Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia: A Biography (review)

Darrell Collins's meticulously researched and well-written biography of Robert Emmett Rodes ably fills a gap in our knowledge of the second-tier commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. Those men, the division commanders who through death, wounds, or cessation of hostilities never rose to corps command, are often known to many only as minor characters in a vast array of campaign and battle studies. Their stories provide still fertile ground for researchers, and Collins has plumbed the depths of Rodes's tale to create a first-rate biographical treatment of this deserving officer.

Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Rodes graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1848 and was immediately taken on as an assistant professor and appointed the Institute's adjutant. Failing to gain promotion to a chair, first in Chemistry, then in Natural Philosophy—an appointment lost to West Point graduate Thomas J. Jackson—Rodes left VMI to pursue a career as an engineer with the burgeoning southern railroad system. That path took him to Alabama, where he found both professional success and a Tuscaloosa bride. Rodes's natural inclinations, probably reinforced by his experience at VMI, were evinced in his propensity for order and obedience. Collins early lays the cornerstone for understanding Rodes as a man and as a general: "Firmness to the point of rigidity was proving to be [his] hallmark" (p. 53).

In his adopted state of Alabama, Rodes was appointed captain of Tuscaloosa's Warrior Guards, and when that militia company became Company H of the Fifth Alabama Infantry in May 1861, Rodes was easily elected colonel of the new regiment. His military career from that point on was stellar, his leadership superb—yet also human, and Collins fairly points out infrequent yet not inconsequential lapses in judgment that led to less than glowing results, most notably his puzzling lethargy at Gettysburg. Accolades for Rodes's abilities as a leader abound in the record. Promoted to brigadier general in October 1861, by May 1863 Rodes commanded a division in A.P. Hill's Second Corps. Rodes's actions at Chancellorsville led to Stonewall Jackson's deathbed recommendation for promotion, seconded by the wounded Hill, and prompted Richard Ewell to note that "he seems after Jackson to be the hero of the fight" (p. 232). Rodes's elevation to major general for valor in battle made him the first division commander in Lee's army who was not educated at West Point.

Collins captures the essence of Rodes's effectiveness as a commander in his vivid descriptions of the general's valiant behavior. That, coupled with his keen observations of Rodes's personality that included his ability to extract from his men loyalty and valor in turn, despite his propensity for rigorous drill and discipline, provides a complete portrait of a complex man much deserving of our attention. Sadly, his end in September 1864 was far more prosaic than deserved: a stray shot or fragment of shell finds its mark; he topples from his steed wordlessly as his men sweep forward in a forlorn attack at Winchester. There are no memorable last words, no lingering deathbed scenes. The battle was so hotly contested at that point that General John B. Gordon was compelled to ride away without even dismounting to offer a word of solace or regret to his chief. It would be too strong a statement to say that Rodes has since been forgotten, but "underappreciated" would seem to fit. Darrell Collins does much to rectify that in this fine work, but his task was rendered more difficult by the absence of Rodes's personal papers, apparently destroyed after the war. That absence is unfortunate, for although we know Rodes came from a slaveholding family and purchased his first slave in 1859, there is no record of his thoughts on the...