General Robert E. Rodes

[davidh26]

I would like to hear anything about this division commander of Lee's Army. I think he was one of the best division commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia, and would like to learn more about him. Any opinions of his performance on the battlefield?

 

[AUG]

A good bio is Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia by Darrell Collins.

As a division commander, his best performances were at Chancellorsville (played a major role throughout the battle, including Jackson's flanking maneuver) and the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania (organizing counterattacks to halt the Federal breakthrough). His performance at Gettysburg on July 1 was mediocre but, from what I remember, he did rather well just about everywhere else.

He was also instrumental in organizing some of the first sharpshooter battalions in the ANV, first in his brigade and later his division.

 

[davidh26]

A good bio is Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia by Darrell Collins.

As a division commander, his best performances were at Chancellorsville (played a major role throughout the battle, including Jackson's flanking maneuver) and the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania (organizing counterattacks to halt the Federal breakthrough). His performance at Gettysburg on July 1 was mediocre but, from what I remember, he did rather well just about everywhere else.

He was also instrumental in organizing some of the first sharpshooter battalions in the ANV, first in his brigade and later his division.

Thanks! I've read "Warrior In Gray" by James Swisher, but I will certainly read the book you suggested. Too bad his wife burned all his letters.

 

[luinrina]

Too bad his wife burned all his letters.

Do you know why she did that? I haven't read much about Rodes just yet, but that got me curious why she would burn her husband's letters.

 

[davidh26]

Do you know why she did that? I haven't read much about Rodes just yet, but that got me curious why she would burn her husband's letters.

I'm not exactly sure, I tried looking it up, and some people in this community think it's because he was critical of other officers. I don't think that is the case.

 

[rpkennedy]

Do you know why she did that? I haven't read much about Rodes just yet, but that got me curious why she would burn her husband's letters.

That was actually fairly common. Many widows destroyed the correspondence from their husbands which is a shame for historians but understandable, especially with papers of a personal nature.

Ryan

 

[rpkennedy]

Robert Rodes was ill at Gettysburg, which may explain his rather lackadaisical performance in Pennsylvania. As a division commander, he did rather well everywhere else.

Ryan

 

[TomV71]

I believe he also did a decent job as a brigade commander. Sunken Road at Antietam among other places.
Didnt he also perform well under the circumstances in the Valley Campaigns in '64?

 

[Jimklag]

I would like to hear anything about this division commander of Lee's Army. I think he was one of the best division commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia, and would like to learn more about him. Any opinions of his performance on the battlefield?

Freeman does him justice in Lee's Lieutenants. I also think he was one of the best division commanders in the ANV until he was killed at 3rd Winchester.

 

[Ole Miss]

Rodes was competent and fairly bland. In an army of famous personalities he was often overlooked by the press and public but Lee knew his value and used him accordingly.
Regards
David

 

[TomV71]

Do you know why she did that? I haven't read much about Rodes just yet, but that got me curious why she would burn her husband's letters.

I'm not exactly sure, I tried looking it up, and some people in this community think it's because he was critical of other officers. I don't think that is the case.

The answer can be as simple as the fact that he was dead, and his wife did not want to preserve anything that can be used in a negative light without him able to defend himself and of course the matter that those where personal papers and not official reports.
So maybe Rodes wife had a bit more honor if thats the right term, that certain widows of other Generals.
Aka, she burned them out of respect for him.

 

[RobtRodes]

Do you know why she did that? I haven't read much about Rodes just yet, but that got me curious why she would burn her husband's letters.

According to the late Robert Rodes III, their grandson (my grandfather), she went through them carefully, and felt that they contained information that ought to remain private to the family. What that information was she would not say.

 

[RobtRodes]

Rodes was competent and fairly bland. In an army of famous personalities he was often overlooked by the press and public but Lee knew his value and used him accordingly.
Regards
David

I would say that he certainly wasn't at all interested in self-promotion. (For example, we spell his middle name with one t: "Emmet." VMI and his gravestone have it with one t, and so do all his descendants, including me. I suspect that the army got his name wrong with two t's, and he didn't feel the need to go to the trouble of correcting them.) I would say also that his history suffers from the fact that he was killed during the war, and was thus unable to contribute to it afterwards, unlike some of the more historically colorful generals.

 

[RobtRodes]

I believe he also did a decent job as a brigade commander. Sunken Road at Antietam among other places.
Didnt he also perform well under the circumstances in the Valley Campaigns in '64?

He particularly distinguished himself at Chancellorsville, where he won his promotion to Major General.

 

[RobtRodes]

A good bio is Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia by Darrell Collins.

As a division commander, his best performances were at Chancellorsville (played a major role throughout the battle, including Jackson's flanking maneuver) and the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania (organizing counterattacks to halt the Federal breakthrough). His performance at Gettysburg on July 1 was mediocre but, from what I remember, he did rather well just about everywhere else.

He was also instrumental in organizing some of the first sharpshooter battalions in the ANV, first in his brigade and later his division.

I like this bio very much; Darrell Collins certainly did his homework. He and my sister, our de facto family archivist, corresponded fairly frequently while he was writing it, primarily for some of the photos in the book.

 

[Robin Lesjovitch]

Robert Rodes was ill at Gettysburg, which may explain his rather lackadaisical performance in Pennsylvania. As a division commander, he did rather well everywhere else.

Ryan

There is a story that I might not reject entirely as to Rodes in PA.
Rodes and some other officers in his division may have experienced some "ale" in Carlisle (on the evening of June 29-30) that maybe was not medically sound. The issue was not overindulgence.
Just being "intoxicated" on the 30th would not explain that Rodes was ill for several days. He and his division stumbled through July 1
and his failure to get his division into the fight on 2 July was probably decisive as to the outcome of the battle.
I'm somewhat willing to believe Rodes had some bad luck at Carlisle....his performance in the Campaign was solid until then

 

[James N.]

Rodes is depicted in at least these two paintings by Don Troiani: above, he appears at Lee's left shoulder, next to his division commander Daniel Harvey Hill at Antietam; below he shows to better advantage with drawn sword at left as he awaits Jackson's order to advance at Chancellorsville.

 

[James N.]

Marker on the trail on the battlefield of Third Winchester in the general area where Rodes received his mortal wound.