DOC Lee's Adjutant: The Wartime Letters of Colonel Walter Herron Taylor; 1862-1865 (Documents; 21) by From University of South Carolina Press in History

Review

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Solid but Suprisingly Unrevealing Collection of LettersBy Kevin M. Derby"Lee's Adjutant" holds an odd place in the increasing number of books on Robert E. Lee. These are the letters of Col. Walter H. Taylor; Lee's chief staff officer during the war. Editor R. Lockwood Tower opens the book with an excellent sketch of Taylor's life and his role in the Army of Northern Virginia. The letters; while often interesting; really do not reveal that much about Lee during the war though there are occasional scenes that stick with the reader: Lee loses his temper at Taylor; the general's reaction to the death of his daughter Annie in 1862; Lee's bemused puzzlement that Taylor wants to rush into Richmond to marry his fiance just as Grant is about to take the city. Nor are Taylor's letters helpful on some of the more dramatic moments of the war. For example; they are skimpy on Gettysburg (and Taylor's role on July 1 in issuing orders to Richard Ewell) and Taylor; to his later regret; made an excuse so he would not be present when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. What Taylor does reveal in these letters are his duties as Lee's primary staff officer. Having said that; the best part of the book remains the introduction by Tower; an odd thing to say about a collection of primary sources with as much historical value as Taylor's letters.