Book Review: Plenty of Blame to Go Around
which has nothing to do with modern day politics...
Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg
Eric J. Wittenberg & J. David Petruzzi
2006, Savas Beatie LLC, New York NY
ISBN 1-932714-20-0
(For those who have not previously spent any time learning about Gettysburg, this is not the place to start, go read Stephen Sears' account and then visit the battlefield to place things in context. It's hard to truly understand a battle until you understand the terrain on which it was fought.)
People normally learn about military campaigns in ways that are almost guaranteed to produce poor understanding of what was going on and why. some of this is failure to understand geographical issues. some is failure to understand behind-the-scenes politics. and some is due to the fact that we tend to fixate on the major battles and lose the context.
With Gettysburg, we tend to focus on July 1st through July 3rd, with vague discussion about Jeb Stuart's unnecessary ride around the Federal Army but not much talk about why he did it and what happened. Likewise, we tend to not learn anything about the weeks of hard fighting that occurred in the aftermath of Gettysburg, as Lee struggled to extricate the Army of Northern Virginia.
Eric Wittenberg, David Petruzzi (and in later volumes, Michael Nugent) are addressing some of these issues. The first book (the one I'm reviewing here), deals with Stuart's infamous ride, from the initial concept and Lee's initial orders, through the extend sequence of things that didn't go as expected, through the series of savage firefights that Stuart fought with the Federals that slowed him down, and the capture of the Federal supply train that subsequently bogged Stuart down as he tried to bring everything back to Lee, who could certainly use it.
The second phase of the book focuses on the controversy, as various figures start pointing figures and assigning blame. Stuart, who died before the war ended, of course, cannot defend himself. Lee's chief of staff, Charles Marshall, made a particular effort to blame everything on Stuart, probably to protect Lee's reputation. Marshall's writings heavily influenced the post war picture of Stuart's ride.
The final conclusion arrived at by the authors is straightforward and well supported -- Lee did not issue clear orders and did not manage the calvary forces he retained with him well after Stuart departed on his ride, and Stuart made some poor decisions during the ride.
The authors of Plenty of Blame, joined by Michael Nugent, have gone on to write about the Army of Northern Virginia's retreat, in One Continuous Fight: The Retreat From Gettysburg. When I finish it, I expect I'll write something here.
Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg
Eric J. Wittenberg & J. David Petruzzi
2006, Savas Beatie LLC, New York NY
ISBN 1-932714-20-0
(For those who have not previously spent any time learning about Gettysburg, this is not the place to start, go read Stephen Sears' account and then visit the battlefield to place things in context. It's hard to truly understand a battle until you understand the terrain on which it was fought.)
People normally learn about military campaigns in ways that are almost guaranteed to produce poor understanding of what was going on and why. some of this is failure to understand geographical issues. some is failure to understand behind-the-scenes politics. and some is due to the fact that we tend to fixate on the major battles and lose the context.
With Gettysburg, we tend to focus on July 1st through July 3rd, with vague discussion about Jeb Stuart's unnecessary ride around the Federal Army but not much talk about why he did it and what happened. Likewise, we tend to not learn anything about the weeks of hard fighting that occurred in the aftermath of Gettysburg, as Lee struggled to extricate the Army of Northern Virginia.
Eric Wittenberg, David Petruzzi (and in later volumes, Michael Nugent) are addressing some of these issues. The first book (the one I'm reviewing here), deals with Stuart's infamous ride, from the initial concept and Lee's initial orders, through the extend sequence of things that didn't go as expected, through the series of savage firefights that Stuart fought with the Federals that slowed him down, and the capture of the Federal supply train that subsequently bogged Stuart down as he tried to bring everything back to Lee, who could certainly use it.
The second phase of the book focuses on the controversy, as various figures start pointing figures and assigning blame. Stuart, who died before the war ended, of course, cannot defend himself. Lee's chief of staff, Charles Marshall, made a particular effort to blame everything on Stuart, probably to protect Lee's reputation. Marshall's writings heavily influenced the post war picture of Stuart's ride.
The final conclusion arrived at by the authors is straightforward and well supported -- Lee did not issue clear orders and did not manage the calvary forces he retained with him well after Stuart departed on his ride, and Stuart made some poor decisions during the ride.
The authors of Plenty of Blame, joined by Michael Nugent, have gone on to write about the Army of Northern Virginia's retreat, in One Continuous Fight: The Retreat From Gettysburg. When I finish it, I expect I'll write something here.
