Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia:
A Biography
By Darrell L. Collins
(February/March 2009 Civil War News)

Illustrated, maps, notes, bibliography, index, 494 pp., 2008. Savas Beatie LLC, P.O. Box 4527, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762, $32.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Jeffry D. Wert
Jeffry D. Wert is a retired Pennsylvania high school teacher. He is the author of eight books on the Civil War, including his recent Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J.E.B. Stuart.

Review:
Some historians have argued that Robert E. Rodes was the finest division commander in Robert E. Lee’s renowned army. It is high praise, indeed, to be accorded such distinction in a command whose divisional leaders included men such as John B. Hood, A.P. Hill, Jubal A. Early, William D. Pender and John B. Gordon.

If that accord is predicated upon only those officers who achieved no higher command, then Rodes might have been the finest at the grade.

 Unquestionably, Rodes distinguished himself for leadership and valor on nearly all of the major battlefields in the East. Appointed initially colonel of the 5th Alabama, the native Virginian led a brigade at Seven Pines, where he suffered a wound, Gaines’ Mill, Antietam and Fredericksburg.

Arguably, his finest performance came at Chancellorsville when his division spearheaded Stonewall Jackson’s attack on May 2, 1863. Rewarded with a major generalcy, Rodes was the first division commander of that rank who was not a West Point graduate in Lee’s army. He was an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute.

While preparing to lead his brigades in a counterattack at Third Winchester on Sept. 19, 1864, Rodes was killed, struck on the back of his head by either a bullet or a shell fragment.

Four days later, family and friends buried the famous general beside his parents and grandparents in the Presbyterian Cemetery in his hometown of Lynchburg, Va. Years later, his widow, Virginia Hortense Rodes, burned his private correspondence, except for “a (precious) few letters.”

The destruction of his personal letters have frustrated historians since. Rodes was an important officer in Lee’s army and worthy of a major biography. There have been earlier studies of him, but none equal this new work by Darrell L. Collins.

The author has utilized an impressive number of period newspapers, unpublished manuscripts, government documents, and published memoirs and unit histories. Collins provides a full account of Rodes’s upbringing, years at VMI as both a student and instructor, and his notable antebellum career as a railroad engineer.

To be sure, this is a sympathetic, but not uncritical, biography of an appealing subject. Collins’ assessment of Rodes’ lackluster performance at Gettysburg is measured, detailed and fair. Rodes deserved the accolades that he received, and Collins gives them proper study.

This may not be the final word on Robert E. Rodes, but it is the best to date. Collins’ book on one of the Confederacy’s finest combat officers is recommended.