A solid biography – surprisingly the first ever – of one of the lesser lights of the Civil War. Engle takes a good look at Buell’s early career, during which he seemed, as the book’s sub-title indicates the “most promising of all” the officers in the army, who, despite some bright moments, turned out to be a poor commander.

Well-written, the book has a lot of good word-portraits and some very clear analysis of Buell’s essentially Jominian views on warfare and his inability to understand the political dimensions of the conflict.