Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy, 1863-1865

I found Ethan Rafuse book to be well balanced and every page provided interesting historical information yet the flow of the information kept the interest of the reader. Obviously well written and I would be interested in reading other books by this author. I have approximately 148 books on the Civil War and I would rate this one highly

From the triumph of Chancellorsville to the surrender at Appomattox is less than two years. In this time Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia went from victor to vanquish. Ethan S. Rafuse examines how this happened in this intelligent and thoughtful book. He takes a close look at Lee, his army, political decisions in Richmond and Washington contributed to this process. This is not a book about failure. This is a story of hanging on in the face of long odds, of maximizing resources and managing upward. The secondary story is how Washington's decisions helped Lee maintain his army until US Grant has the political capital to overrule Washington and pin Lee to Richmond. The author has the knowledge to write this book and the ability to communicate the nuances of strategy to us, allowing the reader to understand the problems Washington created for the Army of the Potomac and how this helped Lee. Washington's insistence on "covering the capital" severely limits operations in Virginia. The refusal to consider an approach up the James River, a holdover from the Seven Days, frees Lee to conduct a war of maneuver. The book contains one of the few good accounts of the period covering Lee's retreats from Gettysburg to the start of the Overland Campaign. The chapter "Waltzing with Meade" is a revelation to those who know about this but have not seen how it fits into the overall war. This is not a detailed battle history. Battles occur and have a huge impact on the army. However, the reasons for accepting battle, the reaction to it and how this changes the army's position is where the author spends his time. This is a well-written intelligent account. The author's positions are well supported and footnoted. It can be a challenging read but is never a boring one. Ethan S. Rafuse continues to challenge the standard history of the war with intelligent analysis that is free of existing traditions. In doing so, he is showing us a war that is more historic accurate than anything we have seen. This is another of his great books.