From various clues, we can judge that the present book was written in January 1865 (after Lincoln’s re-election). By then, the South knew, on one level, that its cause was lost, and the author, a devout southerner, is whistling in the dark, sometimes dropping giveaway hints like ‘whatever be the fate of the Confederacy’. He is, in fact, writing its obituary.

The book profiles eighteen Confederate generals, with Robert E. Lee bulking up to about a quarter of the book, as he always does in works of this kind (the ‘E’ stands for Edward, by the way, not Edmund), and the bias is impossible to miss. For example, in the Longstreet chapter, you will find no reference to his notorious delay in following Lee’s orders at Gettysburg, except one quote from a Confederate colonel: “Neither Longstreet nor Lee intended the fight to come off that day” - a blatant lie.

Morgan’s Raid is celebrated with enthusiasm, but this flashy stunt was judged a costly failure, even though it gave the north a bad fright. By the time the book was written, General Hardee was in South Carolina, but we’re still none the wiser as to how he managed to get his army across the Savannah River, while Sherman had it in the palm of his hand.

Finally, it’s interesting to learn that Joe Johnston was repeatedly urged to get back into uniform before he had fully recovered from his serious double-wounding at Seven Pines, and was in poor shape for at least a year. Also it wouldn’t have helped that his supplies were so irregular that he and his staff had to take turns to eat with the only fork left at Headquarters, and even that had one prong missing!