LEE'S LIEUTENANTS: Vol. II (Cedar Nountain to Chancellorsville)

This is the middle volume of this monumental history of the Civil War viewed through the study of the officers who served under Lee. The first volume closed with the reorganization following the Seven Days' battles Lee was the new leader, Jackson the outstanding figure. This volume might well be characterized as Jackson's military biography, for around him gravitates the success, the failure of this period, which ends with his death. His conflicts with certain of his subordinates, his cooperation with others, the devotion of most of his men, and the pattern of new leaders rising in a consistent rhythm of replacements -- such is the record; Hood, Rodes, Cooke, and Stuart, coming to the fore. A military history this, with a market among people interested in minutiae of campaigns. The scholarship is undeniable but, Dr. Freeman manages to give his story pace humanity and color.