General Richard Stoddert Ewell holds a unique place in the history of the Army of Northern Virginia. For four months, Ewell was Stonewall Jackson's most trusted subordinate. Together they battled Union armies in the Shenandoah Valley, at Richmond, and in northern Virginia. When Jackson died in 1863, Ewell took over the Second Corps and led it with mixed success at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House.

His failure to capture Cemetery Hill on the first day's fighting at Gettysburg is frequently cited as a turning point in that pivotal battle.

In this biography, Donald Pfanz presents a detailed portrait of the man sometimes referred to as Stonewall Jackson's right arm. Drawing on a rich array of previously untapped source materials, including more than two hundred letters written by Ewell himself, Pfanz concludes that Ewell was a highly competent general, whose successes on the battlefield far outweighed his failures.

Pfanz thoroughly examines Ewell's life before and after the Civil War. He recounts Ewell's years at West Point, his service in the Mexican War, his experiences as a dragoon officer in Arizona and New Mexico, and his postwar career as a planter in Mississippi and Tennessee.