The Confederate Spirit
 The Painting of Mort Künstler
 Text by James I. Robertson Jr.
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2000 Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville TN USA
  ISBN: 1558538178


88 spectacular works of art tell the story that haunts us still of the The Confederate States of America: its leaders & commoners, its determination & spirit, its pride & romance with a lyrical supporting text that explains historical details.

The Civil War was not what either side expected or wanted. A few hotheads - militant abolitionists from the North & secessionists from the South - fed the flames while the majority of Americans stared on in bewilderment as the Union disintegrated.

Filled with Mort Künstler's colorful & panoramic pictures of command tents; driving snow, glowing lanterns; bright uniforms & beautiful horses & the pathos of valor, honor & manly pride seen in the poses & faces of his subjects, the sights & sounds of that bloody Civil War live again. Bright sunshine & hopeful soldiers, torrential down pours & grey visages; the vigor of those times & the smell of wet horses, wet wool & wetter wood; dusty marches, ragged country men & weary retreats; of fabled balls with bright lanterns & brighter ladies & death in the field; the wounded & the dead. Wondrous images rekindle the sacred memories of a war between countrymen, between brothers.

James I. Robertson's Introduction tells us some of the chronology of that collapse; the election of Abraham Lincoln; the exodus of Southern states from the Union & the political delegates who met in Alabama; of Gen. Beauregard's fateful order & a national call to arms. It tells us something of who the Confederate Congress was, its outstanding statesmen & who were the Confederate soldiers & their charismatic leaders.

In The High Command Mort Künstler gives us glimpses of the movers & shakers of the battles to come; fresh in their uniforms, devout in their cause & James Robertson's narrative keeps pace with this artist's energy & insights.

In Infantry Robertson explains how there has never been seen a comparable body of infantrymen as Lee's army. How generals learned to use their men, the traditions of infantry generals. We are also introduced to the Southern infantryman, the Johnny Rebs, a whole lot tougher in temperament than the factory-bred Billy Yanks. The largest group of volunteer soldiers were farm boys & the second were students & laborers.

In Cavalry was the protective arm of the infantry & was used for scouting, covering an army's flanks, adding confusion to an enemy's retreat & following the main infantry attack. The cavalry was the elite arm of Confederate Service with new ideas & revolutionary tactics. Every Southern gentleman rode his horse as if to the saddle born & for the first 2 years of the war were clearly much better than the Federals.

In Artillery we learn the three major classifications of artillery, about the courses taught at Southern military academies & the dangers to all that artillery presented. We see huge cannons navigating tiny city streets, fording rivers & carrying the wounded.

In Civilians we see finely dress Southern women with their menfolk flocking to watch a new unit parade through town or offering romance & a colorful moment before heading off to war. We see war-torn lovers in a snowy night coming out of church & saddling up to head off to the front lines. The carnival atmosphere when a convoy of teams pulled dismantled trains through town or a rain-drenched farewell.

The saga of dismantling 13 locomotives at Martinsburg, West Virginia & hauling the pieces by 40-horse teams to Strasburg, 38 miles away, is depicted in delightfully jostling clamor & clutter. With many a proud & joyful march through Southern settlements & towns, Mort Künstler vividly portrays the dress styles, architecture, horses, critters, tools & humanity of the Confederacy.

Through heat of summer & cold of winter, over trackless hillsides & through mud coated towns, Mort Künstler keeps us going; from bloody battle fields in the mists of morning to the cavalry charges into the smoke of cannon fire; from sunbaked drummer boys to bone-weary marchers; from cheering infantrymen as their leaders ride by to face-to-face gun fights in wooded ravines; from heart breaking bad news to new babies born; from dazzling balls to heroic stands in broad daylight to dismal retreats in the dark of night.

A wonder-filled pictorial history book, rich in the details of the life & times of the people of the Confederacy with fascinating stories. A must for any reader of American history.

Mort Künstler, renowned for his historically accurate paintings, has had 11 one-man shows at the prestigious Hammer Galleries in new york City as well as numerous exhibitions at museums including the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond; the North Carolina Museum of History & the Nassau County Museum of Art in New York. His previous books include: The American Spirit with Henry Steel Commager; Jackson & Lee: Legends in Gray with James I. Robertson, Jr.; Gettysburg with James McPherson & Images of the Civil War. www.mortkunstler.com.

James I. Robertson, Jr., is Alumni Distinguished Professor & Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech. He has received every major award given in the field of Civil War history & his books include: General A. P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior; Soldiers in Blue and Gray; Civil War! America Becomes One Nation & Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend.
(04/15/01)

Rebecca