Rating: 
Summary: Great Analytical Detail and Story Telling of Lee his Lts.
Review: Very well written book that is really three volumes that looks at Lee's command of his Army of Northern VA. from the perspective of his leadership and the relationship and performance of his key generals. There is newer information on many of the individuals in this classic such as Magruder, Longstreet, Gordon and Hill but Freeman does one of the best blow-by-blow accounts of the battles then anyone. When I first read the book I was very impressed with the detail even about the Battle of Williamsburg and I clearly recall Freeman's description of Jubal Early getting shot down when trying to take redoubts not knowing that Hancock had already arrived on his left. He provides a fascinating analysis of each key officer at the beginning of each volume. The only weakness is that Freeman was a huge admirer of Lee and he accepts Jubal Early's post war philosophy that Lee did not fail but was failed by others. Note that in each volume, the character description of Longstreet grows dark as Freeman starts to write about Gettysburg. Stonewall has less luster in the book as well but in spite of that, the volumes are quite fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Milestone in Civil War History
Review: "Lee's Lieutenants" was for many years, the seminal work on the Civil War. This series of volumes almost single-handedly defined Civil War military history, and was a textbook in military academies throughout the world. In fact, it was so authoritative that it focused academic and popular attention on the Army of Northern Virginia and the Eastern Theater; almost denuding the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters of any mention at all either in the classroom, or popular histories. Although originally published in the early '30's, it is still "required reading" for Civil War historians in the early 21st Century. The current edition in a single volume retains the power of the original series, but without the extraneous appendices and footnotes. The result is a scholarly history that moves quickly, and holds your attention.
That being said, the book certainly reflects the agenda of its author, even with (or maybe because of) skillful editing. Growing with the propaganda of the "Lost Cause" permeating his home and surroundings, Mr. Freeman wanted to capture many of the storis of the ANV he heard as a youth, supported by original research. In areas, this desire almost turns the prose into a Confederate Iliad, with perfect physical specimens joyfully lusting for combat. Certainly no discussion of the higher rights and wrongs of the rebellion will be found here (unusual considering that R.E. Lee opposed both secession and slavery and would've made an interesting sidelight into his pysche). That caveat in mind, this is STILL required reading for anyone seriously interested in the ANV, or command as practiced by Civil War armies. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A excellent book on the Army of Northern Virginia
Review:
I developed a strong interest in the Civil War four years ago after reading a biography on President Lincoln that touched on how frustrated he was with trying to find competent officers to lead the Army of the Potomac. When I drove to Knoxville, Tennessee I took the audio books Gods and Generals, and The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara with me. The descriptions of the battle ground and unfolding battle were so vivid that I could see it clearly in my mind. By the time, I was finished with both audio books I was hooked.
Since I completed both audio books by the time I drove from Utah to Tennessee, I picked up a copy of Grant Moves South (which is the story of the Union's western campaign) by Bruce Catton at Chattanooga,Tennessee when I went and saw the Chickamaga battlefield. After seeing the war from the western point of view on the Union side I wanted to see the war from the Southern point of view on the eastern campaign - that led me to this book.
This book is an abridgement of the original three-volume version (the footnotes have been taken out). It is an incredibly well written book. It is a history of the army of Northern Virginia from the first shot fired to the surrender at Appomattox - but what makes this book unique is that it is a biography of around 150 Confederate officers. The book discusses in depth all the tradeoffs that were being made politically and militarily by the South. The book does an excellent job describing the battles, then at a critical decision point in the battle, the book focuses on an officer - the book stops and tells the biography of that person, and then goes back to the battle and tells what information the officer had at that point and the decision he made. At the end of the battle, the officers decisions are critiqued based on what he could have known and what he should have known given his experience, and that is compared with 20/20 hindsight.
An excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: A excellent book on the Army of Northern Virginia
Review:
I developed a strong interest in the Civil War four years ago after reading a biography on President Lincoln that touched on how frustrated he was with trying to find competent officers to lead the Army of the Potomac. When I drove to Knoxville, Tennessee I took the audio books Gods and Generals, and The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara with me. The descriptions of the battle ground and unfolding battle were so vivid that I could see it clearly in my mind. By the time, I was finished with both audio books I was hooked.
Since I completed both audio books by the time I drove from Utah to Tennessee, I picked up a copy of Grant Moves South (which is the story of the Union's western campaign) by Bruce Catton at Chattanooga,Tennessee when I went and saw the Chickamaga battlefield. After seeing the war from the western point of view on the Union side I wanted to see the war from the Southern point of view on the eastern campaign - that led me to this book.
This book is an abridgement of the original three-volume version (the footnotes have been taken out). It is an incredibly well written book. It is a history of the army of Northern Virginia from the first shot fired to the surrender at Appomattox - but what makes this book unique is that it is a biography of around 150 Confederate officers. The book discusses in depth all the tradeoffs that were being made politically and militarily by the South. The book does an excellent job describing the battles, then at a critical decision point in the battle, the book focuses on an officer - the book stops and tells the biography of that person, and then goes back to the battle and tells what information the officer had at that point and the decision he made. At the end of the battle, the officers decisions are critiqued based on what he could have known and what he should have known given his experience, and that is compared with 20/20 hindsight.
An excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: An exhilirating, if partisan, account still worth reading
Review: Douglas Freeman leaves no doubt that his heart lies with the doomed Southern cause. Yet he does not on that account engage in blind worship of poor generalship. Of course this is the war as seen through the experiences of the Army of Northern Viriginia, as the title clearly asserts. It is more than that, it is one of the pioneering works that tries to take the reader into the minds of the various commanders by presenting only that information which was available to them at the time. This avoids the type of hind-sighting that armchair strategists can indulge in the comfort of their study.
Freeman acknowledges some serious shortcomings in the Confederacy's efforts on the whole. For example, he points out the woeful lack of formal military education in the junior field-grade officers who were often placed at the head of a brigade without any more background than barracks-rooms tales or childhood games with toy soldiers. Their lack of foresight with respect to supply and munitions expenditure (the all-imortant, though "boring" logistical considerations)would negate the most meticulous plans made with map and pen and protractor. Freeman finds Lincoln to have been a more astute wartime Commander in Chief than Jefferson Davis despite the latter's military background. His complaint that southern officers were often selected more for their political connections than their military prowess is one that affected the North equally. Freeman acknowledged as well the tendency of Lee's subordinates to rush headlong into offensive operations without considering alternative methods of picking ground so as to force the enemy to come to them, thereby gaining the advantage of cover and superior position. This has almost become a commonplace but Freeman's excellent narrative provides example after example. Most importantly the power of the writing carries the reader along...this is no dry academic text. This is, as the subtitle mentions, a "study in command" but one marked by considerable insights into the physical and psychological limitations of the chaotic 19th century battlefield, given the primitive nature of communications -- telegraph and semaphore notwithstanding. The abridgement is judiciously accomplished retaining most of the essence of the three-volume original. Published in 1942, Lee's Lieutenants, despite the bulkiness of the original set, was carried overseas by American Army and Corps commanders for inspirational reading. One Korean war analyst mentioned that he was apprised after the war that a Chinese general kept a heavily underlined copy of the translated third volume with him.
Rating:
Summary: The Classic Study of the Confederate War Effort
Review: Douglas S. Freeman's (1886-1953) "Lee's Lieutenant's: A Study in Command, vol. 3 (first published in 1944 but available in an excellent new edition) is the final volume of his great study of the Army of Northern Virginia. It covers the Army from the Gettysburg Campaign, (June -- July, 1863) through the surrender at Appomatox in April, 1865.
This book is lengthy, (over 700 pages plus appendices) and I initially planned to read only the opening material on Gettysburg (about the first 200 pages) in which I have a special interest. I became fascinated with Freeman's writing and with his approach to the subject and had to finish the volume.
This book complements Freeman's earlier biography of Robert E. Lee, but its focus is on Lee's subordinates. Thus the long section on Gettysburg which opens the book considers in detail the actions and motivations of "Jeb" Stuart, Richard Ewell, and James Longstreet, three of Lee's chief Lieutenants. (A.P. Hill at Gettysburg gets less attention.) I had read materials critical of Freeman's account of Gettysburg before turning to his own writing. Even accepting much of the criticism, I was moved by Freeman's account of the Battle and I think I learned a great deal. Freeman is indeed critical of Longstreet but, in this late work, is much more measured and balanced than I had anticipated.
The book continues with excellent treatments of the War in the Eaastern theater following Gettysburg. Freeman offers eloquent and judicious comments on the importance of this Battle to the Confederate cause. He treats well the Mine Run campaign in the winter of 1863 and the campaign from the Wilderness to Appomatox under General Grant which doomed the Confederacy. Freeman also examines the detachment of James Longstreet's Corps from the Army of Northern Virgina following Gettysburg, and he is critical of Longstreet's leadership while serving in Tennessee.
One of the most important sections of this book is the introduction. In it Freeman gives a statement of his conclusions about the War and about the lessons he believes should be drawn from his study. There is also an excellent biographical prelude covering briefly each of the chief actors in Freeman's story. I found it useful to read the introduction first and return to it upon completing the book to focus on points Freeman was trying to make.
In addition to the treatment of Gettysburg, I found Freeman's treatment of the death of "Jeb" Stuart and his story of the final retreat to Appomatox particularly moving and well done.
Throughout the book, Freeman emphasises the toll combat took on the officer Corps of the Army. Stonewall Jackson's death at Chancellorsville was only the most severe blow to the leadership pool available to the Army. At Gettysburg and throughout the Wilderness Campaign beginning in 1864, the Confederacy lost heavily in gifted and able leaders that it could not adequately replace. The loss of command material, Freeman maintains, was a critical factor in the Confederate defeat.
The book is told almost entirely from the Confederate side of the line with little detailed consideration of the actions of the Union Army. Freeman obviously had a deep devotion to the South and to its cause in the Civil War. His book is still much more a work of history than of apologetics. His judgments of commanders and battles are fair and well stated. Freeman's study remains an indespensable source for understanding our country's greatest conflict.
Rating: 
Summary: An absolute abortion
Review: Dr. Freeman's justly esteemed "Lee's Lieutenants" -- a THREE VOLUME work -- still stands (despite the discovery of materials unavailable to Dr. Freeman when he first wrote in the 1930s and 40s) as the baseline for any study of the Army of Northern Virginia. The cheap attempt by a modern publisher to squeeze a few cents out of the franchise, offered here, throws out TWO of every THREE words Dr. Freeman wrote to allow for a one-volume "abridgement" for those presumably too intimidated by the thought of reading three entire books.
The three-volume work, as Dr. Freeman wrote it, was reprinted fairly recently. If that is no longer available on Amazon, any decent sized used book store will have it in stock.
WHATEVER you do, avoid this butchered, one volume version like the plague.
Rating: 
Summary: No Mona Lisa
Review: Having read the unabridged version I approached this abridgement. My experience can be described as comparing the painting of the Mona Lisa with a pencil rendition. The absence of the appendices and the explanatory footnotes together with the gouged text made less traumatic with artificial bridging (abridgement) results in nothing more than a mere pencil sketch of a true masterpiece. There is no substitute for the full version.
Rating:
Summary: A necessity to all serious students of the Civil War
Review: I consider Mr. Freeman's work the most accurate, interesting, and well-written book concerning our Civil War that I have read. Lee's Lieutenants is a complete and thorough study into the command structure of the Army of Northern Virginia. Volume two starts with the clash at Cedar Mountain and ends with the army's "high noon" and the death of Jackson at Chancellorsville. In between are some of the most tragic and awe-inspiring events in our country's history. Everyone is familiar with Jackson, Longstreet, and Stuart, but he is careful to point out the contributions of subortinates. Who is familiar with the tenacity of John Hood, the boldness of Robert Rodes, and the youthful daring of John Pelham? It is all brought to life in this classic study. He was very careful in using a mix of military affairs, battles, and the reorganizations that followed. I consider this my most cherished of the few number of Civil War titles I possess, and consider it a must read for all civil war buffs, history lovers, and people that simply love to read.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Book!!!!
Review: I got this book for Christmas, but I didn't know what to expect. Dr Freeman wove a mesmerizing tapestry of war, love, sacrifice, mistakes, and agony. It's obvious he holds Lee in high regard, but why shouldn't he? Robert Edward Lee was a great Southern man, and should be treated as such. The edition I had did contain a little bit of typographical errors, but it didn't make the book any less exciting for me. The death of Stonewall seemed to haunt Lee for the rest of the campaign, not merely in command, but in Lee's heart. Dr Freeman is called the pre-eminent historian of the Confederacy....and with great reason. But, I caution you! Be wary of James McPherson's intro!!!! He's some holier-than-thou yankee so you should know what kind of baulderdash to expect with him.
Dr Freeman brought Lee's Army of Northern VA to life in a fabulous way. I'm sure his CSA kin would be proud of him........
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