American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Just another book review...

I just completed Joseph Glatthaar's book on the ANV. Overall, I really enjoyed it. The author sought to examine the ANV in every way possible. How did the ANV come to exist and what made up its parts? What kind of men formed the army? What were their inherent strengths and weaknesses? He also sought to explain how such an army could experience such incredible victories followed by such incredible defeats later in the war.

For Glatthaar, the ANV's greatest strengths were its leadership and its group cohesion/ideology early in the war. When the Confederate war machine functioned well (or as good as it could under the circumstances) the ANV had enough supplies and manpower to effectively perform as a field army against a much larger and better supplied foe. The ANV was further strengthened by the resolve of the soldiers who represented the enthusiastic volunteerism of 1861 and 1862. The simple drive to "resist invasion" and to protect their homes was a major factor which propelled southern arms throughout the war.

But the ANV also suffered from some serious defects which Glatthaar relates in very good detail. To begin with, Southern culture celebrated individualism and the right of citizens to follow their own rules. Americans, and Southerners especially in this era, are very individualistic and resist traditional military discipline and order. As a basis for an army that can be a serious problem unless the leadership can curtail the impulses of the soldiers to always do what they want as opposed to doing what is ordered and necessary. As an example, a disciplined army will overrun an enemy camp and follow through with the attack without halting to plunder the camp. An undisciplined army will stop and plunder which can allow the enemy to regroup and prepare to battle on. Glatthaar argues that Lee and his commanders in the ANV were never able to break the soldiers of their tendency to disregard regular army training and accept army discipline in general. Lee tried for years to instill stricter discipline within the ANV but was never able to do so. This was largely due to the fact that the officer corps in the ANV, from company commanders up to corps commanders, was frequently being turned over due to extremely heavy battlefield losses. It was also due to the lack of proper food and supplies which made plundering an enemy camp more of an incentive than to continue the battle. The soldiers in the ANV were effective fighters when they wanted to be but were just as ineffective when they did not wish to be (most often when they were undersupplied and exhausted). As the war dragged on, especially after Gettysburg, the soldiers increasingly chose to disregard orders and discipline in order to fulfill their own basic needs and desires. Pillaging and theft became far more common which led to a continual breakdown of control and morale. When the government you are fighting for cannot provide you with basic life necessities - food, water, medicine, clothes - you begin to question your resolve to fight for that Cause.

Lee's army had a lot of things which kept it together for four years of war. The men did believe in the Cause and they bonded over their shared experience as soldiers. But by 1865 the main glue holding together the ANV, and the Confederacy, was their belief in Robert E. Lee to somehow save them. But with the Confederacy crumbling on all sides of them the soldiers began to leave the army in droves. While men may have loved Lee and the Cause, their families were of greater importance to many men and they could no longer justify fighting and dying for a lost cause. Even the best of soldiers began to desert by early 1865. The discussion of the dissolution of the ANV was most interesting as it really began right after Gettysburg and continued right up to Appomattox.

Glatthaar also does a solid job explaining the mindset of the soldiers in Lee's army using first-hand accounts along with a staggering amount of statistics. He refutes that it was a rich man's war but a poor man's fight as Lee's army was composed of men from all economic classes almost equally. The demographics of the army are broken down with each large wave of recruits from 1861, 1862, and 1864. He also discusses Lee's exhausting attempts to attain reinforcements for his army once the available manpower pool had been used up. Lee often seems to be acting as Secretary of War, AC, and in some cases Chief Engineer, all by himself.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I learned quite a bit of new things about the ANV I did not know or appreciate before (such as how dire the supply situation really was for the soldiers almost from the very start of the war). The author summarized entire battles in a paragraph and campaigns in a page or two so he can discuss how these events affected the soldiers and the army as opposed to the strategies and tactics used. The author also never discusses Union leaders or strategies in any depth at all until he gets to Grant in 1864. Lee knew that for the Confederacy to win the war they needed to achieve a striking victory quickly before a Union general was placed in command who would bring all of the power of the Union to bear on his army at one time. With Grant's arrival the outcome of the war seemed almost written in stone.

The author frequently uses the term "margin of error" in this book. The Union always had a large margin of error and could survive defeats like Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. But Lee's army had a very small margin of error due to their ever increasing manpower and supply problems. Lee had to be perfect all the time to defeat the AotP or even just to avoid their own destruction at times. The ANV and Lee were able to achieve miraculous victories which filled the Confederacy with hope - but just as often they misplayed their hand and suffered defeats and setbacks which they could not afford. Even victories were often pyrrhic as the losses sustained (especially with officers) damaged them structurally. The margin of error for the ANV was almost zero. One could only imagine the strain on Lee to be perfect in each battle with the lives of thousands of men and the fate of the Cause on his shoulders. It really is a wonder Lee did not break down physically and mentally any more than he did during the war. Lee's devotion to the Cause, his army, and his duty, definitely stand out.

An enjoyable read that I recommend checking out. It will blast some notions about the ANV soldiers and the illusion they were model citizens and soldiers in all instances. They were men and soldiers with basic needs (along with wants and desires) which frequently caused them to ransack civilian homes, steal supplies from their own army, and to take French leave if at all possible. But they were also devoted to the Cause right up until the end. Once their devotion to the Cause wore out they maintained their faith in Lee. But the ravages of war understandably broke thousands of men and the army collapsed under the sustained pressure of the Union war machine. But while the AotP won the war, the ANV stands out in American history as our most remarkable army. Understanding more about the soldiers in it, what drove them, what they fought for, and why they ultimately failed, makes for a very good historical read.

What's next on my list?
Grant's Final Victory: Ulysses S. Grant's Heroic Last Year
By Charles B. Flood

This book covers the final year of Grant's life and his relentless drive to write and finish his memoirs before his death.

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012