General Robert F. Hoke: Lee's Modest Warrior

A biography that stresses its subject's modesty may be implying that he or she has a good deal to be modest about. Perhaps it was his modesty that made Robert F. Hoke (1837-1912) the last major Confederate general to warrant a full-length biography, but the fact is that Hoke established himself as one of the finest subordinate commanders in the Confederacy's eastern theater. Though not a professional soldier--he'd managed his family's manufacturing businesses before the war--Hoke served admirably with the Army of Northern Virginia as a regimental and brigade commander. Transferred to his home state of North Carolina after Gettysburg, he mounted a series of small but successful operations against Union forces. When he returned to Virginia in 1864 as a division commander, he came into his own, handling his command with skill and success in the siege of Petersburg. In the war's last months, Hoke made a final stand against Sherman's army. Barefoot's (Turning the Backwoods of North Carolina's Lower Coast) account of this latter campaign is among the best from a Confederate perspective. His seemingly almost uncritical admiration for Hoke, however, leads him to exaggerate both the general's importance and his talents. Nevertheless, Barefoot establishes Hoke as a general who improved with increased responsibilities, even in desperate circumstances. This quality, unusual in any war, justifies this near-hagiographic but exhaustively researched and informative study. Illustrations. (July)