There is a glimpse of Lee's family relationships — his wife, "that troubled woman," and his wounded son.
The various personality conflicts of Lee's staff come through in this chapter. Early despises Longstreet and vice versa. Ewell is nervous and defers to Early. And none have the leadership skills of the legendary Jackson, whose loss continues to be felt as this battle progresses. His ghost haunts them.
The Lee/Longstreet strategy conflict comes up here. In a way, though Shaara is portraying Lee as obsessed with attacking, Longstreet is the dogmatic one. Longstreet has one strategy — take the defense. Lee continues to be confronted with problems, plans gone awry, commanders who don't fulfill missions, and he just keeps rolling with it. Lee takes what's there, not what he wishes for, and works with it. He rethinks it, makes new plans, looks for the new opportunity, and never loses faith. Lee is aware this battle may affect the outcome of the war. Longstreet shows no such creativity or flexibility.
Shaara's descriptive skills continue to be powerful: "Ewell had the look of a great-beaked hopping bird . . . his voice piped and squeaked like cracking eggshells . . . Ewell . . . was like a huge parrot, chortling." These words convey the image of an insecure commander more effectively than if Shaara just tells us that.
