Generals ...

“All along, the problem with the army had been the generals.  It’s sometimes difficult to remember them all.  McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, McDowell, Smith, even Meade – and dozens more with lesser responsibility – all had shied away when confronted with the test of fire.  As a result, tens of thousands died needlessly.”

- If not necessarily the main thrust of the historical novel, at least the the underlying spirit of Grant’s War by Ted Jones.  (Quote from page 284 of my hardcover edition.)