Stonewall of the West
Subtitle: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War
By: Craig L. Symonds.
Series: Modern war studies
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Lawrence, Kan
Language: eng
Number of pages: 322
Subjects: Cleburne, Patrick Ronayne, 1828-1864.; Confederate States of America. Army -- Biography.; Generals -- Confederate States of America -- Biography.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns.; Georgia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.; Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.; Helena (Ark.) -- Biography.
Description: To Jefferson Davis, he was the "Stonewall of the West"; to Robert E. Lee he was "a meteor shining from a clouded sky"; and to Braxton Bragg, he was an officer "ever alive to a success." He was Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, one of the greatest of all Confederate field commanders.

In Stonewall of the West, Craig Symonds offers the first full-scale critical biography of this compelling figure. He explores all the sources of Cleburne's commitment to the Southern cause, his growth as a combat leader from Shiloh to Chickamauga, and his emergence as one of the Confederacy's most effective field commanders at Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap, and Pickett's Mill.

In addition, Symonds unravels the "mystery" of Spring Hill and recounts Cleburne's dramatic and untimely death (at the age of 36) at Franklin, Tennessee, where he charged the enemy line on foot after having had two horses shot from under him. Symonds also explores Cleburne's role in the complicated personal politics of the Army of Tennessee, as well as his astonishing proposal that the decimated Confederate ranks be filled by ending a slavery and arming blacks against the Union.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-314) and index.