Gilbert Moxley Sorrel
Memoirs of a Confederate Staff Officer
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2019 OK Publishing
EAN 4064066052775
Table of Contents
Chapter I. Battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861
Chapter II. After Manassas at Centerville
Chapter III. Reminiscences and Horses
Chapter VI. The Peninsula and Battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862
Chapter VII. Battle of Seven Pines, May 31, 1862
Chapter VIII. Battles of the Chickahominy, June 26 to July 2, 1862
Chapter IX. Rivalry and More Reminiscenses
Chapter X. Second Battle of Manassas, August 29 and 30, 1862
Chapter XII. Battle of Sharpsburg, Continued
Chapter XIII. Battle of Sharpsburg, Concluded
Chapter XIV. Our Personnel—Visitors
Chapter XVI. Events Preceding Fredericksburg
Chapter XVII. Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862
Chapter XVIII. After Fredericksburg—Reminiscences
Chapter XIX. To South Virginia for Supplies
Chapter XX. Preparing for Gettysburg
Chapter XXI. Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2, 3, 1863
Chapter XXII. Gettysburg Aftermath
Chapter XXIII. In Virginia Again
Chapter XXIV. Longstreet to Reinforce Bragg
Chapter XXV. Battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863
Chapter XXVI. Chattanooga—Incidents
Chapter XXVII. The East Tennessee Campaign, November 1863, to April, 1864
Chapter XXVIII. The East Tennessee Campaign, Continued
Chapter XXIX. At Home in Savannah—Sketches
Chapter XXX. Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864.
Chapter XXXI. Coincidences—Longstreet's Successor
Chapter XXXII. Battles of Spottsylvania C. H., May 10 and 12, and Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864
Chapter XXXIII. The Siege of Petersburg, June, 1864, to March, 1865
Chapter XXXIV. Longstreet's Return—Farewell to Lee
Introduction
A few months ago I entered a room where a group of five or six gentlemen were seated around a table in conversation. As I took my seat to join them, one of the number, a distinguished Northern Senator, of high cultivation and who is a great reader of history, made this remark to his companions: "The Army of Northern Virginia was in my opinion the strongest body of men of equal numbers that ever stood together upon the earth." As an ex-Confederate soldier I could not feel otherwise than pleased to hear such an observation from a gentleman of the North who was a student of military history. As the conversation continued there seemed to be a general concurrence in the opinion he stated, and I doubt if any man of intelligence who would give sedate consideration to the subject, would express a different sentiment.
The Army of the Potomac, the valiant and powerful antagonist of the Army of Northern Virginia, was indeed of much larger numbers, and better equipped and fed; but it would have nevertheless failed but for its high quality of soldiership which are by none more respected than by its former foes. Both armies were worthy of any steel that was ever forged for the business of war, and when General Grant in his "Memoirs" describes the meeting after the surrender of the officers of both sides around the McLean House, he says that they seemed to "enjoy the meeting as much as though they had been friends separated for a long time while fighting battles under the same flag." He prophesied in his last illness that "we are on the eve of a new era when there is to be great harmony between the Federal and Confederate."