Rufus Barringer fought on horseback through most of the Civil War with General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, and rose to lead the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade in some of the war's most difficult combats. Fighting for General Lee: Confederate General Rufus Barringer and the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade details his entire history for the first time. Barringer raised a company early in the war and fought with the 1st North Carolina Cavalry from the Virginia peninsula through Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was severely wounded in the face at Brandy Station, during the opening hours of the Gettysburg Campaign. Because of his severe wound, he missed the remainder of the Gettysburg Campaign, returning to his regiment in mid-October, 1863. Within three months he was a lieutenant colonel, and by June 1864 a brigadier general in command of the North Carolina Brigade, which fought the rest of the war with Lee and was nearly destroyed during the retreat from Richmond in 1865. The captured Barringer met President Lincoln at City Point, endured prison, and after the war did everything he could to convince North Carolinians to accept Reconstruction and heal the wounds of war. Fighting for General Lee by Sheridan R. Barringer draws upon a wide array of newspapers, diaries, letters, and previously unpublished family documents and photographs, as well as other firsthand accounts, to paint a broad, deep, and colorful portrait of an overlooked Southern cavalry commander. Despite its subject matter, the book is a balanced account that concludes Barringer was a dependable, hard-hitting warrior increasingly called upon to lead attacks against superior Union forces. This remarkable new biography teaches us many things. It is easy today to paint all who wore Confederate gray with a broad brush because they fought on the side to preserve slavery. Here, however, was a man who wielded the sword and then promptly sheathed it to follow a bolder vision. Barringer proved to be a bold champion of the poor, the black, and the masses―a Southern gentleman and man decades ahead of his time that made a difference in the lives of North Carolinians.

Fighting for General Lee: Confederate General Rufus Barringer and the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade

Biographies & Memoirs

Barringer, Sheridan R.

Historical

Savas Beatie

Custer's Gray Rival: The Life of Confederate Major General Thomas Lafayette Rosser

Tom Rosser served in nearly every battle of the Army of Northern Virginia. The lanky officer, known as much for his temper as his fighting abilities, resigned from West Point two weeks prior to graduation when Virginia seceded from the Union. He began the war in the artillery, transferred to the cavalry, and ended the fight under a cloud of some disgrace―even after helping win the last victory in Virginia. Sheridan Barringer's Custer's Gray Rival: The Life of Confederate Major General Thomas Lafayette Rosser tells his story in the first serious biography of this important officer. The Virginia native won success as part of the famed Washington Artillery of New Orleans before General Jeb Stuart convinced Rosser to transfer to his cavalry command as colonel of the 5th Virginia Cavalry. Rosser soon became Stuart's protégé and friend, and the dashing general did all he could to further his career. The only person who could derail Rosser, however, was Rosser, whose ability to take umbrage at the slightest offense was matched by his impatience and oversized ego. Rosser, who believed Stuart was conspiring to keep him from making general, finally achieved that rank in October of 1863 and went on to lead the famous Laurel Brigade in a number of campaigns. In 1864 after Stuart's death, he accused his new commander, General Wade Hampton, of blocking his promotion to major general. The cavalryman's most prominent service arrived in the Shenandoah Valley under Lt. Gen. Jubal Early in the fall of 1864, where Rosser led daring raids and achieved success in furnishing the army with valuable intelligence, livestock, and other supplies. His embarrassing failure in the Confederate debacle at Tom's Brook on October 9 against his former classmate and rival George Custer, combined with his absence from the front at a shad bake at Five Forks during the war's final days, cast a dark cloud over his otherwise solid record. Author Barringer mined manuscript collections, first-person accounts, and scores of letters and other memoranda written by Rosser himself to pen what is surely the most complete monograph of the gray cavalryman. Rosser, who looked upon life as a series of contests, loved the glory of combat. He continued fighting rivals, gray and blue, after the war by means fair and foul, unable to check his ego and short temper. He ended his military career "in the most unlikely fashion"―as a general in the United States army in the Spanish-American War. Custer's Gray Rival is a long overdue study of one of American's most interesting characters.

Fox Run Publishing

Tom Rosser served in nearly every battle of the Army of Northern Virginia. The lanky officer, known as much for his temper as his fighting abilities, resigned from West Point two weeks prior to graduation when Virginia seceded from the Union. He began the war in the artillery, transferred to the cavalry, and ended the fight under a cloud of some disgrace―even after helping win the last victory in Virginia. Sheridan Barringer’s Custer’s Gray Rival: The Life of Confederate Major General Thomas Lafayette Rosser tells his story in the first serious biography of this important officer.The Virginia native won success as part of the famed Washington Artillery of New Orleans before General Jeb Stuart convinced Rosser to transfer to his cavalry command as colonel of the 5th Virginia Cavalry. Rosser soon became Stuart’s protégé and friend, and the dashing general did all he could to further his career. The only person who could derail Rosser, however, was Rosser, whose ability to take umbrage at the slightest offense was matched by his impatience and oversized ego.Rosser, who believed Stuart was conspiring to keep him from making general, finally achieved that rank in October of 1863 and went on to lead the famous Laurel Brigade in a number of campaigns. In 1864 after Stuart’s death, he accused his new commander, General Wade Hampton, of blocking his promotion to major general.The cavalryman’s most prominent service arrived in the Shenandoah Valley under Lt. Gen. Jubal Early in the fall of 1864, where Rosser led daring raids and achieved success in furnishing the army with valuable intelligence, livestock, and other supplies. His embarrassing failure in the Confederate debacle at Tom’s Brook on October 9 against his former classmate and rival George Custer, combined with his absence from the front at a shad bake at Five Forks during the war’s final days, cast a dark cloud over his otherwise solid record.Author Barringer mined manuscript collections, first-person accounts, and scores of letters and other memoranda written by Rosser himself to pen what is surely the most complete monograph of the gray cavalryman. Rosser, who looked upon life as a series of contests, loved the glory of combat. He continued fighting rivals, gray and blue, after the war by means fair and foul, unable to check his ego and short temper. He ended his military career “in the most unlikely fashion”―as a general in the United States army in the Spanish-American War. Custer’s Gray Rival is a long overdue study of one of American’s most interesting characters.

Fox Run Publishing, LLC

Thomas Taylor Munford was the most senior, and likely the most important, cavalry colonel in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. As a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Munford was well placed, but not a member of the West Point military elite. This likely contributed to his being overlooked repeatedly for promotion to brigadier general, despite having commanded Fitzhugh Lee's brigade in some of the war's most important battles and commanding a division at the end of the war. Bitterness over these snubs and other issues led to Munford's famous feud with Major General Thomas L. Rosser, the subject of author Sheridan Barringer's previous work. Col. Munford wrote prolifically about his experiences in the war and provided much insight into important officers within the cavalry corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. This is a biography worthy of shelf space in the library of every serious student of the American Civil War.

Unhonored Service: The Life of Lee's Senior Cavalry Commander, Colonel Thomas Taylor Munford, CSA

Unhonored Service: The Life of Lee’s Senior Cavalry Commander, Colonel Thomas Taylor Munford, CSA

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barringer, Sheridan R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Barringer, Sheridan R.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barringer, Sheridan R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Fighting for General Lee: Confederate General Rufus Barringer and the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade

Custer's Gray Rival: The Life of Confederate Major General Thomas Lafayette Rosser

Custer's Gray Rival: The Life of Confederate Major General Thomas Lafayette Rosser

Unhonored Service: The Life of Lee's Senior Cavalry Commander, Colonel Thomas Taylor Munford, CSA

Unhonored Service: The Life of Lee’s Senior Cavalry Commander, Colonel Thomas Taylor Munford, CSA