Johnny Reb's war

by David Williams

"A "rich man's war, poor man's fight" can describe many a military conflict. But perhaps never in American history was it more appropriately applied than to the Confederate effort in the Civil War. In this volume, Georgia historian David Williams explains how the Confederate government's handling of the war and the very nature of Southern society negatively impacted the common soldier in the field and doomed the South to failure.". "Using General Robert E. Lee's Maryland Campaign of 1862 as a poignant case study, Williams describes how Confederate soldiers fought and died for a government that could not supply them with shoes or even feed them before battle. The same government that exempted large slave-holders from service and allowed planters to continue to grow cotton when Southern armies desperately needed food, required its soldiers to march on bleeding feet and live off green corn taken from Maryland fields.". "The same policies placed disproportionate wartime demands on soldiers