: John Bell Hood The Roman: George H. Thomas The Cavalier: John B . Gordon The Puritan: Francis C. Barlow Buell researched this book heavily, including delving into the National Archives to the point that he actually found boxes of papers from the Civil War that had not even been opened since they were packaged and delivered after the war, a fact that I find amazing given the vast number of books written on the war every year. Buell is quite clear in his book that Robert E. Lee was vastly overrated and quite possibly incompetent (he never says it outright but he infers it). I agree that Lee has been overrated by some, but his incompetence is refuted, in my mind, by his track record against a much larger, better equipped army over the course of the war. To his credit, Buell does not lay the blame for the vast number of casualties in the Seven Days Battles in the Peninsular Campaign on Lee - which I consider fair consider that he was forced to take charge during the battles due to the wounding of Confederate General Joseph Johnston. Lee can't really take the blame for a situation he did not create. Buell also is extremely critical of Grant, sometimes in a contradictory manner. At the beginning of the book he is critical of Grant's strategy as unimaginative at the end of the war (press Lee constantly, despite the constant casualties since Lee could not replace his casualites and Grant could easily replace his own - it quickly became a numbers game and denied Lee his famed mobility) and then, towards the end of the book he praises it. Buell's favorite is obviously Thomas, a brilliant organizer who built the army that literally simultaneously destroyed the Confederate Army of Tennessee (under Thomas) and was the core of Sherman's famous March to the Sea through Georgia. However, he was ultimately relieved of command by Grant for being to deliberate - a conclusion that I share with Grant. Buell, however, believes that it was an unjust firing. (Grant believed that action was often more important than preparation - sometimes true, sometimes not, but Thomas never seemed to be prepared enough...) Although I disagreed with many of his conclusions, I did enjoy Buell's book. It was informative and well written.

Fresh

First, a caveat: If you say, "War of Northern Aggression", hold dear the Lost Cause, and celebrate Massa Robert Lee's birthday as a high holy day, you should avoid this book altogether rather than read it and go on to write an emotional review raving against it and giving only one star. This book dares depart from the usual hagiographic treatment of Lee, suggesting that some of his actions were less than genius, and that some were brutal mistakes. Trust me, if you consider this sacrilege, please avoid this book. As for everyone else, this is an outstanding book - the freshest take on the Civil War that I have read in years. Buell ignores the received wisdom on such giants as Grant, Lee, Sherman, Hood, and Jackson, and goes back to original sources to reconstruct the actual men behind the legends. His take on these generals is sometimes controversial, usually enlightening, and always interesting. Buell focuses on three pairs of generals - Grant and Lee, Thomas and Hood, and Barlow and Gordon. This devise works well to allow him to examine each major phase of the war in both the eastern and western theaters. By including the lesser known Barlow and Gordon, Buell is also able to contrast the West Point trained professionals to volunteer generals who made up such a large segment of those who served in the Civil War. Grant and Lee, in particular, come in for reassessment in Buell's work, and both suffer somewhat from it. This, however, is not character assassination, but a valid reexamination of undeniably great men, assessing them by their actions rather than the legends that have grown around them. You might not totally agree with all of Buell's conclusions, but they may make you reassess what you think you already know. One of the high points of the book is the treatment of General George Thomas. One of the greatest generals of the war, Thomas has been often overlooked for many reasons (including the fact that he was a Southerner mistrusted by the North, he did not get along well with Grant, and he died shortly after the war leaving no memoirs.)What you read here will leave you hungry for more information on the great forgotten man of the Civil War. Buell writes well, his prose moves swiftly, and though he covers the general's actions in many battles, he never gets bogged down in the details that are more appropriately left to books that cover a particular campaign. Read this book and you will discover something almost as rare as a Burnside victory - fresh ideas about the Civil War. Theo Logos

General Geoge H. Thomas receives over-due recognition.

Mr. Buell has written an engrossing,controversial work that analyzes the combat generalship of Grant, Lee, Thomas, Hood, Gordon and Francis C. Barlow. Buell's basic argument is that the supremacy of southern generalship is more myth than fact. Buell's treatments of Grant, Gordon,Hood, and Barlow are all well done but hardly controversial. Buell makes a very strong case for Thomas who saved the Army of the Cumberland at Chickamauga and thus became known as the "Rock of Chickamauga". Buell paints a picture of Thomas as a hard-nosed,unassuming general whose command of logistics, communications, and cartography were unmatched by most of his contemporaries. Buell seems to be saying that Thomas's Virgina roots, his uneasy relationship with Grant, and his quiet manner have conspired to deny him his just recognition as a truly great Civil War general. Buell's treatment of Lee is unabashedly negative. Buell skewers Lee for vague orders to his commanders,disregard for the importance of logistics,and frontal assaults that drained the Confederacy of its meager manpower resources. Polemics or just looking at the facts? Judge for yourself. Robert E. Lee may not be the nearly faultless general immortalized by Freeman, but I strongly doubt that he is the fool described by Buell. Two final comments. Buell asserts that the physical condition of the southern troops going into the Battle of Sharpsburg made them almost unfit to fight. He further lambastes Lee for allowing his army to degenerate into unchecked marauders in their retreat to Virginia. I have not seen those points in other works on the Sharpsburg campaign. Finally, Buell writes movingly of the personal lives of Gordon and Barlow. Read this book if for no other reason than to stimulate reconsideration of your own assessments of these men.

A consistently interesting read.

Buell gives new insights and some very different interpretations to some of the great military figures of the American Civil War. While many will find argument with his criticisms of Grant and Lee, it is his insightful analysis of lesser known figures, Francis Barlow, John B. Gordon, John Bell Hood and George H. Thomas that distinguishes this book. For many civil war buffs/historians, Thomas is the forgotten "Great" general of the Civil War and Buell provides convincing arguments that Thomas and his Army of the Cumberland may have been the finest and most effective military force in that great conflict. Don't looks for any conventional views of Grant, Lee, and Sherman. Buell convincingly paints each with many warts with Lee in particular getting much criticism for his campaigns that virtually bled his army dry. Whether you accept Buell's thesis or not, this is an exceptionally interesting and fresh look at the Civil War and one that will catch the interests of serious students and casual readers alike.

A complete masterpiece, pure enjoyment.

This is one of the best books that I've read in a long time. It will leave you breathless, you do not want to put it down! Excellent for "buffs" or newcomers.