Else We Should Love It Too Well

The Civil War: A Narrative By Shelby Foote

Random House, 2,934 pp., 3 vols., $60 Almost transfixed by what they saw, Generals James Longstreet and Robert E. Lee paused at the crest of a ridge overlooking a considerable portion of the field at Fredericksburg. It was December 13, 1862. And beneath their fascinated gaze unfolded in panorama the bruit of that momentous day. Out of a line of woods, driving before them with the bayonet the flower of Hooker’s infantry, came a portion of the ragged host commanded by these professionals in grey. The air was filled with the distinctive war cry (half Celtic, half Indian) which had already become the signature of the Confederacy under arms. Then Lee, lifted in spirit to meet the spectacle, turned to his dour lieutenant and said, “It is well that war is so terrible—we should grow too fond of it!”

The Civil War: A Narrative By Shelby Foote

Random House, 2,934 pp., 3 vols., $60 Almost transfixed by what they saw, Generals James Longstreet and Robert E. Lee paused at the crest of a ridge overlooking a considerable portion of the field at Fredericksburg. It was December 13, 1862. And beneath their fascinated gaze unfolded in panorama the bruit of that momentous day. Out of a line of woods, driving before them with the bayonet the flower of Hooker’s infantry, came a portion of the ragged host commanded by these professionals in grey. The air was filled with the distinctive war cry (half Celtic, half Indian) which had already become the signature of the Confederacy under arms. Then Lee, lifted in spirit to meet the spectacle, turned to his dour lieutenant and said, “It is well that war is so terrible—we should grow too fond of it!”