Book Review: Don Carlos Buell: Most Promising of All

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by Stephen D. Engle

Chapel Hill: Univ.of North Carolina Press, 1999. Pp. xvii, 476 pp. Illus, maps, notes, biblio., index.. $45.00. ISBN:0-80782-512-3

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.

Reviewer: A. A. Nofi   


Buy it at Amazon.com

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