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Critics sometimes depict Lee as a general without an overall strategy. But Harsh (history, George Mason U.) argues that even though Lee's perception of the war was inaccurate, he did pursue a particular course that fit comfortably within the war aims of the confederacy. In this examination of Confederate conduct in the first year and half of the Civil War, Harsh asserts that both Lee and Davis understood that the rhetoric of a defensive struggle masked aggressive goals, and that in partnership they developed a grand strategy for victory. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
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“Confederate Tide Rising is one of the most significant evaluations of Civil War strategy to be published in the past fifty years. It contributes critically to our understanding of the war, and it will influence the course of Civil War scholarship for decades to comes. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this book.”—Richard J. Sommers, U.S. Army Military History InstituteIn this reexamination of Confederate war aims, Joseph L. Harsh analyzes the military policy and grand strategy adopted by Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis in the first two years of the Civil War.Recent critics of Lee have depicted him as a general of tactical brilliance, but one who lacked strategic vision. He has been accused of squandering meager military resources in vain pursuit of decisive victories during his first year in field command. Critics of Davis claim he went too far in adopting a “perimeter” policy which attempted to defend every square mile of Southern territory, scattering Confederate resources too thinly.Harsh argues, to the contrary, that Davis and Lee’s policies allowed the Confederacy to survive longer than it otherwise could have and were the policies best designed to win Southern independence.
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