James I. Robertson (1930–2019)

Sometimes, half a great book is still a pretty good book. And sometimes, it's really disappointing. I fear this is one of the latter.

To clarify: This is a book about the Virginia regiments in the Civil War that were originally under the command of Thomas J. Jackson, and they and he both received the nickname "Stonewall" at the First Battle of Bull Run. Jackson went on to great fame, success, and death -- and, for the most part, so did the brigade, which saw so much hard fighting that it had only a few hundred survivors by 1865. Hence this book.

Author Robertson considers it the most successful and most famous brigade in Robert E. Lee's army. I'm not sure that's true -- I think most people would consider Hood's Texas Brigade the greatest of all Army of Northern Virginia units, and the two were at least close in terms of fame -- but certainly the Stonewall Brigade was one of the most noteworthy. It deserves a unit history.

But a unit history needs some historical background. This book has a lot of information about the men and officers in the brigade, making it very valuable in that regard. But it lacks context. There are several examples of this; I'll offer what I consider the last.

At the beginning of 1864, the Stonewall Brigade was under the command of Brigadier General James A. Walker. It was one of the brigades of Edward Johnson's division. Johnson's was one of three divisions in Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps, the other two being the divisions of Jubal A. Early and Robert Rodes. Then came the Battle of the Wilderness, and then the Battle of Spotsylvania. At Spotsylvania, Walker was wounded in the elbow. Killed, wounded, disabled? Page 225 doesn't tell us; it only tells us that he was wounded. (As it turns out, he survived, but his arm was crippled, and he and the brigade never reunited.) The brigade, already depleted, was ruined at Spotsylvania, and Johnson captured; at about the same time, Ewell was found too weak for field command and went to a less stressful post. So Early rose to corps command, and John B. Gordon took over... some division. Early's? Johnson's? Page 228 says that Gordon recommended that William Terry have command of the Stonewall Brigade, but Gordon had been a brigadier in Early's division, not Johnson's. As a matter of fact, a lot of reorganizing had gone on to try to keep the Second Corps effective despite its losses, and that reorganizing dramatically affected the Stonewall Brigade (which eventually was combined with two others). But you can't learn that from this book; you need something like Freeman's Lee's Lieutenants. And you really can't understand the history of the Stonewall Brigade without that.

So: This is a good, useful supplement if you have a better structural history of Lee's army; you can find out what life was actually like to be in the Stonewall Brigade during its long and distinguished service. But if you want to know what the Stonewall Brigade actually did, you'll need something more. And that's truly sad, because this book wouldn't have had to be too much longer to supply that little bit of additional detail.… (meer)

Stonewall Jackson was the most compelling figure of the Civil War. James Robertson has found, and accepted, the key to understanding Stonewall: his profound Christian Faith and his steadfast duty to doing the will of God. Without understanding this, Stonewall is just an eccentric genius. Robertson imports this understanding of Stonewall‘s faith primarily through devout passages from letters to his wife Anna. We truly are brought to know the man Stonewall through anecdotes on every page. There is also cogent military analysis of his campaigns, all within the context of Stonewall being a Soldier of God.

This is no hagiography, though. Certain myths are dispelled, and Stonewall’s difficult relations with subordinates, especially AP Hill, is detailed. His reticence in sharing his plans with subordinates and how that at times hampered the Army is also addressed.

I can’t imagine a more powerful biography of a more compelling military figure.… (meer)