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A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America

by Jubal Early. Edited by Robert K. Krick, with a new introduction by Gary W. Gallagher.

Appendix, softcover, 144 pp., 2001 reprint. University of South Carolina Press, 937 Assembly St., Carolina Plaza, 8th Floor, Columbia, SC 29208, $12.95 plus shipping.

Originally published in 1866, Jubal A. Early’s account of the Civil War was the first published by a major officer on either side. Through Early’s firsthand reminiscences, we ride with him on his campaign in Virginia from the Rapidan to the James River and in his fight in Maryland and the valley of Virginia. Although his career was somewhat controversial, Early was a master at displaying his often small army at different positions so as to create the impression that they were a much larger unit than they really were.

Gary W. Gallagher’s brilliant introduction discusses the enormous influence Robert E. Lee exerted over Early. One of Lee’s letters reads as an outline for the author’s book, covering the period Early writes about, stressing the North’s advantage in numbers, and criticizing Union Army depredations in the Shenandoah Valley.

Gallagher draws attention to Early’s efforts to isolate James Longstreet—Lee’s ranking officer throughout the war—as a traitor because he had dared to criticize Lee in print.

The creator of the Lost Cause myth, Early’s one-sided narrative is a fast, easy read, which shaped the way Southerners would later write about the war.

by Jack Koblas

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