A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865 Book

A graphic and well-written if not particularly well-organized history of the Civil War era, focused on why the war took place, how it was fought, and why the Union won it. The maps are of good quality and the narrative is smooth if not particularly compelling.

Although Lee is often criticized for limiting his strategic vision to the Virginia theater, Weigley argues that he was correct: due to Confederate resource shortages, the South could not afford a long war and thus a strategic victory in the Virginia theater was the South's "best hope." Interestingly, Weigley considers Stonewall Jackson a poor tactician, and is more favorable towards Longstreet, Hill, and Ewell. He is quite critical of Grant. Weigley argues that both the Union and Confederate governments were bad at planning and controlling their war efforts. Near the end he also questions the popular belief that war is always futile and unjustifiable, pointing out that these arguments are rarely used when discussing the Civil War or World War II, and that postwar generations are not necessarily wiser or more civilized because of terrible wartime experiences.

While balanced and readable, the narrative skips back and forth a bit chronologically and none of the era's figures really come to life. Also, the leadership of Lincoln and Davis is never really compared, and naval affairs take up only a tiny portion of the text. And the descriptions of the battles are a bit disappointing and sometimes confusing: Weigley's coverage of military campaigns, political, and social developments are much better. He also gets the years of McClellan and Albert Sidney Johnston's West Point graduations wrong. He also calls Shiloh a Baptist church, writes that the Tennessee sunk, describes Davis and Bragg as close friends and mixes up Sherman with Hurlbut. There are also some unfortunate attempts to be witty that fall flat: "The unfortunate General Stone was made to serve as a Franklin's kite, by which Benjamin Franklin Wade hoped to recapture the electricity of the first mobilization." When discussing Second Bull Run, Weigley also takes McClellan's hot-tempered rants a bit too seriously when he writes that McClellan "hoped Pope would fail"---this seems like a bit much, although McClellan made no secret of his contempt for Pope and his own belief that Pope would be and deserved to be defeated. And for some reason Pea Ridge gets as much space as the entire Peninsula campaign.