From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee’s Civil War, Day by Day, 1861-1865

Douglas S. Freeman's Pulitzer Prize-winning four-volume study on Robert E. Lee remains the most thorough history of the man. After spending so many years with his subject, Freeman claimed he knew where Lee was every day of his life, from West Point until his death. In fact, there are many gaps in Freeman's Lee, and hundreds of sources have been discovered in the decades since that have changed many of the accepted "facts" about the general. In From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee's Civil War, Day by Day, 1861-1865 author Charles Knight does for Lee and students of the war what E. B. Long's Civil War Day by Day did for our ability to understand the conflict as a whole. This is not another Lee biography, but it is every bit as valuable as one, and perhaps more so. Lost in all of the military histories of the war, and even in most of the Lee biographies, is what the general was doing when he was out of history's "public" eye. We know Lee rode out to meet the survivors of Pickett's Charge and accept blame for the defeat, that he tried to lead the Texas Brigade in a counterattack to save the day at the Wilderness, and took a tearful ride from Wilmer McLean's house at Appomattox. But what of the other days? Where was Lee and what was he doing when the spotlight of history failed to illuminate him? Focusing on where he was, who he was with, and what he was doing day by day offers an entirely different appreciation for Lee. Readers will come away with a fresh sense of his struggles, both personal and professional, and discover many things about Lee for the first time using his own correspondence and papers from his family, his staff, his lieutenants, and the men of his army. General Lee intended to write a history of the Army of Northern Virginia but died before he could complete his work. Based on hundreds of first-person accounts, From Arlington to Appomattox recreates, as far as such a thing is now possible, a Lee-centric study of what the man experienced on a daily basis. It is a tremendous contribution to the literature of the Civil War. 50 images, 10 maps

About the Author :
Charles Knight is a native of Richmond, VA, where he developed a love for history at an early age. He has worked at museums and historic sites for more than 20 years in Virginia, Arizona, and North Carolina, and currently serves as the Curator of Military History at the North Carolina Museum of History. He is a past member of the Scottsdale (AZ) Civil War Round Table and current member of the Raleigh CWRT and the Leonidas L. Polk Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is a die-hard Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles fan and lives with his wife and two children in Holly Springs, NC.

Review :
"I have reviewed this in some detail, and my first impression is that it is brilliant. The level of detail and research is quite impressive, and it shows. The campaigns and battles are presented in enough detail for people to understand, without getting bogged down in the details. The monthly headings also help. I especially like how Knight brings forward the administrative detail. This day-by-day look really gives one a sense of what it took to both lead and run an army in the Civil War. Congratulations, this is just superb."--Chris Kolakowski, author of "The Virginia Campaigns, March-August 1862" "Knight's extensive work that is the sum of the daily entries, monthly overviews, rich footnotes and bibliography, and exhaustive index means this is a book Civil War readers and researchers will want to have close to their desks at all times when writing about the war's Eastern Theater. Do we need another Robert E. Lee book? Maybe now, but we needed one like Knight's and it does not disappoint."-- "Journal of the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era" "Knight's study will become the standard reference work on Lee's daily wartime experiences."--R. E. L. Krick, author of "Staff Officers in Gray" "This is great. The footnotes are very Freeman-esque--packed full of information."--Robert Orrison, co-author of "To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862" "Knight's narrative is straightforward, matter of fact, unemotional, and non-political. His active voice style keeps the reader engagedrather than lulling him or her to sleep...The detailed index allows one toeasily maneuver to dates, locations, and events that might beoverlooked in other historical studies. Even the illustrations are meaningful and well-organized."-- "Journal of America's Military Past" "Charles R. Knight's From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee's Civil War Day by Day is a staggering work of scholarship based upon meticulous research. The entries are detailed, illuminating, and well-written. Nuggets of information abound and will please the most avid students of those crucial four years of Lee's life."--Jeffry D. Wert, author of "A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863" "Charlie Knight's From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee's Civil War Day by Day is a pleasure to read, and I learned many things from just perusing it. I think the whole project is brilliant. . . . I got lost in all of the minute details (which I love)."--Michael C. Hardy, award-winning author of "General Lee's Immortals"