About The Passing of the Armies:

 While the vast majority of Civil War memoirs read like a dry military report, Chamberlain’s prose captures the erratic pulse of combat, and the sudden ebb and flow of events. Chamberlain’s creative use of present tense places the reader in the ranks, making him feel like a participant rather than a passive observer who is casually listening to war stories around a cozy fire.

The violence and chaos of war is palpable on every page. Among the most compelling sections is Chamberlain’s account of the Union attack at White Oak Road on March 31, 1865, which also conveys the role of contingency in historical events. Chamberlain presses the reader to understand that the sheer determination of individuals, rather than luck or impersonal forces, decided the battle’s outcome. He was responding to Lost Cause claims that Southern defeat was the inevitable result of superior Northern resources and manpower.  (From History.net)