An interesting collection of letters by a personal confidant of
Robert E. Lee's that will appeal principally to Civil War buffs.
Historian Tower does the same service for Col. Walter Herron Taylor
that he did for Brigadier Gen. Arthur Middleton Manigault in A
Carolinian Goes to War (not reviewed), rescuing him from obscurity.
Taylor, born in 1838 to a prominent family in Norfolk, Va., was
educated at the Norfolk Military Academy and briefly at the
prestigious Virginia Military Institute. Leaving VMI after only a
year, he took up a career in banking, which was interrupted by the
onset of the Civil War. Having served in the volunteer militia,
Taylor maneuvered a commission in the Confederate forces and soon
found himself on the staff of General Lee. As his adjutant, he came
to be on intimate terms with the revered general. He was privy to
many of Lee's innermost thoughts and often shared the same blanket
with him on bivouac. Lee also permitted him to sign documents in
his name and used him to carry his most important orders to his
subalterns. Following the war, Taylor resumed banking and played a
significant role in the development of Virginia's railroads. He
wrote two volumes about his wartime experiences, including a
biography of his old commander. Tower assembles over 100 letters by
Taylor. Most of them are to his beloved fiancee, Elizabeth "Betty"
Saunders, whom he married, after Lee gave him special leave, in the
desperate, waning days of the Confederacy. The letters reflect the
young man's horror of war, his fervent belief in the Confederate
cause, and his worship of the man he served. The details cross the
line into the hagiographic as the vaunted Lee can do no wrong in
the eyes the young officer. One senses from the volume that Tower
shares Taylor's esteem for Lee, and it proves that indeed one can
be a hero to one's valet after all. (Kirkus Reviews)
Of all those who served with Robert E. Lee in the headquarters of
the Army of Northern Virginia, no one was as close to him as Walter
Taylor. Twenty-two years old when hostilities broke out, Taylor
served at Lee's side virtually without interruption during the
entire Civil War. The only officer who could lay claim to such a
distinction, Taylor served first as aide-de-camp and subsequently
as assistant adjutant general of the Army of Northern Virginia. He
traveled with Lee, ate at his mess, shielded him from a flood of
administrative concerns, and on occasion delivered his battlefield
orders to division and corps commanders. His personal
correspondence, written without reserve as he enjoyed an
unparalleled opportunity to observe Lee's inner circle, constitutes
a unique addition to the Civil War record. The 110 letters compiled
in Lee's Adjutant shed light on day-to-day life at Lee's
headquarters and on the general himself. Written to Taylor's
fiancee and family, these letters recount the Army of Northern
Virginia's early triumphs, invasions of the North, defeat at
Gettysburg, the bloody struggle in the Wilderness, the siege of
Petersburg, and final surrender. In them the young officer
testifies to the simplicity of Lee's lifestyle as well as the
gentility of his demeanor. He describes the bond that developed
between himself and the general, and he discusses the furloughs,
reports, dispatches, petitions, and grievances that he handled as
Lee's alter ego in administrative matters. In addition to offering
an eyewitness account of Lee's Civil War service, Taylor's
correspondence illumines social, religious, and military concerns
of the period. To these revealing letters Lockwood Tower adds
abiographical sketch of the young adjutant. Tower describes
Taylor's role in helping Lee organize the Army of Virginia, his
midnight wedding on the night that Richmond fell, and - as an
officer who lived to see the fiftieth anniversary of the war's end
- his role in shaping Confederate memory.
General
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