To Jefferson Davis, he was the Stonewall of the West; to Robert E.
It finally and firmly establishes Cleburne\'s rightful place in the pantheon of Southern military heroes..
Symonds\' definitive and immensely readable narrative casts new light on Cleburne, on the Army of Tennessee, and on the Civil War in the West.
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 slavery and arming blacks against the Union.
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 two horses shot from under him.
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 Stonewall of the West , Craig Symonds offers the first full-scale critical biography of this compelling figure.
The valor of his command was so inspirational that his unit alone was allowed to carry its own distinctive battle flag.
He was admired by peers and subordinates alike for his leadership, loyalty, honesty, and fearlessness in the face of enemy fire.
He achieved only modest success in the peacetime South, but rose rapidly in the wartime army to become the Confederacy\'s finest division commander.
An Irishman by birth, Cleburne emigrated to the United States in 1849 at the age of 21.
He was Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, one of the greatest of all Confederate field commanders.
Lee, he was a meteor shining from a clouded sky; and to Braxton Bragg, he was an officer ever alive to a success.
To Jefferson Davis, he was the Stonewall of the West; to Robert E
