J. K. Brandau

Taken from a wide variety of sources, such as journals, word of mouth such as been written down and a trickle of tidbits here and there until the author decided that it was time to put this book all together. Of course more trickles of valuable data may come, but after reading this book, I can say with confidence that more data will not change this book much.

The narrative is from the side of the rebels or CSA. The book does some pretty deep dives of CSA troops, and their daily life in Virginia, how they waged war, their victories and their defeats. Ken introduces us to the leaders, their background and a pretty comprehensive look at their family ties and relations. We can spy on the leaders, learn how they think, their demonstrated weakness' and strengths, character, disappointments, and actions during several of the campaigns, all extracted from journals, letters and notes.

Ken describes camp life or 'garrison' life in times of plenty as well as times when no resupply was available. Winters for the soldiers came both with and without shelter and warm clothing. Time was spent building cabins to shelter them from extreme cold and wind. The springs and summers brought their own misery, in the form of heat, humidity, dust and later mud from what seemed like endless rain. The book describes the rhythm of Armistead and the 38th along with some 'sister' brigades'.

I was aware of most of the battles described, but of others, I had no real knowledge. Battles that were lost due to fatal mistakes and battles that were won due to other mistakes. I think, especially if you are a student of history and a student of the civil war, that Ken's comprehensive look at the 38th and Armistead will give you a better understanding of the soldier's life, the slowness of that life between engagements, the battles and the cost of the whole. Ken is a gifted writer and I highly recommend this book as a great stop among the wealth of writings found about our civil war.… (altro)