Fitz Lee

Rating:
Summary: Fitz Lee
Review: Although I'm a fan of Mr. Longacre's previous works (The Cavalry at Gettysburg & Cavalry at Appomattox to name a few) I found this book lacking in objectivity. He starts the work praising Fitz Lee's service prior to the war but then does a "180" in throwing in what appears to be his own commentary and what he thinks Ftz Lee was thinking regarding his less than close relationships with John Mosby and, especially, Gen. Wade Hampton. All without footnotes or specific background information. He even states that M/Gen. "Jeb" Stuart was enraged and took him to task for an incident early in the war where Stuart was almost captured when waiting for Lee's regiment to meet him. I've read many books regarding that particular part of the war and this is the first I've heard of Stuart being "enraged" about that particular matter. No footnotes or background was presented by Longacre to support his belief. These type of comments are plentiful in the book, almost as if Mr. Longacre was there, which he wasn't. His previous works regarding cavalry operations are very well supported by documentation from the war. This one isn't and he throws around his assumptions and opinions as if they were facts. I'm afraid Mr. Longacre should stick to documenting civil war cavalry history where he can back up his writings with written accounts and facts. In "Fitz Lee" he doesn't hit the mark at all. It'll be a while before I read another of his "biographies".