Commonly portrayed in Civil War literature as a bungling general who disgraced himself at Fort Donelson, Gideon Johnson Pillow (1806-78) is one of the most controversial military figures of nineteenth-century America. In this first full-length biography, Nathaniel Hughes and Roy Stonesifer take a fresh look at Pillow, calling attention to his prominent role in many of the major conflicts of his day. Pillow was one of Tennessee's wealthiest planters, a law partner of James K. Polk, and an influential broker in national politics. Having been rewarded with a generalship in the Mexican War,...