One of Lee's Best Men

The Civil War Letters of General William Dorsey Pender

Edited by William W. Hassler

With a new foreword by Brian Wills

289 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 7 illus., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-4823-4
    Published: April 1999
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-6975-8
    Published: January 2012
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7164-0
    Published: January 2012

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On the day that Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861, twenty-seven-year-old William Dorsey Pender, en route to the provisional Confederate capital in Montgomery, Alabama, hurriedly scribbled a note to his wife, Fanny. So began a prolific correspondence between a rising Confederate officer and his cherished wife that would last until Pender was mortally wounded at Gettysburg.

First published by UNC Press in 1965, Pender's letters are filled with personal details, colorful descriptions, and candid opinions of such important figures as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and A. P. Hill. His comments on his military activities and aspirations and the challenges of command, combined with his husbandly advice and affection, sketch an intimate and unvarnished portrait of the man who was perhaps the most distinguished North Carolina commander.

About the Author

The late William W. Hassler was president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and author of biographies of A. P. Hill and John Pelham.
For more information about William W. Hassler, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"This book is an indispensable addition to the Civil War bookshelf. Rarely does one find a collection of letters that provides such a wealth of valuable military information while simultaneously serving as a love story, tracing one man's religious conversion in the face of battle and capturing the drama of a young officer coping with the trials presented by the Civil War."--North Carolina Historical Review

"Pender's letters to his wife provide a moving human document recording the response of a young, talented, sensitive officer to his war experiences. Well written and disarmingly candid, they provide a valuable insight into the mind of a wartime commander: his periods of elation and discouragement, his solicitude for his personal reputation, his evaluation of officers and men, his wrestling with religious beliefs, his anxiety over his wife's health and the raising of his young sons."--Choice

"Pender's letters to his wife are fascinating reading because they are filled with personal details, colorful descriptions, and candid opinions. . . . A distinguished volume."--Historian

"An excellent picture of wartime life and marriage."--Library Journal

"Pender's letters reflected as few war letters have the spirit of a man as a soldier in a cause in which he believed. . . . [Hassler] is in all ways to be commended for introducing to the public this valuable sequence of letters."--Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

"A valuable contribution to the history of the period."--North Carolina Historical Review