UNC Press - Staff Officers in Gray

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424 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 50 illus., 7 tables, 2 appends., appends.

Civil War America

Cloth

ISBN 978-0-8078-2788-8

Published: June 2003

Staff Officers in Gray

A Biographical Register of the Staff Officers in the Army of Northern Virginia

By Robert E. L. Krick

This indispensable Civil War reference profiles some 2,300 staff officers in Robert E. Lee's famous Army of Northern Virginia. These men--ordnance officers, engineers, aides-de-camp, and quartermasters, among others--worked at the side of many of the Confederacy's greatest figures, helping to feed and clothe the army, maintain its discipline, and operate its military machinery.

A typical entry includes the officer's full name, the date and place of his birth and death, details of his education and occupation, and a synopsis of his military record. An introduction discusses the role of staff officers in the Confederate army, describes the evolution and importance of individual staff positions, and makes some broad generalizations about the officers' common characteristics. Two appendixes provide a list of more than 3,000 staff officers who served in other armies of the Confederacy and complete rosters of known staff officers of each general in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Synthesizing the contents of thousands of unpublished official documents, Staff Officers in Gray will be of interest to anyone studying the battles, personnel, and organization of the Army of Northern Virginia.

About the Author

Robert E. L. Krick is a historian based in Richmond, Virginia. He has written widely on Confederate topics and specializes in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Reviews

"Excellent, impressive and lean. . . . An absolute necessity for any researcher of the Army of Northern Virginia. The casual and curious reader will find the opening text a stellar explanation of staff officers and their duties and dilemmas and, more importantly, will come away from reading this with a new insight into the roles played by staff officers."
--Southern Historian

"By profiling in a single, accessible account the officers who were largely responsible for the army's day-to-day operations, the book makes a valuable contribution to our knowledge about those who fought in the Civil War."
--Military History

"A unique and valuable resource for Civil War historians and genealogists."
--Choice

"An essential reference. . . . All those who read about, research, and write about the Army of Northern Virginia should welcome this impressive achievement."
--Journal of Military History

"Staff Officers in Gray is that rarest of history books--a seminal source that will endure through the decades and be as interesting and valuable a century from now as it is today."
--Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"Krick's meticulous work on a previously neglected topic [is] an essential tool for general reference as well as a valuable aid for further study."
--Florida Historical Quarterly