Before the Storm: West Point and the Civil War (Annotated)

One of the most wonderful collections of memories of the West Point graduates who served with and against each other in the American Civil War. Written by one of their own, (Morris Schaff, Class of 1858), this book contains some of the best anecdotes you'll ever read about the famous men with whom Schaff served. Here is Grant, Lee, Sedgwick, Thomas, Custer, Cushing, and so many others. George Armstrong Custer appears frequently, as he was a joyous, well-liked cadet at West Point and a distinguished general in the war. This book is unique in revealing the character of so many without attempting an extensive history of the war. The book contains anecdotes of the war as well as Schaff's time at West Point. Especially poignant are his stories of the disintegration of the band of cadets as war approached and their sorrowful farewells to one another as they chose sides. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever.