The General to His Lady: The Civil War Letters of William Dorsey Pender to Fanny Pender (review)

88CI VIL W A R HISTORY Republican party that might reveal a factional rather than an ideological base for Radical opposition to Lincoln. Furthermore, the loose use of the term "disloyal" obscures rather than clarifies. Finally, Niven argues convincingly that the war not only "unbalanced the maturing economy" but "delayed rather than hastened the difficult adjustment to the dominant industrial society." Though a "catalyst in the industrializing process" and a creator of new capital, the war "promoted some disorderly economic growth, some resultant social problems. Railroad development, so essential to a mature industrial economy, was neglected; while the munitions industry, of little use in the postwar era, was expanded far beyond even wartime needs." Touching all phases of the war, Niven has written a provocative book. Ari Hoogenboom Pennsylvania State University The General to His Lady: The Civil War Letters of William Dorsey Pender to Fanny Pender. Edited by William W. Hassler. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1965. Pp. xiii, 271. $6.00.) Major General Dorsey Pender, Army of Northern Virginia, was dead at the age of twenty-nine. Like his compatriot, Stonewall Jackson, this North Carolinian was a professional soldier whose military star shone brightly, but briefly. He rose through the ranks of the 3rd and 6th North Carolina to become "Pender the diligent" in the eyes of Robert E. Lee. He had just established himself as one of the most promising division commanders in the Confederate army when a mortal wound at Gettysburg snuffed out bis young life. Officers, as well as the men in the ranks, never spoke of the personable Tarheel but in praise. Lee thought that "his promise and usefulness as an officer was only equalled by the purity and excellence of his private life." Pender's immediate superior and man of few words, A. P. Hill, termed him "an excellent officer, attentive, industrious and brave." In the course of his short Civil War career, Pender wrote an enlightening series of letters to his wife Fanny. The correspondence is at times a remarkable and valuable commentary on fellow officers, army life, and field observations. That Douglas Freeman relied heavily on the letters in the preparation of his Lee's Lieutenants is in itself a high testimonial to the letters' composite value. Now, for the first time, the wartime letters of Dorsey Pender are in print. Users of this volume will encounter many paragraphs of purely personal ramblings by a loving husband and father. However, interspersed amid the romanticism are pointed statements on war and warriors . For example, Pender considered D. H. Hill "an able officer of the Army and a very fine man." Of the supreme army commander he stated: "Gen. Lee has shown great Generakhip and the greatest boldness." Pender BOOKREVIEWS89 got along well with the dashing A. P. Hill. "I hope to stick to him," he wrote, "for he sticks to me." In contrast, Pender had keen reservations about the enigmatic Jackson. Once he tersely stated: "He forgets that one ever gets tired, hungry or sleepy." Professor Hassler, who prepared the letters for publication, has added a short introduction and incomplete index. Annotation would have been extremely helpful, as well as some enlightenment on Pender's wounding and last hours. In this instance, however, the letters themselves overcome the editorial shortcomings. James I. Robertson, Jr. University of Montana The Civil War Letters of General Robert McAllister. Edited by James I. Robertson, Jr. (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1965. Pp. x, 638. $10.00. ) Colonel Robert McAllister (general by brevet) is not likely to be remembered by the average student of the Civil War. A Pennsylvania farmer in early life, of scant formal education, a prohibitionist of ardor and a deeply devout militiaman in Juniata County, he organized with his brother, prior to 1839, the Juniata Troop, which he subsequendy commanded . Robert advanced in the Pennsylvania militia but entered railroad construction and moved to New Jersey; the brother drifted South and became a Confederate officer. Though Robert was forty-seven when the war broke, he recruited an infantry company, became lieutenant colonel of the 1st New Jersey, took it into the Army of the Potomac, and remained there until...