I have been fascinated by the Civil War for a long time, but I haven't ever delved into any specific battles or generals. At the beginning of this book, I was having a hard time keeping all the different characters straight. I have found that listening to the book on CD while I read has really helped keep the men differentiated. The reader, Stephen Hoye, does a great job with the various accents and helps me follow each character's journey through this battle. Michael Shaara has an amazing way of giving a distinct voice to each person and helping the reader glimpse the different personalities that were working together for both sides.
One of the things that I hadn't really thought about with regards to battlefield command is how difficult communication was. I didn't realize that so many people were in charge in any given battle. Obviously, Lee and Meade are the final decision-makers but there were so many other subordinate commanders to communicate with and trust to ultimately carry out the orders they were given. All of the aides and political advisors were another part of the battle I hadn't thought much about. It must have been a very intense experience being assigned to work with these powerful men.
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I have had similar thoughts as I've been reading. Modern technology has made communication quite easy, but I can't imagine how the Civil War generals, commanders, etc. managed to communicate with their people and get anything done...It seems like it would get old to have to ride your horse around so much or to have to send messengers to deliver messages, etc. I guess they didn't know any other way though, so it probably didn't phase them too much.
ReplyDeleteTelegraph, semaphore, messenger, etc. The frustrating part isn't that they didn't get the message, but that they ignored it, or changed it to suit their own preferences.
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