By W. J. Wood Praeger Publishers . Westport, Conn. 1997 . 288 pages LC 96-28548.
Wood believes the art of command is essentially pragmatic and highly personalized.
Highly recommended for Civil War collections. As a result, the reader develops a new understanding of how battles were really fought in that dramatic conflict. The failure of antebellum American military thought to come to grips with outdated linear tactics and inapplicable strategical principles resulted in commanders on both sides in the Civil War having to lead mass armies of untried civilian soldiers into a war for which neither the led nor the leader had been prepared to fight. Higher level commanders on both sides were forced to create and develop a personal art of command while actually putting it into practice on campaign and on the battlefield. This book presents the author's themes in five progressive parts.