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

by Jeff Shaara

  MAJOR GENERAL GOUVERNEUR K. WARREN

  The unfortunate victim of Sheridan’s wrath spends the rest of his life trying to correct the record, and is supported by Joshua Chamberlain for his actions along the White Oak Road and Five Forks. Pleading his case for a Court of Inquiry, he is finally granted a hearing in 1879, which clears him of wrongdoing and faults Sheridan’s judgment for relieving him from command of the Fifth Corps. But the damage is done, and Warren dies in 1882 still believing his potential for a brilliant army career was stripped away by a grave injustice.

  MAJOR GENERAL HORATIO G. WRIGHT

  Sedgwick’s successor to command of the Sixth Corps performs with competence, though he never rises to the esteem or the affection that the men had given “Uncle John.” He remains in the army after the war, is assigned Chief of the Corps of Engineers in 1879, retires in 1884. He survives until 1899.

  LIEUTENANT COLONEL HORACE PORTER

  Grant’s most trustworthy and efficient staff officer remains in the army after the war, is promoted to Brigadier General. He resigns in 1873, returns to Pennsylvania to become an executive for the railroad. He is a frequent contributor to magazines whose audiences hunger for the “real” stories of the war, and in 1897 he writes his own memoirs, considered one of the most accurate and readable accounts of life with General Grant. He survives until 1921.

  MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE GORDON MEADE

  He is described by Grant as “an officer of great merit, with drawbacks to his usefulness that were beyond his control … no one saw this better than himself, and no one regretted it more.” Meade remains in the army after the war and is named to command the Division of the Atlantic. Congress’s Reconstruction policies place the military in command of the southern states, and he becomes Military Governor of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. When Sheridan alone is promoted to Lieutenant General, Meade vents his anger in public at both Sheridan and Washington for being passed over. He resigns his Reconstruction position, returns to Philadelphia to again command the Division of the Atlantic, and dies in 1872 of pneumonia.

  MAJOR TOM CHAMBERLAIN

  Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s youngest brother remains in command of Company G, Twentieth Maine, throughout the last half of the war. After Appomattox he is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and for a short while serves on Chamberlain’s staff at division command. When the Army of the Potomac is officially disbanded in late June 1865, Tom returns to Maine, finds little to substitute for life as a soldier. He marries his ex–sister-in-law (widow of brother John) in 1870, and tries to follow his older brother’s example by joining Joshua and Wyllys Chamberlain in their unfortunate business venture in Florida. He returns to Maine, saddens his family by establishing a dismal reputation for drinking and womanizing. Those who served with him during the war remember only a man who was an excellent soldier, but his civilian life can never measure up to the extraordinary esteem enjoyed by his famous brother, and he dies in New York City in 1896, at age fifty-five.

  THOSE WHO WORE GRAY

  COLONEL WALTER H. TAYLOR

  Lee’s most loyal officer was arguably the most hardworking and efficient staff officer in either army. After the war, he settles with his new wife in Norfolk, Virginia, and raises eight children. He prospers first in the hardware business, eventually enters banking, becomes president of the Marine Bank of Norfolk. He serves briefly as a state senator to the Virginia legislature, which labors to carry the state forward through the difficulties of Reconstruction. He maintains contact with his former commander, and is one of those called upon to assist Lee with material for the memoirs Lee never writes. Taylor understands Lee’s fondness for those small bits of luxury Lee himself would rarely reveal, and so the young man frequently surprises Lee with gifts from the seacoast, most notably great boxes of fresh oysters, for which Lee has a weakness.

  Taylor serves on the board of his alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute, and three of his sons attend the school.

  His book, General Lee, 1861–1865, is possibly the most insightful and least egocentric memoir of any staff officer of the war. Throughout his life he is well known in Norfolk not only as the staff officer of the South’s greatest hero, but for his own quiet accomplishments as well. He dies in 1913, at age seventy-four. His obituary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch concludes: “Few men have been more honored in life than Col. Walter H. Taylor … and few are more honored in memory than he. To have lived so that all men gave him reverence to the day of his death is memory fine enough, but to have lived so that in his youth he was the trusted adjutant of Robert E. Lee sets his name apart and emblazons it. His books, his work in later years, his service to his community will live after him.”

  LIEUTENANT GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET

  Possibly the least understood and most maligned commander in the South, “Old Pete” was decades ahead of his time with his defensive tactics, the development of trench warfare.

  After the war, he and his wife Louise settle in New Orleans, where he goes into the cotton brokerage business and later founds an insurance agency. Often blamed for the loss at Gettysburg, his close relationship with Lee diminishes after the war, and he pursues a lifelong effort to vindicate his actions, which often results in controversy, since much of his writing and explanations come after the death of Lee. There is still controversy and disagreement as to what role his ego and desire for independent command played in his relationship with Lee. It is indisputable, however, that Lee relied upon Longstreet more than anyone under his command, and no one performed in difficult situations with the consistency of Old Pete.

  Proving, however, to be his own worst enemy, Longstreet writes that “we are a conquered people” and should “accept the terms that are now offered by the conquerors.” Though conciliatory in sentiment, it is an unwise statement to make publicly. He becomes a Republican during Reconstruction, believing sincerely that he can better aid the South by cooperation with the powers in Congress, and thus alienates many southerners who otherwise would have supported him. He accepts a job from his friend, (now President) Grant, and in 1869 becomes Customs Surveyor for the Port of New Orleans. This further outrages many who feel that he is a direct pawn of the hostile administration. His old friend, and former subordinate, Daniel Harvey Hill writes, “[Longstreet] is the local leper of the community.”

  He finally leaves New Orleans in 1875 and settles in Gainesville, Georgia. Later he serves as United States Minister to Turkey, but has never had skill as a diplomat, finds the position disagreeable at best, and returns to become a U.S. marshal in Georgia. He retires from government service in 1884 and settles into a pleasant life as a farmer. In 1889 he endures disaster as his home, and many of the precious artifacts of his wartime service, are destroyed by fire, and then later in the same year, his wife Louise dies. She had borne him ten children, only five of whom survived to adulthood. He eases his grief by writing his memoirs, creating yet more controversy. His view of events is described by many as flawed, either by the passage of years or his continuing need to defend his service on the field.

  He shocks friends and family in 1897 by marrying thirty-four-year-old Helen Dortch, a woman younger than he by forty-two years. Gradually, though, he rekindles the affection of many of the old soldiers, attends reunions and celebrations, and is cheered with great enthusiasm by the men who remember him, after all, as Lee’s war-horse. He dies in 1904 of pneumonia, having never regained the use of his right arm; he is just shy of his eighty-third birthday. Helen Dortch Longstreet survives until 1962.

  The controversy that has surrounded his name is made poignant by the fact that it is not until July 1998, 135 years after the battle, that the first monument to him is scheduled to be placed on the field at Gettysburg.

  MAJOR GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON

  The lawyer-turned-soldier returns to his home state of Georgia after the war, and serves two terms as a United States senator, then one term as governor of the state. Always active in Confederate causes and reunions, he serves
as commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans. Long after the war, after most of its participants are gone, he writes his memoirs. As with Longstreet, the accuracy of the work is criticized, and again, much is made of the span of years between the events and the writing. Some suggest there are some indiscreet motives behind some of Gordon’s accounts, and so, much of his reminiscences are regarded with great skepticism. Lee biographer Douglas Southall Freeman writes that it is often difficult “to know where General Gordon’s memory ended and where his imagination began.”

  LIEUTENANT COLONEL CHARLES MARSHALL

  The grandson of the illustrious John Marshall, the fourth U.S. Chief Justice, the young man who serves Lee so well was in reality the author of many of Lee’s most famous documents, including the General Order Number 9 (Lee’s farewell to his troops). After the war he settles in Baltimore and establishes a successful law practice. He is often called upon to speak at dedications to Lee monuments around the South, and continues to eloquently defend the southern cause. As the years pass, he becomes equally as outspoken in the cause of healing the wounds of the country. He speaks at the dedication of Grant’s Tomb in New York, where he says, “Men who were arrayed against each other in deadly strife are now met together to do honor to the memory of one who led one part of this audience to a complete and absolute victory over the other, yet in the hearts of the victors there is no feeling of triumph, and in the hearts of the vanquished there is no bitterness, no humiliation.”

  He survives until 1904.

  MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM MAHONE

  At the time of the surrender, “Little Billy” was regarded by many as Lee’s finest commander. His troops identify themselves as “Mahone’s Division” at reunions and gatherings for decades, despite the brief duration of his command. He becomes president of the Southside Railroad and prospers in the business of operating the very line that his troops had fought to defend. He becomes a United States senator from Virginia in 1880, survives until 1895.

  MAJOR GENERAL FITZHUGH LEE

  After Lee’s army exhausted any hope of escape at Appomattox, Lee’s nephew, “Fitz,” insisted that surrender was not an option, and without telling his commander, led what remained of his cavalry command away from the town, intending to continue the fight as a guerrilla. He changed his mind, returned, and surrendered his cavalry at Farmville two days after Lee and Grant have met.

  He establishes himself prominently in Virginia politics, becomes governor in 1885, but his greatest peacetime notoriety comes as U.S. Minister to Cuba, handling the difficult duties of diplomacy prior to the Spanish-American War. On the basis of his excellent service, he applies for and is granted commission as Major General of Volunteers in 1898, commands the Seventh Army Corps during that war. He retires in 1901, and dies in 1905.

  MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON CUSTIS LEE

  The oldest and the only one of Lee’s sons who seems destined not to be a professional soldier, the shy and self-effacing man is released from capture on orders from Grant at Appomattox. He moves to Lexington, Virginia, around the same time as his father, and becomes a professor of engineering at VMI. When his father is near death, the board of Washington College votes to allow Mary Lee lifelong occupancy of the President’s Residence, which she refuses. Though qualified and certainly suitable for the post himself, the board’s earnest desire to assist Lee’s widow plays some role in Custis’s election to the presidency, succeeding his father. Since he will live in the residence, it solves the dilemma for Mary as well, who remains with her oldest son until her death in 1873. If nepotism is a motive, it proves to bring exceptionally good fortune to the school, which is soon named Washington and Lee University. Custis serves as a much-respected administrator until he retires in 1897. He survives until 1913.

  LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICHARD S. EWELL

  As the successor to Stonewall, no commander in Lee’s army had the opportunity for lasting fame as much as “Old Baldy.” It remains a mystery why he could not rise to the challenge, though blame is often given to the dominance of his wife. His harsh temper, constant illness—real or imagined—drained all the fire of the Cause from him. After the war, he fades into obscurity, and dies in Virginia in 1872.

  LIEUTENANT GENERAL JUBAL A. EARLY

  “Old Jubilee” was finally relieved of service by Lee just prior to Appomattox, and he became a commander without a command. He disguises himself and goes to Texas, to bring what forces he can to assist Kirby Smith. After Smith’s surrender, Early hops the border into Mexico and continues to fight the war in his own mind. He goes to Canada, where he writes his memoirs. Finally returning to Virginia after Lee’s death, he becomes embroiled with Longstreet in the controversy over blame for the loss at Gettysburg. Considered vain, ill-tempered, and vindictive, it is likely that his unfortunate behavior did much to diminish the reputation he earned with his troops as an excellent field commander. He never marries, and dies in 1894.

  GENERAL P. G. T. BEAUREGARD

  His unfortunate vanity and hunger for the limelight is a combination that makes enemies, and so throughout the war he was never allowed to remain long in any command where serious fighting took place. Considered an able commander of troops in the field, and noted particularly for his brilliant defense of Petersburg against extraordinary odds, he has an unfortunate talent for making ill-advised demands and exaggerating his own military situation. His single-minded need to put himself in the center of the war made his superiors uncomfortable, notably Jefferson Davis. He still offered a steady flow of grand plans and military strategies, none of which showed any rational hope of success. He was assigned to Joe Johnston’s command in the Carolinas, must endure being the subordinate again, but the war ended before he could alienate yet another commander.

  Afterward, he serves briefly as a railroad executive, but astonishingly, his reputation for greatness is expanded abroad, and he is offered command of armies in both Egypt and Romania, which he turns down, though with some regret. He writes extensively on his role in the war, creates considerable controversy by giving a slanted and wholly inaccurate account of his communications with Lee prior to the Petersburg campaign, putting himself in the best possible light, and harshly criticizing Lee’s generalship. The articles are not published until after Lee’s death. He survives until 1893.

  PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS

  Despite great effort, he does not fulfill Lincoln’s wish that he escape, and thus fade into obscurity. He maintains some semblance of a Confederate government, traveling first to Danville, Virginia, then Charlotte, North Carolina. Johnston’s surrender to Sherman turns all energy to Davis’s capture, and finally, desperate and on the move, he is captured near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865. He is imprisoned at Fort Monroe on the Virginia peninsula for nearly two years, subjected to humiliating and inhumane treatment. But what Lincoln had feared is realized, and the publicity that begins to spread creates an uncomfortable situation for the government. Ultimately, he is simply released, and the scars that would be opened by a public trial are avoided. He travels to Europe, but feels some bitterness at what he sees as the betrayal of the powers that could have given so much aid to the Confederacy. He settles in Memphis in 1869, and accepts a position as head of an insurance company, which fails in 1873. Then he moves to Mobile, where he begins a long and bitter dispute with Joe Johnston, their wartime feud now expanding. In 1881 Davis completes his memoirs, much of which is devoted to disputing Johnston’s own book. It is suggested by friends that Davis apply for a congressional pardon, to participate in the healing that has helped many of his former subordinates in their new lives. He responds, “… repentance must precede the right of a pardon, and I have not repented.” He continues to insist that though the war showed secession “to be impracticable, this did not prove it to be wrong.” He dies of malaria in 1889 at the age of eighty-one.

  LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICHARD H. ANDERSON

  Even before his crushing defeat at Saylor’s Creek, Anderson’s zeal for th
e Cause of the Confederacy had faded, and by the war’s end he shared none of the political fire that still inspired men like Jubal Early. He returns to his family’s old homestead in South Carolina, and, unlike Billy Mahone, he never makes the effort to fit himself into the new opportunities that open up in the rebuilding of the South. He settles into a difficult life as a farmer and suffers financial failure. He eventually endures humiliating work as a day laborer, earning a meager living from the sympathy of his neighbors. He dies in poverty in 1879, at age fifty-seven.

  TRAVELLER

  Purchased by Lee in 1862 for two hundred dollars, he is possibly the best known horse in American history. He outlives his master, but in death, as in life, the two remain close companions. Traveller is buried close beside the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University, which houses the final resting place of Robert E. Lee and his family.

  “A WORK OF MATURITY

  AND COURAGE …

  Jeff Shaara is no longer standing in the shadow of the father but shoulder-to-shoulder with him.”

  —Orlando Sentinel

  “Exhaustively researched, infused with a profound understanding of the great issues of a nation and the small quirks of the human heart and ego, The Last Full Measure is fiction that brings history brilliantly to life.”

  —Newsday