One of the great fighting brigades of the Army of Northern Virginia was Law's Alabama Brigade, consisting of the 4th, 15th, 44th, 47th and 48th Alabama Infantry Regiments. The 4th Alabama of the brigade saw its initial combat at First Manassas. Regiments of the brigade fought throughout 1862, and the brigade attained its final organization in January 1863. At Gettysburg Law's Brigade had the distinction of marching 25 miles on the morning and afternoon of July 2 1863, and nearly wrested Little Round Top from its Union defenders. When the brigade surrendered at Appoma-tox, it numbered less than 1,000 men. Regiments from the brigade fought beneath their banners at battles from First Manassas to Appomatox, including Gettysburg and Chickamauga.

Histories of Confederate brigades are relatively rare. This book joins the ranks of these rare histories as a well writ-ten, exhaustively researched, and meticulously detailed study of one of the Confederacy's steadiest, most reliable bri-gades. The book is unbiased and offers frank and honest appraisals of the brigade's enlisted men, leadership and ac-complishments. Although both Lane and Penny are native Southerners, Law's Brigade is free of the hyperbole that characterizes many histories written by southern partisans. Clearly drawn maps accompany the narrative for both bat-tles and campaigns. Only when the orientation of the maps for the Wilderness changed were the maps confusing. In all other cases, the maps compliment the discussions of the brigade's movements. When describing the brigade's roles in engagements, the maneuvers of each regiment and contribution of each leader are highlighted, and the actions of their opponents are concisely and accurately detailed. The effects of terrain and weather are made obvious. When discussing the roles of these five regiments in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia and Tennessee, they are clearly placed within the context of the armies' strategy and movements. The leadership of the brigade at company and field officer level is particularly well developed. The confusing controversy between Law, Longstreet and Jenkins is unraveled, and the impact of this dissension upon the brigade is analyzed.

The authors' verbiage is appropriately chosen, and it was a pleasure to read the approximately 350 pages of text. Only one paragraph (at the top of page 167) was poorly prepared. Comprehensive notes are provided as documentation for the authors' statements, and they verify the amount of archival research that went into the preparation of this book. One minor complaint is that the publisher chose to utilize endnotes rather than footnotes, ensuring that the reader will be constantly flipping through the pages. Inclusion of a complete set of appendices, a full bibliography, and an accurate index serve to enhance the contributions of this valuable history to our understanding of the Southern fighting man and his regimental and brigade organizations.

Members of Law's Alabama Brigade became prominent political, business, and educational leaders of Alabama in the postbellum years. After perusing this fine account of their wartime experiences, the reader will well understand how the mettle of these great men was formulated through four years of danger, controversy, toil and fire.