Four Years With General Lee

"... it offers a sure, quick, eyewitness assessment of all Lee's campaigns." --Southern Partisan

Walter Taylor was "first to last the closest" of all staff officers to General Robert E. Lee, and his intimate relationship with his commander gives Taylor's writings signal importance in any study of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. A recognized classic, Four Years with General Lee first appeared in 1877 and was a collector's item by the turn of the century. This annotated edition, first published in 1962, was prepared by noted Civil War historian James I. Robertson, Jr., who has provided a new introduction for this paperback reissue.

JAMES I. ROBERTSON, JR., is Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech. His books include General A. P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior, Soldiers Blue and Gray, and The Civil War Virginia: Battleground for a Nation.

Chapter I.

Organization of the Army of Virginia.--General R. E. Lee assigned to the Command of the State Troops.--Transfer to the Southern Confederacy

Chapter II.

General Lee retained in Richmond as Adviser to President Davis.--Disaster to the Confederate Forces under General Garnett.--General Lee sent to Northwest Virgina.--Lamentable Condition of Affairs in that Department.

Chapter III.

Strength and Positions of the Opposing Armies in Northwest Virginia.--General Lee determines to take the Offensive.--Ineffectual Attempt to carry the Positions held by the Federal Troops.--Responsibility for the Failure

Chapter IV.

Affairs in Southwestern Virginia.--Want of Harmony between Generals Floyd and Wise.--General Lee Proceeds to that Section.--Preparations to resist General Rosecrans.--Retreat of the Federals

Chapter V.

General Lee repairs to Richmond.-He is ordered to the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.--His Return thence to Richmond.--He is charged with the Control of the Military Operations of all of the Confererate Armies.--His Duties in that Position.--General Johnston wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines.--General Lee in Command of the Army of Northern Virginia.--The Seven Days'Battles around Richmond.--Strength of the Two Opposing Armies

Chapter VI.

General Lee manoeuvres to effect the Withdrawal of General McClellan's Army.--Jackson engages Pope at Cedar Run, or Slaughter's Mountain.--Removal of the Federal Army from James River.--The Second Battle of Manassas.--The First Invasion.--Operations in Maryland.--McClellan in Possession of Lee's Order of Battle.--Boonesboro, or South Mountain.--Capture of Harpers' Ferry by Jackson's Forces.--Battle of Sharpsburg.--General Lee retires to Virginia.--Incidents illustrating the Devotion to Duty and Great Self-Control of the Confederate Leader

Chapter VII.

Battle of Fredericksburg.--Federal Army One Hundred Thousand strong: Confederate Army Seventy-eight Thousand strong.--Battle of Chancellorsville.--Federal Army One Hundred and Thirty-two Thousand strong: Confererate Army Fifty-seven Thousand strong

Chapter VIII.

The Pennsylvania Campaign.--The Battle of Gettysburg.--Strength of the Opposing Armies

Chapter IX.

General Lee retires to Virginia.--Affair at Bristoe Station.--The Tete-de-Pont.--Mine Run.--General Meade's Advance and Retreat.--Dahlgren's Raid

Chapter X.

General Grant in Command of the Federal Army of the Potomac.--His Advance,--From the Wilderness to Petersburg.-Strength of the Two Armies

Chapter XI.

Siege of Petersburg.--General Lee's Views as to the Removal of General Johnston from the Command of the Army of Tennessee.--Movements of Sherman's Army.--Inevitable Result of the Persistent Effort to hold Petersburg and Richmond

Chapter XII.

Evacuation of Petersburg.--General Lee's Retreat up James River.--Appomattox.--Surrender.--General Lee goes to Richmond

Chapter XIII.

General Lee indicted by the Grand-Jury at Norfolk.--His Advice to the Young Men of Virginia.--His Purpose to write a History of the Army of Northern Virginia.--His Desire to obtain Correct Information of the Strength of that Army

Chapter XIV.

The Strength of the Army of Northern Virgina, taken from the Original Returns now on File in the Archive-Office of the War Department, Washington, D.C.

Address on the Character of General Robert E. Lee

Notes

Index