Mr. Allport,

I have always had the rule of thumb not to use anything that Shelby Foote says or has written as a source. I would discourage students from doing so too. Mr. Foote was a trained novelist and not a trained historian. He told a great tale but I challenge you to find a single footnote in any work he published. Flip the pages to the back and look at the "bibliography." It usually is mighty, mighty short for the works he wrote. I ejected the several books of his off of my library shelves of 300 + books a number of years ago.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)
M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration
Research - Preservation
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html
Athens, Tennessee