by Nathaniel Chairs Hughers and Roy P. Stonesifer
Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1993. xvii, 455 pp.
Illus, maps, notes, bibliog, index. $37.50. ISBN:0-8078-2107-1
An unusually valuable look at the life of one who was arguably the least capable general on either side in the Civil War. The work not only treats of Pillow’s military career (which, despite a lack of strategic and tactical ability did have some bright spots, notably in Mexico, due primarily to Pillow’s undoubted personal courage and ability to inspire troops), but also his rags-to-riches rise as a frontier businessman, lawyer, and politician.