Memoirs of Robert E. Lee

by A.L. Long, Stanley Schindler

A condensed, fully illustrated edition of the memoirs by Lee's personal secretary presents an incisive, intensely intimate portrait of the great Civil War general, blending reminiscence, military historical analysis, and selections from Lee's own writings.

Genres: Civil War, History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Military History, American Civil War

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1886

About the author

Armistead Lindsay Long was a brigadier general for the Confederate States of America, and the author of the 1886 book Memoirs of Robert E. Lee.

Reviews

[James M.]

I finally finished this flowery account of Marse Robert's life written by his former military secretary and head of artillery for 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, A.L. Long. If you're looking for some insight into the thoughts of General Lee, this book is not for you. The author fawns and gushes and uses such admiring language when describing his commander that I turned it into a drinking game - taking a shot of For every laudatory adjective. By page three, I was drunk. By page six, I couldn't see the book any more. By page eight, I was out on the lawn wearing confederate flag underwear, firing my shotgun into the air and singing "Dixie."

It's not a bad book - you know, like the ones written by Bill O'Reilly (Killing the Confederacy! In bookstores now!). It does contain some fascinating first hand accounts, letters and anecdotes from primary sources. I would have liked to have heard from the man himself but he never got around to writing his story of the war and died five years after its conclusion. To me, the real Lee is somewhere behind the myths and marble - a brilliant engineer,

[Richard A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it 3 stars because I enjoyed most of it but I’m not sure how much of A. L. Long’s interpretation can be believed due to his “bromance” with Robert E. Lee.

James, the first review on this site, nailed it. His constant use of flowery adjectives and adverbs every time he describes Lee or the Confederacy could be used as a 19th century version thesaurus for the word “flawless” or “Godly”.

[Lonnie P. Hammack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible conversion to ebook.

Book is good. But the optical character recognition used to convert to an ebook is the worst I’ve seen. Almost unreadable. Lots of garbled text. Hard to decipher.

[Carl Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but a bit too much hero worship and canonization of General Lee. Contrary to what the average Virginia history author believes, Robert E. Lee was actually human.

[Eddie Inman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful memorial to Robert E. Lee

Long writes a beautiful narrative of the life of Lee. A good portion of the War accounts are firsthand. Recommended

[Joe Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hagiography best left until you've read a more neutral account.