Word: longstreet
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Longstreet had his own dangerous failings as a general. At several points during the war, his carelessness and indecision nearly led to disaster for his army. At Knoxville, his hesitation and poor planning led many of his troops into a ditch where they suffered over 800 casulties in 20 minutes. Throughout the war and for years after, such unexplained failures became the focus of the debate over Longstreet's qualities as a general. Most importantly, though, the popular desire to save Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's greatest hero, from any blame for the loss of the war left Longstreet...
Wert explains that it is this unresolved controversy that has led to Longstreet's relative obscurity as a Civil War leader. His quite, but impressive service to the Confederacy became the basis for his failure to become a great Civil War legend. Stonewall Jackson's bold successes obscured his failures and his death shortly before Gettysburg left him an unblemished hero and martyr for the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee, the commander and gentleman who is generally considered one of history's greatest generals, gradually surpassed Jackson as the premier hero of the Old South. "The singular figure in the army...
Wert concludes that Longstreet was a superb though humanly flawed general. He was certainly the best subordinate commander in Lee's army and perhaps the best in any army on either side during the Civil War. By looking fairly at the records of the other generals, like Lee, and dealing seriously with the battlefield conditions of the Civil War, Wert provides a credible basis from which to evaluate Longstreet's performance...
...also fits Longstreet's personal experience well into the general context to the Civil War. By reminding readers that practically every one of Longstreet's closest circle of friends from West Point faced each other as commanders on both sides during the battle of Chickamauga, Wert aptly places Long-street in the culture that made the war so divisive...
General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Contorversial Soldier is a valuable text for understanding the military leadership of the Civil War. Because the book dose not discuss much of the military and political developments that did not involve Longstreet of his armies, it requires at least a basic prior knowledge of the broader context. But the balance and insight it provides make it an important tool for understanding one of the great unknowns of American history...