Lee,
You couldn't be more correct on your "review" of Porter Alexander's writings. It is by far the best first person account of the war I have ever read. Alexander's young age during the war makes for a vivid memory of the details of his experiences. My favorite story was the one he told of a Southern soldier picking up an abondoned Federal raincoat left behind by some fleeing skirmishers during Jackson's march to the Federal right at Chancellorsville. When Jackson inquired as to the source of the coat and it was revealed, he ordered the man to be put "under close arrest for plundering a battlefield". Alexander's work is a must read.

Keith