. . one of the most thorougly dignified, one of the most distinguished biographies of the year." -- Henry Steele Commager, New York Herald Tribune "It is not often that one comes upon a biography that is so well done as this book. Nearly every page bears evidence of the fact that it is the product of painstaking and exhaustive research, mature thought, and an expert understanding of the subject in hand . . ." -- Saturday Review of Literature

    A book of great energy and sweep, it swings into view the entire course of that terrible and decisive war, lighting up the lives of soldiers, leaders, and civilians, North and South, amidst the conflict. Generations of readers have found the book a compelling and moving experience.

    In the brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign his outnumbered men marched with such speed that they were henceforth known as "foot cavalry". At Chancellorsville, Lee used him to execute his most daring tactical manoeuvre of the war. His untimely death was a loss from which the Army of Northern Virginia never recovered. In this fast-paced biography of one of the South's ablest (and most enigmatic) commanders, Allen Tate portrays the qualities that made "Stonewall" Jackson the warrior whom Lee would mourn as "my right arm". It is a rich and dramatic account that should interest any reader of American biography or the Civil War.Allen Tate, a major American poet and a leading New Critic, was the author of many works of criticism and poetry as well as Civil War novel, 'The Fathers'.