Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand

The Civil War #7

by Joseph Alexander Altsheler

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Genres: Civil War, War, Historical

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Joseph Alexander Altsheler was an American newspaper reporter, editor and author of popular juvenile historical fiction. He was a prolific writer, and produced fifty-one novels and at least fifty-three short stories. Thirty-two of his novels were part of his seven series:

The Civil War Series (8 volumes)
The French and Indian War Series (6 volumes)
The Gold Series (2 volumes)
The Great West Series (2 volumes)
The Texan Series (3 volumes)
The World War Series (3 volumes)
The Young Trailers Series (8 volumes)

Although each of the thirty-two novels constitutes an independent story, Altsheler suggested a reading order for each series (i.e., he numbered the volumes). The remaining nineteen novels can be read in any order. [Note, however, that A Knight of Philadelphia was later expanded through the addition of nineteen chapters and some minor tweaks to become Mr. Altsheler's novel In Hostile Red.]

The short stories, of course, can be read in any order. However, some readers might prefer to read them in the order in which they were published. The short story list below is displayed in chronological order with the publication dates shown alongside the titles.

Reviews

[Anne Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Story of Lee's Great Stand
That's it in a nutshell. If you ever wondered why the southern army fought so long and so hard with so little for a cause that was lost, this series will answer that question for you. History records that the Army of Northern Virginia believed that General Lee would lead them to victory no matter the odds against them. Although the main character is still mourning the loss of his beloved hero, Stonewall Jackson, he never founders in his support and love for General Lee. Even when he watches his hero faced with the genius and hard fighting U.S. Grant for the first time in this book, he still believes that victory is possible. Why do men fight, anyway?
Except for a few instances, this series appears to be historically accurate. I believe the author spent quite a bit of time talking with civil war veterans. In this series (7 of 8) the books alternate from the northern pov to the southern pov. That means that the last book (8) should be told from the northern pov. So far, the southern pov books have been written with more inspiration and feeling. I'm curious to see if Grant can inspire a similar feeling of loyalty and admiration from his troops. We shall see.

[Ernesto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed this series so far this installment is by far the weakest of the lot. Far too many pages were devoted to the retreat of the AoNV from Gettysburg to the Potomac and to ballroom dancing, romance and social life of our hero in Richmond. On contrast, the gigantic struggle at Spotsylvania get a mere few pages and the ending comes abruptly. On to the last volume and the conclusion of Harry & Dick's journey.

[William Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild bill

Loved the great history and the great writing will definitely read more of his books keep up the good work

[Monte Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 7th in the Civil War series by this author. It covers the period in Virginia from the retreat from Gettysburg through the battles of The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Cold Harbor. It spends most of the time with camp life and other non-battle related times. It does have a running contest between the Southern soldier, Harry Kenton and his nemesis, Shepherd of the North. You can see how the South began to run out of resources as the war turned against them.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an audiobook from LibriVox!

https://librivox.org/the-shades-of-th...