Civil War Commanders

Civil War Commanders features concise career histories of approximately 180 Civil War leaders, North and South. Some of them emerged from obscurity to become among the most able commanders in the history of warfare. Others less famous nevertheless played significant roles in the development of what would become one of the greatest nations in the world.
A fascinating introduction explains how the opposing armies organized their leadership and fought their battles. It tells how unprepared Americans were for the eruption of the Civil War. How a tiny army amounting to only about 10,000 men scattered over thousands of miles was ill-equipped to defend the Union against any potential foreign foe, let alone one evolving within its own geographic midst, while in the South the new Confederacy had to develop its armies from scratch. Unusual in the evolution of combatant forces, of course, is that most of the leaders who fought in the Civil War were educated and trained in the art of warfare in the same military institutions, most notably at West Point. The tactics they learned and took to the battlefields were the same for both sides.

How the officers gained their commissions and their promotions, and how the leaders of the new volunteer armies performed in actual battle—the ultimate test—make truly fascinating reading.