author
G. Moxley (Gilbert Moxley) Sorrel
1838–1901
A Confederate staff officer who became one of the sharpest memoirists of the Civil War, he is best remembered for his close service with James Longstreet and for the vivid recollections he later set down in print.
1 Audiobook
Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer
by G. Moxley (Gilbert Moxley) Sorrel
About the author
Born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1838, Gilbert Moxley Sorrel began the Civil War as a private in the Georgia Hussars and soon joined the staff of James Longstreet. He rose through the Confederate ranks as aide-de-camp and chief of staff, serving in many major campaigns in the Eastern Theater before eventually receiving promotion to brigadier general.
After the war, Sorrel returned to business life in Savannah, but his lasting literary reputation comes from Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer. The book is valued by many readers for its clear, lively portrait of Civil War leadership and camp life, especially its firsthand view of Longstreet and the Army of Northern Virginia.
He died in 1901, but his memoir has kept his name alive as both a participant in the war and a memorable narrator of it. For listeners interested in personal accounts of the conflict, his writing offers a direct and observant voice from inside the Confederate high command.