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150 years in the making comes a biography of Theophilus Hunter Holmes, an American warrior and North Carolina Confederate general. While other Confederate generals from North Carolina found their biographers over the years, Holmes' story remained unwritten until Walter C. Hilderman III took on the task.

Utilizing primary source materials Hilderman brings the exciting story of this soldier to life. Hilderman follows Holmes through his priviliged life as the son of a North Carolina governor to his cadet days on the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy and through his career as a United States military officer on America's frontier during the "Trail of Tears" Indian removal and his service in the Second Seminole War and the US-Mexican War. After organizing the naval expedition sent to relieve Fort Sumter, Holmes resigned to serve North Carolina. Holmes led a Confederate brigade at First Manassas, and a division during the Peninsula campaign. He commanded armies in the Trans-Mississippi and organized the youth and old men of North Carolina into the Confederate Reserves. A highly-regarded Mexican War veteran, his later service in the Confederate Army was widely considered a dismal failure. This account is slightly more sympathetic, finding that Holmes often received blame for mistakes he didn't make and that his dispatch to the woebegone western theater was against his wishes, as he sensed all along that it was above his pay grade.

 

After the war Holmes elected to lead a quiet and retiring life and just fade away like many old soldiers of his generation. In spite of having served with notable historic figures like Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, Holmes remained obscured to modern historians. Holmes was one of several figures who wrote no memoirs and preserved few records, yet the author manages to produce a well-paced, often sprightly narrative. Hilderman does an excellent job in penning this biography, the first one of Holmes ever published, which has been long overdue.

 

Authored by : Walter C. Hilderman III

ISBN 10 : 978-0786473106

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01181P5EU

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Theophilus Hunter Holmes: A North Carolina General in the Civil War

SKU: 978-0786473106
$35.00Price
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