#3-595
To Douglas S. Freeman
April 7, 1943 [Washington, D.C.]
My dear Dr. Freeman,
I received the advance copy of your second volume of Lee's Lieutenants and have delayed answering until I had an opportunity to read the book, which I completed a few days ago. Incidentally, a considerable amount of the reading was done while flying South and returning North on my trip with Anthony Eden to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. He had read your life of Lee and was much interested in my comments on the present volume and the first volume which preceded it.1
The summary in the first volume at the completion of the seven days' fight and that portion of the second volume leading up to the establishment of the Army of Northern Virginia on the heights at Fredericksburg, have been of definite value to me in my present occupation. As a matter of fact, to read of the vicissitudes of personalities with which Lee had to battle in the midst of a fast-moving campaign and early in his Army command career, has been very encouraging to me. I thought I had troubles of this nature but mine sink into insignificance compared to his. Also, there is great encouragement in the fact that we have so little of this bitter personal prejudice or attitude to deal with in the present war Army. Nevertheless, to one in my position the matter of personalities of higher commanders will always be a major consideration, having far more importance than the blue-print solutions of Leavenworth and the War College would lead the student officer to anticipate.
I got a great deal of relaxation out of reading the book and want you to know that I appreciate very much your sending it to me. It is a monumental work and definitely adds to your stature as a military historian.2
Faithfully yours,
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed letter.
1. General Marshall had read volume 1, Manassas to Malvern Hill (1942) and volume 2, Cedar Mountain to Chancellorsville (1943), of Freeman's Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons). Freeman had written R. E. Lee: A Biography in four volumes (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934–35).
2. "Your generous words alone keep me from feeling that thirty years' study of war have given me nothing of use to my country in its hour of supreme need," Freeman replied. "As it is, I am ashamed that my father's son has no part in the battle.” Historian Freeman concluded, "I thank God daily for you, and give you all the moral support that one man can send a friend." (Freeman to Marshall, April 13, 1943, GCML/G. C. Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, Selected].)
Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 3, “The Right Man for the Job,” December 7, 1941-May 31, 1943 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), pp. 635–636.