Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara [253]
Major Alexander Swift “Sandie” Pendleton
After Jackson’s death, is appointed by Lee to General Ewell’s staff, in the newly organized Second Corps, and Ewell promotes him to Lieutenant Colonel. However, the cordial relationship between Ewell and Jackson’s former staff quickly dissolves, as the men who were accustomed to Jackson’s aggressiveness observe Ewell’s sluggishness at Gettysburg and his monumental failure to capture the high ground of Cemetery Hill. Pendleton writes, “Oh for the presence and inspiration of Old Jack for just one hour!”
When Ewell’s health begins to fail, Jubal Early is given command of the Second Corps, and Pendleton is one of the very few who gains the respect of the disagreeable Early, serving with him through the campaigns of the following year in the Shenandoah Valley. In late 1863 he receives a brief leave, and marries Kate Corbin, the young aunt of the tragic five-year-old girl who had so captured Jackson. In September 1864, during a battle for the town of Winchester, he is mortally wounded, and dies the next day. He does not ever see the son that Kate bears him the following November. The infant is named Sandie, but does not survive his first year.
Of Pendleton, his friend James Power Smith writes: “His intellectual powers were of the highest order . . . the readiness with which he approached his duty . . . was equaled by the celerity and skill with which he performed it. As a staff officer he had no equal.”
Dr. Hunter H. McGuire
From his early association with Jackson’s first command of the First Virginia Brigade (the Stonewall Brigade), his reputation exceeds that of any other medical officer in the Confederate Army. After Jackson’s death, he serves in Ewell’s corps, and thus will return to his beloved Shenandoah, where he is eventually named Medical Director for the Army of the Valley. After the war, his career continues to earn him great honor and respect. He establishes the College of Medicine at the University of Virginia, serves there as Professor of Surgery until 1878, and later is named President of the American Surgical Association, and then of the American Medical Association. He survives until 1900.
Major General Joseph E. Johnston
Recovers from his wounds at Fair Oaks, returns to command the Department of the West. His feud with Davis, and his lack of cooperation and communication, continue, and he is thus blamed for the defeats at Vicksburg and Chattanooga. He cannot bring enough forces to the field to impede Sherman’s assault on Atlanta, and so is relieved in July 1864 by John Bell Hood.
After the war, he goes into private business, serves briefly as a congressman, and eventually settles in Washington, D.C., as a railroad commissioner. He dies of pneumonia in 1891. It is observed that he is in many ways the complete opposite of George McClellan: great skill in the field, with a total lack of administrative abilities.
Brigadier General William Barksdale
At Chancellorsville his brigade fights alongside Early’s division on Marye’s Heights, which eventually gives way to the vastly superior numbers of Sedgwick’s corps. He leads his decimated forces into battle on the right flank during the second day at Gettysburg, engages Sickles’s corps at the Peach Orchard, where he is mortally wounded. He dies the following day.
Brigadier General Robert Rodes
After Chancellorsville, Jackson’s former colleague is promoted to Major General, leads his division with distinction at Gettysburg and afterward.