Glenn W. LaFantasieBesprekingen
Auteur van Twilight at Little Round Top: July 2, 1863--The Tide Turns at Gettysburg
Besprekingen
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From humble beginnings, Oates established himself as a country lawyer, land speculator and later as US congressman for the Bourbon Democrats and Alabama governor. Having himself profited from the help of others, his politics were devoted to enrich himself and his friends, while keeping others down. In the proud tradition of Southern bigots, he thundered against public education (!), equality and intermarriage, while impregnating both his black slave (with whom he co-habited for many years after the war) and a thirteen year-old from a poor part of the town. At least, he provided for both his illegitimate sons. He later married an impoverished Southern Belle more than twenty years his junior. In 1901, Oates played an essential part in disenfranchising both blacks and poor whites in the Alabama constitution. In his last years, He completed a 800 page memoir dedicated to the 15th Alabama and continued to fight for a regimental monument on Little Round Top (still missing).
The biography is readable and well researched (some small mistakes, such as calling the Union soldiers at the dedication of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefield Park as Army of the Potomac members whereas only the detached 11th and 12th corps were, the majority being Army of the Tennessee, the Cumberland and the Ohio veterans), but suffers from La Fantaisie's repetitious style. There is really no need to repeat facts by first announcing, then quoting and finally summarizing them. The author also has an unfortunate knack for platitudes. Overall, a good portrait of an unpleasant man.½