Shelby Foote, the writer famed for his writings about the Civil War who became even more of a celebrity when he appeared in Ken Burns‘ PBS documentary about the war, has died of undisclosed causes in Memphis, Tennessee at age 88. As an Associated Press obituary by Woody Baird notes, Foote had published five novels when, in 1954, “Random House asked him to write a single-volume history of the Civil War. He took the job, but it grew into a three-volume project finally finished in 1974.” The result, The Civil War: A Narrative, was hugely successful, making Foote’s fame as a historian with the techniques of a novelist. Explains fellow historian James M. McPherson, “He had a gift for presenting vivid portraits of personalities, from privates in the ranks to generals and politicians. And he had a gift for character, for the apt quotation, for the dramatic event, for the story behind the story.” Subsequently appearing in Burns’ famed documentary, “Foote became an immediate hit with his encyclopedic knowledge of the war, soft Southern accent and easy manner,” writes Baird. “With his gray beard and gentlemanly carriage, he seemed to have stepped straight out of a Mathew Brady photograph.” Foote was also a throwback in the way he wrote: with an “old-fashioned dipped pen.” Reports Baird, “Foote said writing by hand helped him slow down to a manageable pace and was more personal than using a typewriter.”

• MORE: A Reuters obituary notes that Foote once said of his father, who died when he was just 5, that “(He) never had any intentions of doing anything with his life, so far as I know, until he married my mother and lost all of his money.”

• MORE: A New York Times obituary by Douglas Martin (and including material from the late Walter Goodman) notes the criticism of Foote’s work: “Critics suggested that Mr. Foote played down the economic, intellectual and political causes of the Civil War. Some said that Mr. Foote may have played down slavery so that Southern soldiers would seem worthy heroes in the epic battles he so stirringly chronicled.” The Times also details Foote’s 60-year friendship with novelist Walker Percy.