It seems the more that an event is written about, the less consensus there is on the happenings at the event, let alone its wider, endogenous consequences. If this is true, there is no event in our history over which there will be less consensus than the American Civil War. In any event, to me, Shelby Foote has, here, captured an important truth of human nature, that we are essentially reflections of our circumstances. and it is this that I take from this final volume.
Throughout this bloody conflict, the South seems to have had the superior generalship; after all, they lead armies suffering a severe disadvantage of men and supplies, backed by a Confederated States of America with no industrial might and with no access to international trade. The North's generals, meanwhile, supported by every advantage of grunts, guns and gold, seem to have been wholly incapable of lacing up their own boots without calamity. Why? Because we are our circumstances. The South had to fight smartly, bravely, heroically; as hamstrung as they were, they couldn't afford to lose. The North, however, had every advantage. And yet their armies mastered the art of running away. The South had to be inventive; it had to be smart; it had to be better every time or else the sheer weight of the North's might would crush it into the dust of history. The North could afford to lose and fight another day which, it turns out, is no way to conduct a war. It leads to battles the likes of
Cold Harbor which Shelby Foote chillingly chronicles in this the third and final volume of his epic on the American Civil War.
Though other battles will claim much higher tolls in blood, they surely can be no more symbolic of failing to understand the human condition than Cold Harbor, a foolish frontal assault by the overconfident Union on a well-entrenched confederate army. The result, the slaughter the likes of which will be long remembered by those who finish this 3,000 page odyssey. It, and the war generally, should be a lesson to all those who bellow for war. For there is only one certainty about war, that its cost is enormous, a cost no human should have to pay unless it is for the most righteous of causes.. The South surrendered, but did the North win? Did anyone win? What, other than the freedom of the slaves, was gained by this conflict which took so many lives and hardened so many hearts?
This has been one of the most difficult and engrossing reads of my life. There are few historians the likes of Mr. Foote. And though he'll have certainly inserted his styles and his biases into this chronicle more than some would like, I imagine the journey would have been simply unbearable without his flair. The battles will fade from my memory, but the belligerents who fought them will not. And for a historian, I can think of no higher compliment than to say that he brought his subjects to life. A necessary read, as much for what it tells us about human nature as for the battles during that great schism when the flame of the American experiment threatened to be snuffed from our world. (5/5 Stars)
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