Douglas Southall Freeman (1886–1953)

This biography of Robert E. Lee is actually an abridged version of the author’s original 1934 four volume work on the subject. Even stripped of footnotes, bibliographies and indexes, it is hard to imagine that there was almost 300% more material in the expanded work. This book certainly contained all of the information I needed on the life and work of Robert E. Lee.

First, from a full disclosure standpoint, it should be noted that I attended Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia for my undergraduate degree, so I was somewhat familiar with the subject and favorably inclined as well. I have read dozens of books on the Civil War and the major participants, having recently read biographies of U. S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

The author of this biography was certainly a Lee fan, and regardless of your views on the causes and the justifications for the American Civil War, there is much about the character of Robert E. Lee to admire and emulate. Certainly, prior to the War, Lee was one of, if not the most highly regarded and accomplished soldiers in the American Army.

As you might imagine, over two-thirds of the book cover the period of time between 1860 and 1865. It goes into great detail regarding the strategy and tactics of each troop movement over which Lee had authority. It does this through reference to small towns, names of roads, crossings and fords, yet the book contains only the most basic and rudimentary maps, infrequently situated and very scantily notated; in other words, of virtually no help whatsoever in visualizing or making sense of the pages and pages of descriptive text. These textual sections, of which there are dozens, which sometimes stretch for pages, are therefore rendered largely meaningless. In my case, this was not fatal, since I was largely familiar with most of the major battles and their development, but a Civil War novice would be largely handicapped by this absence of maps.

Of particular interest to me were the early and late sections of the book, dealing with Lee’s years at West Point and in the Mexican-American War and then his years as President of what was then Washington College.

While largely hagiographic, the author does point out a number of strategic and tactical errors made by Lee during his generalship of the Army of Northern Virginia and makes reference to criticism by others, though largely holding these to be poorly supported. All in all, a good, comprehensive biography of the life of Robert E. Lee, the only major complaint being the paucity of descriptive maps to support the referenced troop movements in the text.… (more)