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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Sacrificing for the Lost Cause: General Robert E. Lee's Personal Staff

Sidwell, Robert William
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1522934821626724

Abstract Details

2018, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History.
This dissertation closely examines the lives and careers of Robert H. Chilton, Armistead L. Long, Charles Marshall, Thomas M. R. Talcott, Walter H. Taylor, and Charles S. Venable, the six men who served on the personal staff of General Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War. The dissertation argues that five of these six men were dedicated professionals without whose services Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia could never have struggled with its superior Union adversaries for as long or as successfully as it did. It demonstrates that Lee possessed exact criteria for his selection of officers for his staff, that he recognized the staff officers’ talents, and assigned them roles that made optimum use of their abilities. By surveying Lee’s staff as it assisted its famous commander in his army’s great battles, this dissertation reveals that the staff officers played a large role in helping their general control and command his army. While most of Lee’s staff officers could thus have reaped great socioeconomic benefits from publicizing their considerable contributions to the Confederate war effort, this dissertation demonstrates that none of them did so after the war. Instead, they allowed themselves to be obscured in order to help create and maintain the popular white southern “Lost Cause,” headed by a mythologized General Lee whose saintly character and military genius deserved virtually all of the credit. They largely avoided the rancorous disputes between other white southerners over who was to blame for the Confederacy’s ultimate defeat, and dedicated their efforts to creating and shaping the legend of Robert E. Lee. Unlike many other Confederates, Lee’s former staff officers did not destroy the reputations of others to build Lee’s mythology, but they never wavered in their defense of the Confederacy or of its greatest general. This dissertation thus provides a thorough examination of the roles of Civil War staff officers and analyzes the multifaceted nature of public memory.
Leonne Hudson (Advisor)
Kevin Adams (Committee Member)
Robert Shelton (Committee Member)
Donald Hassler (Committee Member)
Christopher Banks (Committee Member)
372 p.
American History; History; Military History
Lee, Robert Edward

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sidwell, R. W. (2018). Sacrificing for the Lost Cause: General Robert E. Lee's Personal Staff [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1522934821626724

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sidwell, Robert. Sacrificing for the Lost Cause: General Robert E. Lee's Personal Staff. 2018. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1522934821626724.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sidwell, Robert. "Sacrificing for the Lost Cause: General Robert E. Lee's Personal Staff." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1522934821626724

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1522934821626724
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12