Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox

Rating:
Summary: Less than Marvel-ous...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Less than Marvel-ous...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Myths destroyed by revisionist history...
Review: The denouement of the Civil War in the East has been the subject of many volumes from noted historians and battle participants. All seem to paint this episode as some grandiloquent occasion with diplomatic surrender actions from both sides. William Marvel's latest work attempts to refute many of these myths and he indeed does succeed at making this seem like any other Civil War skirmish with "Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox".

Targeting mainly the versions of the Confederate surrender rendered in later post-war years by John B. Gordon and Joshua Chamberlain, Marvel proves that these accounts are largely ficticious and laiden with numerous self aggrandizing points. Marvel systematically shows that the Confederate retreat from Petersburg and the subsequent chase by the Union forces was a desperate action bent on consolidating Southern forces in North Carolina and (hopefully) extending the struggle. The final surrender at Appomattox then, under Marvel's pen, is an anti-climactic action by an exhausted army and leader.

Using in depth narrative and many first-person accounts and diary/journal entries, Marvel recreates the military atmosphere prevelant during the early April 1865 timeframe when the Confederate rebellion reached it's conclusion. The end of the Petersburg siege starts the book and Marvel discusses in detail the actions taken by R.E. Lee's forces to escape from this front and the capital at Richmond to march West towards Amelia Courthouse. Many rearguard battles ensue as the escape route gets very complex with many Confederate divisions and brigades involved. The first myth is dissolved when Marvel refutes the long-held opinion that this escape was essentially doomed by the lack of Confederate provisions at Amelia Courthouse. Marvel shows us that Lee's inability to coordinate troop movements from this hamlet were much more restrictive than the lack of food and is very convincing in his analysis of this argument.

The Confederate plans for troop consolidation at Farmville are overlayed with the multi-pronged Union pursuit and Marvel presents a compelling account of the "race" westward. The seminal battle at Sailor's Creek is analyzed and shown to be the epoch that finally demoralizes the rebellion. Confederate infantry movement and subsequent Union pursuit ultimately end at Appomattox Courthouse and Marvel discusses the details that lead Lee to ask for surrender terms and for U.S. Grant to agree. The soldier actions following the surrender meeting between Grant and Lee at the Wilmer McLean house (the height of the Gordon and Chamberlain accounts) are given short shrift in Marvel's look...this implies that the mythical emotional surrender cerimonies were largely fabrications.

For criticisms, the major problem with this book is the lack of maps...Marvel discusses in detail virtually all of the military actions from Petersburg to Appomattox and the maps that he uses show no troop movements or battle fronts at all. Because this story encompasses many complex maneuvers, the narrative subsequently becomes very limited in terms of following the action due to paucity of maps and the reading quality suffers severely. Another criticism (though not as critical as the map critique) is the fact that although we understand where and when troops move, we don't necessarily get a true feeling of desperation on the part of the Confederate forces. The frustration and hopelesness of the military actions must have been palpable at this point but Marvel continues with the narrative like this was a discussion of Antietam or Fredericksburg...not the end of the war. This point, if expanded, would also have led greatly to improved reading quality and ultimately leaves the Civil War reader no other recourse than to wait for the final Gordon Rhea book in his excellent analysis of this period of the war to (hopefully) get this perspective.

Revisionist history is sometimes a dangerous undertaking. Many pantheons in history die hard and much criticism is levied at writers that try to change the accepted story. William Marvel, then, is to be commended for his courageous attempt at righting the wrong long assumed in the surrender of the Confederate forces at Appomattox Courthouse. Lacking some key components that would make this a stellar work, he succeeds nontheless in presenting a comprehensive and important account concerning the end of the Civil War in the East and I would recommend that all interested readers of this conflict attempt this work.

Rating:
Summary: Revisionist History? Not Really
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Bravery and valor all around.
Review: William Marvel has come under a fair amount of criticism for this book. Mostly he is accused of being anti-southern and attempting to re-write history in a manner that is not flattering to the troops of the Army of Northern Virginia. On the contrary, I found this to be an engaging book that not only does not rip away the luster of courage that is usually bestowed on the common Confederate soldier but actually accentuates it.

After nine months in the trenches of Petersburg it is no wonder that Lee's men were beaten down. A late uncle of mine fought in the trenches during WW I and his stories of the trenches made it clear to me just how awful trench warfare is. Finally the tenacious Grant turned Lee's flank at Five Forks and the Confederate Chieftain knew the game was up. Marvel takes up his story with the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond and tells the story of the miserable conditions faced by both armies in the days that followed. Lee made mistakes and Marvel has the courage to point them out. Still one has to wonder if Lee could have gotten his army to North Carolina even if he had conducted a flawless retreat. As the author points out, the Yankees could smell a final victory and the chance to at last go home. They were therefore much more inclined to accept a lack of rations and forced marches than were the Confederates. A few more days of hardship could send the men in blue home while all the boys in gray could look forward to was a Yankee prison.

I really have to wonder if Lee really wanted to make it to North Carolina. Marvel fails here to delve into the talks Lee had held with Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge long before Petersburg fell. Breckinridge realized the war was lost and had been discussing surrender with Lee, who seemed to agree with the hero of New Market. I suspect that Lee really did want to get to the Army of Tennessee but was not willing to cause many more deaths in what he had to know was a long shot.

Marvel does go to great lengths to point out that Walter Taylor's estimates of troop strength were distorted and that the Union had fewer men than Taylor said and the Confederates had more. On the other hand the Union troops were on a high while the Confederates had just lost Richmond and moral was extremely low. Marvel points out that the difference in real and Taylor's estimated troop strengths might have been made up for by this difference in moral. In fact, the Confederates almost to the end were more than willing to fight and when they turned on their pursuers and sent up the Rebel yell the Union troops usually reacted by falling back. Even after Lee surrendered many of his veterans vowed to fight on after they were exchanged. Marvel does nothing to cast aspersions on these brave men and in fact points out that many Confederates refused to be surrendered and fled the scene to fight again. It is true that the author points out the large number of desertions that accompanied the retreat but he also excuses most of them. For example, he points out that a large group had just been exchanged and had returned from Union prisons and would rather just walk away from the army than return to those prisons. The reader will find that some of Marvel's harshest criticism is reserved for Phil Sheridan and George Custer and their fanatical drive for unearned glory and Joshua L. Chamberlain's ego.

The one really glaring problem with this book is the maps or rather the lack thereof. There are a few maps but not nearly enough and what maps there are could have been made much more useful by actually showing troop movements on them. It is fairly hard to follow the armies across Virginia without good maps; I don't care how well the author tells the story. I think maybe he assume the reader is as familiar with the area as he is. Marvel does argue that the Confederates had a better chance of making the link with Johnston than has been accepted fact, but he backs up his argument. His argument that sheer wealth and numbers in the overall war did not overwhelm the South however is just silly fortunately that argument only comes up at the end of the book. Other than that though I found this to be a highly readable, well-researched, intelligent and fair book.

Rating:
Summary: Bravery and valor all around.
Review: William Marvel has come under a fair amount of criticism for this book. Mostly he is accused of being anti-southern and attempting to re-write history in a manner that is not flattering to the troops of the Army of Northern Virginia. On the contrary, I found this to be an engaging book that not only does not rip away the luster of courage that is usually bestowed on the common Confederate soldier but actually accentuates it.

After nine months in the trenches of Petersburg it is no wonder that Lee's men were beaten down. A late uncle of mine fought in the trenches during WW I and his stories of the trenches made it clear to me just how awful trench warfare is. Finally the tenacious Grant turned Lee's flank at Five Forks and the Confederate Chieftain knew the game was up. Marvel takes up his story with the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond and tells the story of the miserable conditions faced by both armies in the days that followed. Lee made mistakes and Marvel has the courage to point them out. Still one has to wonder if Lee could have gotten his army to North Carolina even if he had conducted a flawless retreat. As the author points out, the Yankees could smell a final victory and the chance to at last go home. They were therefore much more inclined to accept a lack of rations and forced marches than were the Confederates. A few more days of hardship could send the men in blue home while all the boys in gray could look forward to was a Yankee prison.

I really have to wonder if Lee really wanted to make it to North Carolina. Marvel fails here to delve into the talks Lee had held with Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge long before Petersburg fell. Breckinridge realized the war was lost and had been discussing surrender with Lee, who seemed to agree with the hero of New Market. I suspect that Lee really did want to get to the Army of Tennessee but was not willing to cause many more deaths in what he had to know was a long shot.

Marvel does go to great lengths to point out that Walter Taylor's estimates of troop strength were distorted and that the Union had fewer men than Taylor said and the Confederates had more. On the other hand the Union troops were on a high while the Confederates had just lost Richmond and moral was extremely low. Marvel points out that the difference in real and Taylor's estimated troop strengths might have been made up for by this difference in moral. In fact, the Confederates almost to the end were more than willing to fight and when they turned on their pursuers and sent up the Rebel yell the Union troops usually reacted by falling back. Even after Lee surrendered many of his veterans vowed to fight on after they were exchanged. Marvel does nothing to cast aspersions on these brave men and in fact points out that many Confederates refused to be surrendered and fled the scene to fight again. It is true that the author points out the large number of desertions that accompanied the retreat but he also excuses most of them. For example, he points out that a large group had just been exchanged and had returned from Union prisons and would rather just walk away from the army than return to those prisons. The reader will find that some of Marvel's harshest criticism is reserved for Phil Sheridan and George Custer and their fanatical drive for unearned glory and Joshua L. Chamberlain's ego.

The one really glaring problem with this book is the maps or rather the lack thereof. There are a few maps but not nearly enough and what maps there are could have been made much more useful by actually showing troop movements on them. It is fairly hard to follow the armies across Virginia without good maps; I don't care how well the author tells the story. I think maybe he assume the reader is as familiar with the area as he is. Marvel does argue that the Confederates had a better chance of making the link with Johnston than has been accepted fact, but he backs up his argument. His argument that sheer wealth and numbers in the overall war did not overwhelm the South however is just silly fortunately that argument only comes up at the end of the book. Other than that though I found this to be a highly readable, well-researched, intelligent and fair book.

Rating:
Summary: A fast paced narrative of Robert E. Lee's last campaign
Review: William Marvel is well known for books of Civil War history challenging conventional wisdom, such as his very sympathetic biography of Ambrose Burnside. In "Lee's Last Retreat" Marvel's target is the hazy romanticism of the Lost Cause version of Appomattox wherein a band of peerless heroes gracefully surrender their arms only because they faced with a numberless horde of enemies led by the plodding, remorseless U.S. Grant. Marvel successfully demonstrates, in my opinion, that in fact Lee's army at the start of the affair was much larger than popularly supposed -- more than 70,000 men available to him -- and that Lee's army was plainly outmaneuvered and outmarched over the next week, its morale collapsing disastrously as thousands of soldiers deserted its ranks (Marvel includes an interesting discussion of how the records show that the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia were more likely to desert the closer to their own homes they were). Marvel also devotes substantial space to discussing why Lee fatally delayed for an entire day at Amelia Court House, permitting Grant to catch up to him; the usual claim that Lee was waiting for supplies is rejected in favor of an explanation that the failure to erect a needed pontoon bridge over the Appomattox River was the primary reason. And there is an interesting discussion of the final surrender ceremonies. Our traditional view has been largely shaped by the writings of two remarkable men -- Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and John B. Gordon, both fine warriors and both men unable to resist romanticizing and expanding their own roles in post-war writings; Marvel's version is that mutual salutes exchanged by the two sides never happened and that Gordon tried desperately in violation of the agreed conditions to avoid making a public surrender.

I am certain that there are many who will disagree with some of Marvel's conclusions. Sometimes the old, romantic myths are difficult to shed. But if a reader is looking for a good, fast-paced narrative about the final campaign between Lee and Grant, then this book will fill the bill.

Rating:
Summary: Best Researched Story of the Reteat, Facts Outweight Myths
Review: William Marvel writes the most detailed and honest history of Lee's Retreat to Appomattox. While romantic excess has been over developed by memoirs of political generals and other like officers, Marvel provides the diaries and letters of the common soldier along with bureaucrats and officers and leaders establishing the true story of the retreat. While many of Lee's soldiers fight bravely against significant odds, poor transportation and the limited coordination of the retreat, many soldiers did not fare well with adversity. Marvel starts from the outer defenses of Petersburg where the Five Forks debacle leads to a separation of the main Army of Picket and Anderson's troops that struggle west into a splintered and disorganized command. Meanwhile, the break through occurs the next day just west of Petersburg causing a retreat from Richmond and Petersburg toward Amelia Court House. The concentration at Amelia Court House seals the doom of the retreat, as Lee is too far north to move to North Carolina to join Johnson.

Marvel determines the true delay at Amelia relating not so much as the lack of food stores that were apparently never directed there but to the fact that Ewell's Richmond forces had no means to cross the Appomattox to join the command. The lack of a pontoon bridge that was directed elsewhere and Picket and Anderson's inability to cross the same river to the south slow and lead to coordination issues that are never over come.
Marvel notes that Lee had nearly 70,000 troops to start the retreat but defeat at Five Forks and morale and desertion problems preceding Five Forks continue to disintegrate the Army disastrously particularly the Virginia troops who desert at a high number as they are closer to home although Picket's predominately VA. Regiments suffer the blunt of capture at Five Forks and Sailors Creek. Gordon as history has shown was the great politician who was a hero but he maligned history to serve his own grandiose purpose such as his fantasy story of propping the wounded Union General Barlow against a tree at Gettysburg. His story of his celebrated surrender of the troops is gross exaggeration complimented by Union General Chamberlain's portrayal that infers that he was in fact in charge of the surrender.

This day-by-day accounting is full of maps and personal stories of the men that marched, fought, deserted and walked along as stragglers or rabble. Longstreet holds his First Corps intact throughout the march as the other corps fragment due to incessant harassment of their rear and major losses at the two key battles aforementioned. The Union troops press on with the arrogant Sheridan hurrying his cavalry forward with Custer and Devin at the forefront effectively closing off Jetersville forcing Lee west and north instead of south. The veterans of the Army of Virginia fought well and hard but the gradual erosion of the army and the southern cavalry losing men continuously through the ponderously slow retreat caused by poor roads, broken down animals and broken spirits. In the appendix, Marvel spends more detail on the relief of command of Anderson, Picket and Johnson; covers Walter Taylor's inventive under reporting of Lee's army and the true reasons for the "fatal delay" at Amelia.

Fascinating that today Union General Ord's troops and Sheridan virtually follow Route 460 west while Lee's retreat is still composed of back roads. Even today, Lee's retreat route is not the direct route which is still composed of country roads.
The facts are even more interesting than some of the exaggerations that are now more myth than legend.