This is the human, dramatic, and fascinating story of Lincoln as commander in chief of an army at war against its brothers. It is a riveting look at his search for a winning general, and of his own emergence as a master strategist. The major figures of the Civil War come to life in incisive sketches. Here are the generals whom Lincoln appointed and then rejected: McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Buell, Rosecrans, Fremont, Cleland and others. Finally,...

One of the most important and objective firsthand accounts of the Civil War Unlike some other Confederate memoirists, General Edward Porter Alexander objectively evaluated and criticized prominent Confederate officers, including Robert E. Lee. The result is a clear-eyed assessment of the bloody conflict that divided but subsequently united the nation. The memoir starts with Alexander heading to Utah to suppress the hostility of Mormons who had refused...