John A. Walsh

As if July 2nd, 1863, wasn't bloody enough - July 3rd was about to cement Gettysburg's place in World History's top 10 most significant battles of all time. James Longstreet had seen the writing on the wall from the start; as events played out through July 1st & 2nd, and the Union forces strengthened their position, Lee's Old Warhorse's prescience was being validated.
Regardless, General Lee had made his decision. Longstreet, the obedient career soldier that he was, respectfully (albeit under protest) set out to executing Lee's battle plan. The course of destiny was now set for July 3rd, and Confederate offensive of that day - commonly known thereafter as "Pickett's Charge" - would stain Longstreet's reputation for a century. All in the name of following orders.
While not facing the scorn from the South that Longstreet endured for the rest of his life, Robert E. Lee was stripped of his US citizenship, which was not restored until 1975. The resolution to reinstate Lee was signed by President Gerald Ford, 105 years after Lee's death.
"The Good Soldiers" is intentionally hard-scrabble, dark, and terse.  Longstreet is loathe to wield this sword, but it must be done. Michael Lipton's Crazy Horse inspired guitars wonderfully paint a picture of the controlled chaos of mobilizing 12,500 men on foot and horseback into position. Lipton shines on this tune. At the end of the song, the listener can easily imagine this horde of Confederate soldiers driving into the maw of the leviathan that awaited them on the ungodly long field between Spangler's Woods and the Copse of Trees on Cemetery Ridge.  
It is truly spine-tingling musical imagery.