Jeff Shaara and Michael Shaara: Three Novels of the Civil War: Gods and Generals, the Killer Angels, the Last Full Measure

by Jeff Shaara

  Frances “Fannie” Adams Chamberlain

  Her marriage is never without great stress. At the conclusion of the war, she receives her husband’s return from the army with much graciousness, but his subsequent political career, and thus frequent absences from their home, take a serious toll. Withdrawing often into long depressions, she even confides to her closest friends of the unthinkable possibility of divorce. She is eventually stricken with blindness and failing health, but their marriage endures until her death in 1905.

  Those Who Wore Gray

  Major General Daniel Harvey Hill

  Jackson’s brother-in-law serves in the defense of Richmond while the battle rages in Gettysburg. Promoted to Lieutenant General of North Carolina after the battle, he is sent to Tennessee to assist Braxton Bragg in the defense of Chickamauga, and is embroiled in a controversy by claiming Bragg is incompetent. But President Davis supports Bragg, and so relieves Hill and refuses to recommend Hill’s promotion to the Confederate Congress. He serves the remainder of the war in command of volunteers in North Carolina. Returns then to academics, and in 1877 becomes president of the University of Arkansas. Later, he heads the Georgia Military Academy, until his death in 1889.

  Major Alexander Swift “Sandie” Pendleton

  After Jackson’s death, is appointed by Lee to General Ewell’s staff, in the newly organized Second Corps, and Ewell promotes him to Lieutenant Colonel. However, the cordial relationship between Ewell and Jackson’s former staff quickly dissolves, as the men who were accustomed to Jackson’s aggressiveness observe Ewell’s sluggishness at Gettysburg and his monumental failure to capture the high ground of Cemetery Hill. Pendleton writes, “Oh for the presence and inspiration of Old Jack for just one hour!”

  When Ewell’s health begins to fail, Jubal Early is given command of the Second Corps, and Pendleton is one of the very few who gains the respect of the disagreeable Early, serving with him through the campaigns of the following year in the Shenandoah Valley. In late 1863 he receives a brief leave, and marries Kate Corbin, the young aunt of the tragic five-year-old girl who had so captured Jackson. In September 1864, during a battle for the town of Winchester, he is mortally wounded, and dies the next day. He does not ever see the son that Kate bears him the following November. The infant is named Sandie, but does not survive his first year.

  Of Pendleton, his friend James Power Smith writes: “His intellectual powers were of the highest order . . . the readiness with which he approached his duty . . . was equaled by the celerity and skill with which he performed it. As a staff officer he had no equal.”

  Dr. Hunter H. McGuire

  From his early association with Jackson’s first command of the First Virginia Brigade (the Stonewall Brigade), his reputation exceeds that of any other medical officer in the Confederate Army. After Jackson’s death, he serves in Ewell’s corps, and thus will return to his beloved Shenandoah, where he is eventually named Medical Director for the Army of the Valley. After the war, his career continues to earn him great honor and respect. He establishes the College of Medicine at the University of Virginia, serves there as Professor of Surgery until 1878, and later is named President of the American Surgical Association, and then of the American Medical Association. He survives until 1900.

  Major General Joseph E. Johnston

  Recovers from his wounds at Fair Oaks, returns to command the Department of the West. His feud with Davis, and his lack of cooperation and communication, continue, and he is thus blamed for the defeats at Vicksburg and Chattanooga. He cannot bring enough forces to the field to impede Sherman’s assault on Atlanta, and so is relieved in July 1864 by John Bell Hood.

  After the war, he goes into private business, serves briefly as a congressman, and eventually settles in Washington, D.C., as a railroad commissioner. He dies of pneumonia in 1891. It is observed that he is in many ways the complete opposite of George McClellan: great skill in the field, with a total lack of administrative abilities.

  Brigadier General William Barksdale

  At Chancellorsville his brigade fights alongside Early’s division on Marye’s Heights, which eventually gives way to the vastly superior numbers of Sedgwick’s corps. He leads his decimated forces into battle on the right flank during the second day at Gettysburg, engages Sickles’s corps at the Peach Orchard, where he is mortally wounded. He dies the following day.

  Brigadier General Robert Rodes

  After Chancellorsville, Jackson’s former colleague is promoted to Major General, leads his division with distinction at Gettysburg and afterward. Assigned to the Shenandoah Valley with Early’s corps, he is killed at Winchester the same day as Sandie Pendleton.

  President Jefferson Davis

  Continues to deteriorate mentally as the war goes on, pulls all available troops close around Richmond, and so, around himself. When Richmond falls, he moves the Confederate government to Charlotte, North Carolina, and finally is captured in May 1865 at Irwinsville, Georgia. He is imprisoned for two years, but never stands trial, is released by a government anxious to move beyond the lingering taste of the war. P.G.T. Beauregard later writes that the Confederacy “needed for President either a military man of high order, or a politician of the first-class without military pretensions.” Regrettably for the Great Cause, Davis proved to be neither. He survives until 1889.

  Those Who Wore Blue

  General in Chief Winfield Scott

  He is given no significant role in the war after the first appointment of McClellan in 1861, and thus the grand old man of the army spends much of the war years writing his memoirs. He dies in 1866, at the age of eighty, and is buried at West Point. For his extraordinary abilities as both a strategist and a leader of men, he is still regarded as one of the greatest soldiers this nation has ever produced.

  Commanding General George B. McClellan

  Runs unsuccessfully for President against Lincoln in 1864, later becomes Governor of New Jersey. He writes an autobiography, defending his military decision-making and emphasizing his success in organizing the army. But even his staunchest supporters concede that his genius as an administrator was never carried forward to the battlefield. He survives until 1885.

  Major General Ambrose E. Burnside

  Reassigned to the Army of the Ohio, he performs adequately through several engagements, though at Petersburg is again blamed for poor command decisions. After the war, he becomes a successful railroad administrator. In 1866 he is elected Governor of Rhode Island, and after two terms is elected United States Senator, serving until his death in 1881.

  Ulysses Grant describes him as “an officer who was generally liked and respected, he was not, however, fitted to command an army. No one knew this better than himself.”

  Major General Darius N. Couch

  On May 22, 1863, he requests a leave of absence, tells the War Department he can no longer “lead his men to senseless slaughter” under Joe Hooker. When he is turned down, he tenders his resignation. His service to the army is considered too valuable to allow him to retire into civilian life, and so in June 1863 he is appointed commander of the new Department of the Susquehanna, and given the duty of organizing local militia to defend Pennsylvania against the threatened Confederate invasion. After Gettysburg he goes west, commands a division in Tennessee. Following the war, he resigns from the army, runs unsuccessfully for governor in Massachusetts, and later enters private business, though he still serves in the volunteer army until his death in 1897.

  After Chancellorsville, Couch is replaced as commander of the Second Corps by Winfield Scott Hancock.

  Colonel Nelson A. Miles

  Surviving his wounds at Chancellorsville, he is eventually promoted to brigade and then division command under Hancock. He receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his brilliant stand against Lee’s continuous attacks at Chancellorsville. He is promoted to Brigadier General in the spring of 1864, then after the war, to Major General. He is appointed custodian of the prisoner Jefferson Davis, and af
terward moves to the West to continue building his solid reputation as a fighter in the Indian wars. Named General in Chief of the Army in 1895, he commands the victorious U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War. He retires from the army in 1903, one of this country’s most decorated soldiers, lives the peaceful life of the dignified hero until 1925. He is one of four pallbearers at the funeral of General Hancock.

  Major General Joseph Hooker

  Relieved of command in June 1863, he is reassigned to command under the forces of Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, where, surprisingly, he distinguishes himself at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, receives a commendation for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Chattanooga. Grant, however, writes of him: “I regarded him as a dangerous man . . . he was ambitious to the extent of caring nothing for the rights of others.” Paralyzed by a stroke in 1868, he survives until 1879. Of the disastrous failure at Chancellorsville, Hooker later confides to a friend that he had simply lost confidence in Joe Hooker.

  Major General Edwin V. “Bull” Sumner

  The old loyal soldier, who shares none of the political egotism of his colleagues, is not named in Burnside’s sweeping indictment of his commanders after the debacle at Fredericksburg. By staying back across the Rappahannock River, he is therefore spared much of the stigma the other commanders will carry. However, his personal failures weigh heavily, and in the spring of 1863, less than two months after his forced retirement, he dies.

  Colonel Adelbert A. Ames

  On May 20, 1863, he is promoted to Brigadier General after a vigorous campaign on his own behalf, and receives command of a brigade in the Eleventh Corps, under Oliver Howard. He is later awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his gallantry at First Manassas (Bull Run). After the war, General Grant assigns him to Mississippi as the military provisional governor. In 1876 he is forced to resign by an uprising in reaction to his unpopularly liberal views. Returning to the army, he commands a brigade in the Spanish-American War. He dies in 1933, at age ninety-seven, and is thus the oldest surviving general officer of the Civil War.

  Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher

  His Irish Brigade is so decimated after Chancellorsville, he resigns from command, believing his usefulness to the army has passed. By December 1863 he is given command of forces under William T. Sherman. After the war, he receives a gold medal from the state of New York for his brilliant leadership of the Irish Brigade. But he leaves the postwar turmoil of the East, goes to Montana, becomes Territorial Governor. He dies by drowning in the Missouri River in 1867.

  And from These Pages

  Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Lewis Armistead, A. P. Hill, John Bell Hood, George Pickett, J.E.B. Stuart, Porter Alexander, Harry Heth,

  and

  Winfield Scott Hancock, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, John Reynolds, George Gordon Meade, John Buford, Oliver Howard, Dan Sickles

  In July 1863 they will share the field again, the low hills and open farmlands around Gettysburg, for the three bloodiest days in American history. But that is another story. . . .

  Praise for Gods and Generals

  “JEFF SHAARA HAS SUCCEEDED BRILLIANTLY. GODS AND GENERALS IS EVERY OUNCE AS FINE A WORK AS HIS FATHER’S WAS.”

  —Detroit Free Press

  “Pick up and read Gods and Generals. . . . The pen of Shaara has put life into Lee, Jackson, Hancock, and Chamberlain. We almost get to know them personally through their thoughts and feelings as they lived through our great American tragedy.”

  —Civil War News

  “Compelling . . . A work of vivid drama and skill . . . The strength of this work is its personalization of the struggle. The action both draws in the reader and illustrates the gravity of each situation. . . . There is also a certain poetry to Mr. Shaara’s introspections and narrative.”

  —The Dallas Morning News

  “In Gods and Generals, [Shaara] writes in the same spare but elegant prose style his father did and measures up to Michael’s genius for crafting exciting fiction against a historically accurate backdrop. He conveys to the reader the same vivid sense of battle as his father did and builds characterization with wonderfully believable dialogue.”

  —Houston Chronicle

  “Verges on the miraculous . . . Against all odds Jeff Shaara’s Gods and Generals succeeds in leading you back to The Killer Angels.”

  —Gabor Boritt

  Director of the Civil War Institute

  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

  “Civil War buffs and fans of the hefty historical novel will find plenty to enjoy in Gods and Generals. . . . Historical detail and depth of character carry the book, which examines the viewpoints and vulner-abilities of one of the most fascinating collections of military minds ever assembled on a single battle front.”

  —Minneapolis Star Tribune

  “AN HONORABLE EFFORT AND A CLEAR INSIGHT

  INTO UNITED STATES HISTORY.”

  —Fort Worth Star-Telegram

  “This heartbreaking story offers understanding of man’s fascination with battle and made me marvel at how wave after wave of soldiers marched into sure death, driven there by generals who deeply believed in causes that to them were perhaps greater than any we hold today. The portraits of the battlefield are vividly horrid, of the men profoundly emotional, and of the war, intense. I wept as I turned the pages.”

  —Anniston Star

  “Shaara hits his stride as the political debate turns to armed conflict. The early days of war and the epic battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville come to life on the pages of Gods and Generals. Not only the main characters in the novel, but the secondary and subsidiary ones contribute to a fine portrait of a people and a nation in conflict.”

  —The Chattanooga Times

  “A robust portrait of the early years of the war . . . Like The Killer Angels, this novel displays an impressive grasp of the particulars of the conflict. . . . Shaara’s wonderful command of detail and his generally shrewd depiction of character make for an impressive debut.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Shaara has created human beings of the myths and cold facts.”

  —St. Petersburg Times

  “Shaara tells a tale impressive in its sweep, depth of character, and historic verisimilitude. . . . Like his father, Shaara gets deeply into the minds of his protagonists. . . . The Shaara genes, it seems, are in fine shape.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “[Gods and Generals] did something The Killer Angels did not; it made me cry.”

  —Nashville Banner

  “A HIGHLY ENGAGING BOOK . . .

  Shaara weaves together a coherent battle narrative, conveying the difficulties of moving troops and the near-chaos of fighting in the days before modern communications.”

  —The Commercial Appeal

  “Writers, like athletes, from time to time find themselves in that elusive ‘zone’ where everything seems to go right, and they surpass their greatest expectations. . . . In writing his bestselling Civil War novel Gods and Generals, author Jeff Shaara often found himself in that zone.”

  —Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

  “In every sense, even when compared with the father’s celebrated work, the son’s uncommon skill has produced a Civil War novel that stands out among all others. . . . Gods and Generals is truly more epic in scope than The Killer Angels.”

  —BookPage

  “Shaara treats his material with the kind of respect it deserves and does not try to remake his characters to appeal to modern sensibilities. . . . He is, in every sense, faithful to his material and to the legacy of his father.”

  —American Way

  “Shaara is an excellent writer, who pays tribute to his father with a fine first novel.”

  —The Orlando Sentinel

  “Jeff Shaara does shine when he writes about Jackson, and the general’s death is the most moving part of the novel.”

  —Indianapolis Star

  “Gods and Generals is a
s good as The Killer Angels, maybe better. Jeff Shaara has written a masterpiece.”

  —Mort Küntsler

  Historical artist

  The Killer Angels is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 1974 by Michael Shaara

  Copyright renewed © 2002 by Jeff M. Shaara and Lila E. Shaara

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.