Rebel Brass: The Confederate Command System

by Frank E. Vandiver

Book by Vandiver, Frank E.

Genres: American Civil War, Civil War

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1977

About the author

Frank Everson Vandiver was an American Civil War historian and former president of Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas, as well as acting president of Rice University. Vandiver wrote, co-wrote, or edited 24 books, and wrote an additional 100 scholarly articles or reviews.

Reviews

[Scott Dover · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a very quick read that gives an excellent overview of the Confederate Command and supply systems. A must read for anyone seeking to get a solid understanding of the strengths and weakness of the Confederate High Command.

[Sean Chick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is among Vandiver's first works and it is rather weak. Lots of myths are espoused (Bragg and Davis were friends, Davis ignored the west etc.). Prose is loose but so is the format; this is less a book and more an extended essay. Overall nothing really comes through. It is a surprisingly vague and shockingly ignorant book. The Confederate cavalry might have been the best the world has ever seen? I can picture the Mongol Khans, Murat, Seydlitz, and a host of others laughing long and hard at that one. As Shelby Foote once said “We think that we are a wholly superior People. If we’d been anything like as superior as we think we are, we would not have fought that war. But since we did fight it, we have to make it the greatest war of all times. And our generals were the greatest generals of all time. It’s very American to do that.”

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very brief, basic look at the Confederate war effort at the national level, through a look at the civilian leadership (the president and the secretaries of war and the navy) and how logistics was handled. From the foward, it appears that the author intentionally kept the book very brief and could have went into more detail, but he doesn't explain why he did this. Also, there were several topics he could have covered (for example, the interaction between department commanders and the national government).