Defending the Southern Confederacy: The Men in Gray by Robert Catlett Cave, Ed. by Woalbrook D. Swank. 132 pp., sc.

Defending the Southern Confederacy: The Men in Gray

by Robert Catlett Cave

edited by Walbrook D. Swank, Colonel, USAF (Ret.)

Historians and buffs have tried both to explain the reasons that led to the War between the States and to understand the motivations and actions of the men in gray. The Reverend Robert Catlett Cave wrote The Men in Gray in 1911 to explain the Southern viewpoint on the conflict. His oration at the unveiling of the monument to Confederate Sailors and Soldiers of the Southern Confederacy in Libby Park, Richmond, Virginia, sparked a controversy that led to the writing of this book.

Most books about the War between States are about battles, campaigns, strategies, tactics, personalities, and military activities. In contrast, Robert Cave has fairly and superbly presented the South's side of the causes of this war. His purpose was to give everyone a truer conception of the South's motives, aims, lofty patriotism, and unwavering devotion to principle and constitutional law. Readers will find his purpose and analysis have been well served in this outstanding treatise about a very controversial subject.