I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the evidence to support the assertion that despite losing the war the South was not reconstructed. I did however find that reading 31 different testimonies to the Joint Congressional Committee to be somewhat mundane. This book is a must for anyone who is interested in the history of the reconstruction and have only read the official version of these historical events.

This is one of the rare true historical accounts as to what happened after the Civil War. The testimonials by the ex-slaves give a chilling, but accurate account of what actually happened. The revisionist historians will probably frown but this is the only true account of "how the south won the war."

I can write a review but actually I need an author's biography form so my husband, Stetson Kennedy, can fill it out. If you could e-mail it to him at stet_k2000@yahoo.com I will make sure he fills it out.

This book helped me relax. It's very religious and shows many different sides to the civil war. I would reccommend it to anyone interested in historical fiction.

This book was a great book to read all at once. I found it hard to put down becuase the plot line that was great.

I really enjoyed it. It is a great book I couldn't put it down.

Gilbert Morris is a splendid author, and this book was another one of his fine works. He came up with the most delightful metaphor, and I cannot wait for an opportunity to use it. One of the characters said: "I'm as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs." I thought that was so cute!

Gilbert Morris is a remarkable author. He is talented and detailed oriented. I own all of the Appomatox Saga. Each one I devoured and was hard put to lay down. Being a Civil War Reenactor, I found his details quite accurate and thoughtful. I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend the whole series if you enjoy historical fiction, especially from the Civil War era.

Overall this book is a good read on a unwritten about subject. The events during Lee's surrender have been written many times, but not many have discussed how Appomattox was founded, who lived there, etc. Marvel does this, although the first couple chapters are a bit slow. However, during the war years, the text picks up and is more lively. Marvel's description of the differing personalties in Appomattox's history is very good too. The section on the post-war years did not go into as much depth however. Nor did Marvel go into much depth on the death of Appomattox or its rebirth as a national park. I have been to the park and this book gave me a better understanding of some of the things I saw. Overall, the book is very good, but Marvel did miss a couple things.

Marvel's "A Place Called Appomattox" is a great book. Overall it provides an insightful and intriguing portrait of the life and death of Appomattox Court House, VA. However there are some minor problems with the book that prevent it from being an outstanding book.

First off, the book takes several chapters to really get rolling. The first three chapters of the book consist entirely of narrative by Marvel and no quotations from letters, diaries, newspapers or government documents. This lack of visceral primary sources keeps the book from involving the reader in the narrative and may bore readers who aren't committed for the finish.

However, once the war does start, the books becomes much more active. There are active quotations from individuals and the narrative becomes much more involved with the individuals of the town. I really enjoyed this part of the book.

Overall this is a great book. However, Marvel doesn't go as far into the death throes of Appomattox or its restoration during the 1930's and 1940's as I would have liked. Marvel also doesn't really do as thorough a job as I would have liked to prove his statement in his preface that Appomattox was a typical Southern town. Other than this, it was an interesting book.

From the point of view of a family historian, Marvel's book fills a hole in the genre of social history books for Appomattox. The gems in this book consist of a lengthy source for chapter notes, family names like Ferguson, Flood, and McClean, and simplified maps showing the layout of Appomattox CH, as well as Clover Hill, and the dilineation of Buckingham and Appomattox Counties. The latter can be a source of much confusion in census records after 1845.

Marvel tells a story of typhoid epidemics, social mannerisms, and politics that will tickle the soul of the wanna-be gossip, as well as the reader who relishes a good story. The attention to detail goes beyond the call of duty, and is much appreciated by this reader. This is the first book I've seen that mentions Robert Kyle's heavy artillery division in any detail.

If you're not familiar with the names and families through genealogical research, you'll know them by the time you finish the book. Excellent reading, excellent resource.

James Longstreet is the classic example of the man who lives too long and says too much. This fictive attempt to excuse his pitiful performances and to detract from Robert E. Lee (who was conviniently dead and therefore unable to defend himself when this book came out)is definitely worth reading as long as you keep in mind that what he's saying is probably a little left of the truth. Recently, there was strong evidence unearthed that Longstreet didn't even write this ode to himself. In short, a better and shorter version of the content of this book can be found in Shaara's "Killer Angels".

This is a fairly long book written by Longstreet a few years before his death as one of the longest living of the great generals of the Confederacy. He wrote many controversial articles prior to this book in the late 1870's that sparked controversy during the building of the Lost Cause syndrome. Since Longstreet does seem to have some memory issues with some battles such as Gaines Mill, parts of the book may be a little disappointing; however, he provides pretty good detail on his Gettysburg participation that is probably the most significant part of the book. The issue of what occurred on the morning of the second day of Gettysburg with Lee is in some conflict with previous testimony but Longstreet clearly states that there was no "sunrise attack order". He also defends his proposed move to the right but offers, what almost seems a publishers delight, a view that "Lee's blood was up" and there was no recourse but to attack. Unfortunately, Longstreet spends little time on his Tennessee campaign where in brutal winter conditions his wonderful command totters into disharmony. Although I wonder how much involvement Longstreet had with ghostwriters due to the loss of the use of his arm from the Wilderness, the demeanor seems consistent with "Old Pete". Perhaps if Longstreet followed D. H. Hill's view of never speaking ill of the dead, he would have a place in Richmond. In contrast to "Old Pete", D. H. Hill who was a cranky and outspoken critic during the war and but effective general, following his own rules Hill was rather boring in his lack of commentary. What is phenomenal about Longstreet is the great punishment he has taken from earlier CW writers about Gettysburg because of his post war views while in contrast Jackson was not held nearly as accountable for his failure to participate properly in the 7 Days battles where the war could have been won. Contrast Longstreet's role at the battle of Glendale with Jackson's

If Longstreet had died of his wounds at The Wilderness, he would be in the Pantheon with Lee and Jackson. If he'd never uttered a public word about The War, he might well be in that Pantheon. But after Lee's death, and in the humiliating pain of Reconstruction, Longstreet was the only surviving icon of the Army of Northern Virginia. Longstreet saw The War over and went on with his life. In doing so, he committed the unpardonable sin of renewing his old acquaintances, doing homage to the ruling party, and putting food on his family's table. As the lesser lights among the general officers began to seek a profit from their war, someone had to be blamed for the Army of Northern Virginia's failure. The Virginians wrote the history; the the Georgian, Longstreet, got the blame. Longstreet was an imperfect man and an imperfect commander, but neither Longstreet nor Lee lost the Battle of Gettysburg. Gallant Virginians get that honor. If Viginians Ewell, Early, and A. P. Hill had done anything useful on 2 July 63, American history might well be written with a different accent. By the time of this memoir, Longstreet was a wounded and defensive man under sustained and violent attack by the "Lost Cause" crowd in Virginia. Read his memoir in that context.

I'd be tempted to call this revisionism, but I really just find this to be bad history. Besides an obvious anti-Southern agenda, I don't know where the author is "going" with this. One page he bad mouths Lee-staffer Walter Taylor for deflating the number of troops Lee had/has available at a particular time - then he contradicts his argument by outlining those who are constantly deserting!@? Gosh, does Lee have the "numbers" or not? Likewise, Taylor is "guilty" of inflating numbers of Federals. Of course, Marvel then throughout the text outlines the outlandish amounts of Federal troops that were indeed available to Grant!?#@ A second folly is his contention that the FEDERAL troops were starving! Of course, this is followed by accounts of the Southrons having no forage and eating the ol' parched corn routine. Much like Wiley Sword's hatchet job on John Bell Hood, there is nothing Lee can do to "satisfy" W. Marvel in this inconsistent, contradictory effort. I'm sure to be wary of any other W. Marvel book.

Lee's Last Retreat: THe Flight to Appomattox written by William Marvel is history at its best... not filled with untruths that spring from imagination, but from actual diaries of those who fought and were there... this book is devoid of major attempts of participating generals at the art of fabrication and embellishments, therefore this is an attempt to write history with primarily from comtempory source material.

There is a lot of literature written about the Civil War and most of it is excellent historical fiction, but there is an honest attempt to write the truth about the final days of "Lee's Last Retreat." This book has a goal in mind and it is to tell what happened in the last week of the Civil War from Spring 1865 and on into the final week Monday, April 3 to Sunday, April 9, 1865.

This book has limited the scope to mainly just the final seven days of the war as Grant is chasing and closing ranks around Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. The final day at Appomattox Court House, the day the Grant accepts Lee's total surrender.

The truth is that Lee made at least one fatal mistake during his last campaign, and his subordinates were guilty of errors and omissions for which another commanding general would have been held responsible. For all the ultimate good it might have done him, Lee could actually have escaped alone the line of the Danville railroad had the administrative framework of his army not disintegrated, and with it the morale of his men. Had his engineers not failed to provide a pontoon bridge for the escape of the Richmond column, or had they warned him of that failure, he might have avoided the final delay at Amelia Court House. These and other errors of omission could have swayed, if corrected, the final out come of the war and a much different result.

The book has a rapid paced narrative that brings to light the final week in the campaign of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia the finest army to be ever assembled and fight on American soil. This book is full of actual accounts, letters, diaries and other contemporary documents. This is a welcome addition to your library for this time period.

This book has been hyped as a myth busting history of Lee's retreat to Appomattox. As such I feared that it would be a bashing of Lee and the Southern viewpoint of the war. Instead Marvel has written a very even-handed account of this story that has become an epic of American history.
"Lee's Last Retreat" is a fast paced book retelling Lee's retreat and Grant's relentless pursuit. Unlike so many recent Civil War books, Marvel does not get lost in the details nor does he make his book too long. He tells the story in 199 pages including 23 pages of photographs. To use a term seldom used to describe works of nonfiction, this is a real page turner. That is not to say that this is a "light" work. The author spices his account with a lot of detail from diaries and letters. His research and documentation is first-rate. For those wanting more he includes @40 pages of appendices and an order of battle. This is Marvel's second work on Appomattox and he is very familiar with the material. His other book was "A Place Called Appomattox".
Marvel does not hesitate to state his opinion and I found his insights fair and refreshing. I found myself laughing at some of his characterizations. For example, on page 87, he refers to George Custer as "the insufferably arrogant Custer." He spares neither Rebels nor Yankees where it is deserved.
"Lee's Last Retreat" adds to the excellent reputation that Marvel earned with his book on Andersonville. Add this book to your library.

After all the wonderful books in the Appomattox Saga, I was slightly disappointed with the eigth one. Stars in Their Courses was still a good book, but it didn't keep me as entertained as the others.I would still reccommend it though.

This book is one of the most interesting but twisting romance novels in the series. It keeps you in suspense with several dramatic conclusions. I would definitely read it if you are already reading the series.

The first Civil War book I ever read (not counting Stephen Crane's "Red Badge Of Courage" which I read back in the 10th grade), was Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels," an excellent book, moving and informative though somewhat discursive and lacking in as much battle detail as the reader may ultimately desire to know. That was by design as Shaara was seeking to show us the interior lives of the officers who fought at Gettysburg. In this sense "Killer Angels" is more like a novel than a history.

"Stars In Their Courses" is a much more richly detailed - and not novelistic (though certainly not lacking in drama) - book, a book whose historical context is more fully exposed: each of the terrible interlocking events of those three days is exploded on the page so that we get a fuller appreciation of the totality of that battle, the "high-water mark of the Confederacy."

I encourage anyone who is interested in furthering their understanding of the Battle of Gettysburg, or of simply reading a great book about the turning point in America's most devastating war, to read this book. And make sure, while you're at it, to also read "Killer Angels." Side by side these book give a fascinating view of three bloody days in the fields and woods of Pennsylvania.

As an addendum, I would like to say that, while this book is more straightforward and less like a novel than KA, it is during the reading of Pickett's Charge from this book that both my wife and I broke down in tears.

EKW

Mr. Davis has collected an impressive selection of first person accounts of the the last 9 days of the Army of Northern Viginia and the inevitable collapse of the Confederacy. Some of the accounts are contemporanious and others are the reminisences of veterans in later years but in all of them the reader can feel that those present knew that they were seeing history being made at its most intense. The comments of starving men, who doubtless at the time could think of little more than food, still brings us their views of events between foraging expeditions. The Army of Northern Virginia was footsore, starved and exhausted and was being pursued by an army well feed, well mounted, with good boots and nearly as tired but all there could see how it was going to end. Some resisted the idea of surrender while others believed that further bloodshed was futile and had been for over a year. Most Confederates tried to press on if only to follow Lee. Read Chamberlan's "The Passing of the Armies" and you will get the Victorian school masters prose. Read Davis and the flavor of the armies spoken language comes out. As a played out North Carolina private put it so well when captured by a Union cavalryman who said "I got you Johnnie", "A hell of a git you got" was the reply

To Appomattox by Civil War expert Burke Davis is an expertly researched, historically grounded, deftly written retelling of the last nine days of the Civil War. Narrating history in the fluid style of a novel, yet as accurate as records and all sources of information can allow, To Appomattox characterizes General Lee, his troops, and a nation weary of war in a vivid, dramatic, engaging, manner. To Appomattox is a welcome and strongly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Civil War Studies reference collections.

Burke Davis has hit homeruns with other Civil War books on the fall of Richmond and the flight of Jefferson Davis, on Sherman's March, and a good bio of J.E.B. Stuart. This one follows the Confederate defenders of Petersburg and Richmond til the surrender at Appomattox. This book uses tons of first person accounts based on letters, diaries, newspaper articles, and memoirs. Davis writes in a crisp, readable style that will keep you turning the pages. Much has been written about Lee's surrender at Appomattox and this is surely one of the best books on the subject from a Confederate point of view.

This is one of those special books that genuinely deserves its New York Times bestseller status. April 1865 is fresh, thoughtful, extremely well-researched, and exceptionally well-written. Jay Winik takes events we all think we know and suddenly makes us understand that there was nothing inevitable about Appomattox or the country surviving the Lincoln assasination just five days later. His portraits of the central players -- Lincoln, Lee, Grant, and Sherman -- and many others give you a powerful sense of the men and the era and what they all had to overcome. As a Northerner transplanted by work to the South, I have gained a far better appreciation and understanding of my country after reading this book. You can enjoy it if you are a devoted Civil War buff or a novice reader, like my wife. April 1865 is destined to become a classic, while at the same time being one of those rare books that is a true delight to read. If I had had professors like Jay Winik, I might have been a history major -- but this book almost makes up for that. Highly recommended.

A few years ago I read an account of the five days in May 1940 that may have determined the course of the second world war. It was a good book, in part because of the decision to focus on a few fateful days and the key decision makers that forged history. With "April 1865", Winik uses the same approach, covering a span of thirty days, and achieves a marvelous result. This is a great book.

Casual readers of history (meaning few Americans) are not likely to be fully cognizant of the slender thread that held the nation together in the last month of the war, with Lee's surrender on in early April and Lincoln's death a few days later. Even fewer Americans know just how delicate the situation became as the war came to a close. Other events stormed around these historic memories. The egos and decisions of generals Grant, Sherman, Johnston, and Mosby played a large part in the end of the war and the start of the peace. And the politicians, namely Lincoln, Johnson and Davis, had to work very hard that the peace was not more disruptive than the war.

Winik asks and adderesses basic questions about motives in the North and in the South. What role did emancipation play in the North and in the South? What plan for peace did Lincoln have? What made Lee fianlly choose to surrender? Why didn't the South extend the battle into a guerrila war? Why did President Davis decline to give up after Lee surendered? What might have happended had Lincoln survived?

Winik makes a compelling case that small events, basic decisions, and the character of people can color great events and make for a better world. A few good maps and integrated, thorough endnotes make "April 1865" easy to read. His 'thumbnail' biographies of the key players provide good explanations for the complex motives that produced peace at the end of four years of terrible war. And that color our national culture to this day.

Every American adult should be forced to buy and read this book. In developing his thesis that the manner in which the Civil War ended created modern America, Winik cites many historical events which we either did not learn in school or forgot. For example, who knows that the Confederates were seriously considering emancipating any slave who would serve in their army? Who knows that atrocities were committed in Missouri and Kansas that differ little from those in Rawanda and the former Yugoslavia? I was shocked to learn African-Americans from Louisiana fought for the Confederacy and one of the great Confederate armies and the last to surrender was Indian and Indian led. Winik leaves the reader with an appreciation for the complexity of American history. Ultimately Americans are fortunate that the United States made it through April 1865 even if there are a few skeletons in the closet.

I found this book to be a very enjoyable book to read and if helped fill in a few spaces left about the great names of the Civil War before they became Generals. I have always enjoy reading accounts of the war with Mexico and seeing how the future enemies of the American Civil War fought together, saved each others lives on occassions and learnt the common lessons of war. This is a very interesting and well presented account although I found the battle scenes lacking in depth but I would suppose that was not the authors main focus but more on the people involved. I think it may have helped to have added a few maps of the fighting in Mexico and the Valley as if you have no prior knowledge of these areas you really do not appreciate the efforts involved in moving from one point to another. Overall this is a decent book and most people should enjoy immersing themselves in this bit of history.

This is one of the best Civil War books, I've ever read. John Waugh brings so many of our Civil war Generals, both North and South, back to life. We learn so many interesting details about their lives at West Point. This book had me laughing, with their antics at West Point, it rather reminded me of my own "boot Camp" life in the military 25 years ago. I can still see Thomas J. "StoneWall" Jackson, sweating at the blackboard, to try and solve problems,walking at the same pace, even when the others hurry to get out of the rain. The Fight that almost broke out, in the Church at West Point, between two future leaders.

One of the things, John Waugh does, is very emotionally grab you by the throat, as he describes StoneWall Jacksons dying, his wifes and Lee's reaction, and the funeral. I literally, had to put the book down and wipe the tears from my eyes. I've read about this incident, many times before, but Waughs version, really got to me.
McClellan, A.P.Hill, Pickett, Wilcox, Stoneman, Darius Couch, Sturgis and many others are brought to life.

I have so many Civil War books to read, but I certainly want to read this book again, in the future.

If you're a real Civil War Buff, you owe it to yourself to read this. To me, it was as good as Shelby Foote.

I've been immersed in my Civil War studies for about 2 years, and Waugh/Mc Pherson's effort is an absolute joy. The life and times of key (and minor) personalities of this particular graduating class are spotlighted through their studies at West Point, Mexican/Indian War exploits and sorrowfully, to the final conflict of America's Civil War. One of the true instances where one "cannot put the book down". Highly recommended, indeed.