General Lee's Army

January 7, 2008
You cannot say that University of North Carolina professor Glatthaar (Partners in Command
) did not do his homework in this massive examination of the Civil War–era lives of the men in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Glatthaar spent nearly 20 years examining and ordering primary source material to ferret out why Lee’s men fought, how they lived during the war, “how they came close to winning, and why they lost.” Glatthaar marshals convincing evidence to challenge the often-expressed notion that the war in the South was “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight” and that support for slavery was concentrated among the Southern upper class. Lee’s army included the rich, poor and middle-class, according to the author, who contends that there was broad support for the war “in all economic strata of Confederate society.” He also challenges the myth that because Union forces outnumbered and materially outmatched the Confederates, the rebel cause was lost, and articulates Lee and his army’s acumen and achievements in the face of this overwhelming opposition. This well-written work provides much food for thought for all Civil War buffs.