Review: Grant At Vicksburg

Grant At Vicksburg: The General and the Siege

By Michael B. Ballard

Many scholars believe the twin victories of the Union Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 3rd and Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4th, 1863 was the turning point of the American Civil War; driving back the northern advance of the Confederate Army and severing the Confederacy in two.  Shelves of books have been written about the dramatic three day battle at Gettysburg, while the number of books written about the 47 day Siege of Vicksburg pales by comparison.

Michael B. Ballard’s tome, “Grant At Vicksburg: The General and the Siege,” adds one more volume to the slowly growing shelf of books dedicated to the study of the siege of Vicksburg and Ulysses S. Grant’s role in it.  Mr. Ballard is an associate editor in the U. S. Grant Presidential Library and University Archivist at Mississippi State University. He has written or edited eleven books, including Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles, Vicksburg: The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, and U. S. Grant: The Making of a General, 1861-1863.

“Grant at Vicksburg” quickly dispenses with the necessary details of Grant’s military career, and briefly describes the Vicksburg campaign prior to establishing the siege of the city, including the two failed assaults to capture the citadel on the Mississippi River.  The remainder of the book is dedicated solely to Grant’s role in the conduct of the siege.  Ballard dissects the details of Grant’s decisions in troop placement, his relationship with other officers (most notably with his rival, John McClernand, and his partnership with William T. Sherman), while also paying close attention to Grant’s strategies and tactics, as well as Grant’s caution when dealing with the threat Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s troops to the rear of his army.

A fair amount of time is spent by the author disproving and dispensing with the rumor reported by Sylvanus Cadwallader of Grant’s drinking during a trip to Satartia, Mississippi, which has been too often been repeated by many historians who have not challenged Cadwallader’s version of the story.

Battle histories often deal only with the facts of the particular military operation they are covering, rarely do they tackle social issues, but Ballard surprises was a frank discussion of racism in Grant’s army, and its impact on the lives of both freed and enslaved black people in the Vicksburg area.

The book concludes, as one might rightly assume, Vicksburg’s surrender on July 4th, 1863, and the retreat of Johnston’s Confederate army from Jackson, Mississippi, and its impact on Grants career.

Coming in at one inch in thickness Mr. Ballard has successfully written what one history teacher of mine would call a “skirt length” treatment of the Grant’s actions during the siege of Vicksburg, “long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep it interesting.”

ISBN 978-0809332403, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 232 pages, Maps, Photographs, End Notes, Bibliographic Notes & Index. $32.95.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Battle of Stones River

Battle of Stones River:

The Forgotten Conflict Between

the Confederate Army of Tennessee

and the Union Army of the Cumberland

By Larry J. Daniel

The three day battle between the Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major General William S. Rosecrans, and the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee between December 31, 1862 & January 2, 1863 was largely overshadowed by Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on New Year’s Day, 1863.  Though the casualty figures equaled those at Shiloh in Western Tennessee nearly ten months earlier, it has since been largely overlooked and all but forgotten.

Larry J. Daniel, the author or coauthor of six books on the American Civil War, including Days of Glory: The Army of the Cumberland, 1861-1865 and Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War, has resurrected The Battle of Stones River from the shadows of the distant and murky past, and rightfully restored it to its place in the narrative of the American Civil War.

With only approximately 15% of the battlefield currently preserved within the boundaries of Stones River National Battlefield, nearly no monumentation, and large scale development encroaching over the ground on which the battle was fought, it is difficult to grasp the events that unfolded there during those three savage and bloody days when visiting the battlefield.  Matt and Lee Spruill’s guidebook, “Winter Lightning: A Guide to the Battle of Stones River,” can help guide you around Murfreesboro and the battlefield, and the military action that took place there, but it lacks a cohesive narrative that Daniel’s “Battle of Stones River: The Forgotten Conflict between the Confederate Army of the Tennessee and the Union Army of the Cumberland” possesses.

Drawing comparisons of the battle’s commanding generals, Rosecrans and Bragg, Daniel states they both made errors.  Both essentially had the same battle plan, to attack the other’s right wing. Bragg struck first and placed Rosecrans on the defensive.  While contrasting their leadership styles, he points out Rosecrans was personable and liked by the Union soldiers he commanded, whereas the cesspool of contempt against Bragg by the officers who served under him contributed to the dysfunction of the Confederate command structure and ultimately the loss of the battle.

Given Burnside’s bloody defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia and Sherman’s loss at Chickasaw Bayou, the tactical draw at Murfreesboro was turned into a strategic victory for the North once Bragg and his troops retreat from the field giving the Union and its cause a boost to its morale.

“Battle of Stones River” is written in an easily read linear narrative.  Daniel’s book is well researched and more than a handful of scholars who study the battle contributed to the book, including Gib Buckland, Jim Lewis and John George, staff members at the Stones River National Battlefield, Lanny K. Smith, author of a two volume micro-study of the battle, and Dan Masters, the latter of which scoured dozens of Illinois and Ohio newspapers for soldier’s letters of the battle.  Daniel’s only flaw is that he leans a little too heavily on Master’s research and thus his narrative tilts more favorably in coverage to the Union.

ISBN 978-0807145166, Louisiana State University Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 336 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, Appendices, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $38.50.  To purchase this book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Loathing Lincoln

Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present

By John McKee Barr

While most Americans count Abraham Lincoln among the most beloved and admired former presidents, a dedicated minority has long viewed him not only as the worst president in the country's history, but also as a criminal who defied the Constitution and advanced federal power and the idea of racial equality. In Loathing Lincoln, historian John McKee Barr surveys the broad array of criticisms about Abraham Lincoln that emerged when he stepped onto the national stage, expanded during the Civil War, and continued to evolve after his death and into the present.

The first panoramic study of Lincoln's critics, Barr's work offers an analysis of Lincoln in historical memory and an examination of how his critics -- on both the right and left -- have frequently reflected the anxiety and discontent Americans felt about their lives. From northern abolitionists troubled by the slow pace of emancipation, to Confederates who condemned him as a "black Republican" and despot, to Americans who blamed him for the civil rights movement, to, more recently, libertarians who accuse him of trampling the Constitution and creating the modern welfare state, Lincoln's detractors have always been a vocal minority, but not one without influence.

By meticulously exploring the most significant arguments against Lincoln, Barr traces the rise of the president's most strident critics and links most of them to a distinct right-wing or neo-Confederate political agenda. According to Barr, their hostility to a more egalitarian America and opposition to any use of federal power to bring about such goals led them to portray Lincoln as an imperialistic president who grossly overstepped the bounds of his office. In contrast, liberals criticized him for not doing enough to bring about emancipation or ensure lasting racial equality. Lincoln's conservative and libertarian foes, however, constituted the vast majority of his detractors. More recently, Lincoln's most vociferous critics have adamantly opposed Barack Obama and his policies, many of them referencing Lincoln in their attacks on the current president. In examining these individuals and groups, Barr's study provides a deeper understanding of American political life and the nation itself.

About the Author: John McKee Barr is professor of history at Lone Star College Kingwood.

ISBN 978-0807153833, Louisiana State University Press, © 2014, Hardcover, 480 pages, Endnotes, Bibliography & Index. $35.95.  To purchase this book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Incident at the Ottersville Station

Incident at the Otterville Station:

A Civil War Story of Slavery and Rescue

by John Christgau

While elated Northerners were celebrating victory at Gettysburg and toasting Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator, Missourian Charles W. Walker was rousing his thirteen slaves in the dark of night. In defiance of a standing Union order prohibiting the transfer of slaves among states, he intended to ship his slaves by train to Kentucky, where they would be sold at auction. What ensued was one of the most gripping—and until now, mostly forgotten—events of the Civil War.

In Incident at the Otterville Station, John Christgau relates the true story of the rescue of Walker’s thirteen slaves by soldiers of the Ninth Minnesota Regiment and the soldiers’ subsequent arrest for mutiny. The controversial incident became national news, with President Lincoln ultimately sending Secretary of War Edward Stanton to investigate. Christgau’s compelling narrative of the Otterville Station rescue and its aftermath illustrates the complex process of emancipation during the American Civil War, particularly in border states such as Missouri. The end of slavery was the product of many actors, from Union soldiers to the president and Congress to abolitionists and the enslaved themselves. This detailed account examines the critical role that individuals played in determining the outcome of emancipation and the war.

ISBN 978-0803246447, University of Nebraska Press, © 2013, Paperback, 168 Pages, and End Notes. $16.95.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Review: Lincoln and McClellan at War

Lincoln and McClellan at War

By Chester G. Hearn

The relationship between Abraham Lincoln and George B. McClellan was difficult at its best, and complicated by political and military needs and wants.  It was a relationship strained by differing strategies, mistrust, and egotism.  It is a relationship that has been examined and studied many times over, but a subject that never gets old.  And thus Chester G. Hearn has added his tome, “Lincoln and McClellan at War” to the ever growing library.

An 1846 graduate of Military Academy at West Point, and having won a couple of minor battles early in the war, McClellan was elevated to the command of The Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Federal defeat at Bull Run, and later to the post of General-in-Chief of the entire Federal Army, replacing the aging and infirm Winfield Scott. McClellan created an army from nearly nothing, oversaw its training, supplied and fed it.  Mr. Hearn’s thesis:  having built the greatest army in the world McClellan did not want to use it to fight offensively, but rather preferred defensive fighting.  This can be summed up in a quote from Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, “To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.”  In short McClellan was not willing to risk an offensive strategy and order the death of the army that he was largely responsible for creating.  On the other hand Lincoln, who schooled himself in the art of military science, preferred an offensive instead of a defensive strategy.  Hearn points out that ultimately their differences in how best to prosecute the war is what eventually led to McClellan’s dismissal.

I am not a McClellan apologist, but I do feel that Mr. Hearn frequent usage the moniker “Little Mac” demonstrates a slight bias against McClellan.  I can’t blame him for that, in a contest between Lincoln and McClellan you would be hard pressed to find anyone without a bias against McClellan, and McClellan certainly gave his enemies plenty of ammunition to use against him.

Exhaustively researched, and expertly written, “Lincoln and McClellan at War” spans the length, depth and breadth of the relationship between these two towering personalities in American history and is an excellent primer on the Lincoln-McClellan relationship.

ISBN 978-0807145524, Louisiana State University Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 280 pages, Maps,  End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $45.00.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Chattanooga Campaign

The Chattanooga Campaign

Edited by Steven E. Woodworth & Charles D. Grear

Sometimes an event is so complex that a single narrative explaining what happed or a single viewpoint from which to view the event is not the best way to tell its story.  The Chattanooga Campaign and the battles which it encapsules, is just that kind of event.

Following its defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863 the Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major General William S. Rosecrans, retreated northward to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Shortly thereafter Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee besieged the vital rail-hub that was considered to be the gateway to the South.  When Ulysses S. Grant relieved Rosecrans and assumed command of the Army of the Cumberland he determined to break the siege and open the way to Atlanta.

“The Chattanooga Campaign,” edited by Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear, tells the complicated story of the campaign and its simultaneous, but separate, battles on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The story of the campaign is told in ten chapters:

• A Perfect Storm of Ineffectiveness: The Corps and the Loss of Lookout Mountain, by Alex Mendoza.
• “Lookout Mountain Frowned Down Upon Us”: The Union Army and the Struggle for Lookout Valley, by Stewart Bennett.
• “The Very Ground Seemed Alive”: Sherman’s Assault on the North End of Missionary Ridge, by Steven E. Woodworth.
• Baptizing the Hills and Valleys: Cleburne’s Defense of Tunnel Hill, by John R. Lundberg.
• What Happened on Orchard Knob?: Ordering the Attack on Missionary Ridge, by Brooks Simpson.
• This Grand and Imposing Array of Brave Men: The Capture of Rossville Gap and the Defeat of the Confederate Left by Sam Davis Elliott.
• Saving the Army of the Tennessee: The Confederate Rear Guard at Ringgold Gap, by Justin S. Solonick.
• From the Chickamauga with “Old Rosy” to Missionary Ridge with Grant: The Fall 1863 Struggle for Chattanooga and the Press, by Ethan S. Rafuse.
• “What I am Doing I do not Consider Desertion”: Trans-Mississippian Reactions to Chickamauga and Chattanooga, by Charles D. Grear.
• A Chattanooga Plan: The Gateway City’s Critical Role in Civil War Battlefield Preservaiton, by Timothy Smith.

Two of the best chapters in the book are “What Happened on Orchard Knob” by Brooks Simpson which gives a very detailed explanation of who did, or rather who did not, order the charge on Missionary Ridge.  And second, “What I am doing I do not Consider Desertion,” by the books co-editer, Charles D. Grear, which discusses the emotional toll, and consequences, of the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga on the Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi theater of war.

With its ten chapters written by ten authors “The Chattanooga Campaign,” complete with maps and photographs, at once gives you a breakdown of the various stages and battles of the campaign, and the differing perspectives and approaches made by its authors gives its reader a more comprehensive, 360° view of it, and to a smaller degree the war in the West.

ISBN 978-0809331192, The Southern Illinois University Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 256 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, Notes & Index. $29.95.  To Purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Civil War Generals

The Civil War Generals:

Comrades, Peers, Rivals-In Their Own Words

By Robert I. Girardi

Do you ever wonder what your friends, peers, rivals or your sworn enemies think about you?  It is not an uncommon question of curiosity.  Sometimes it can take years or even decades to find out such information.  More often than not we go to our graves not knowing what many people thought of us.

Through contemporary newspaper articles, post-war memoirs and journal articles many generals who survived the fiery trial of the American Civil War discovered how great or poor their reputations were, but these public writings are only the tip of the humility iceberg.  Most would die before collections of correspondence and diaries would be published with the whole unvarnished truth of what their friends and enemies said about them.

Do you think Major Daniel E. Sickles would care if he learned that Alpheus Williams said that he was “a hero without an heroic deed?”  How would Confederate General John Bell Hood have done if he had known that Union Major General William T. Sherman thought “he is reckless of the lives of his men?”  Would Major General George B. McClellan’s head swell with pride if he learned that George Armstrong Custer said he “would forsake everything and follow him to ends of the earth?”

Nearly one hundred and fifty years have passed since the guns fell silent over the battlefields of the Civil War.  Both academically trained and amateur historians are still sifting through the voluminous detritus of the war in archives and libraries all across the country to reconstitute and reshape our historical past.

Historian, Robert I. Girardi, earned his Masters of Arts degree in Public History at Loyola University of Chicago in 1991, and has authored or edited ten books.  His latest work, “The Civil War Generals: Comrades, Peers, Rivals in their own Words,” has given the idea of a biographical dictionary of Civil War era personalities a little bit of a twist.  Each entry includes a photograph of its subject, when available, his rank, year when graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point (if applicable), prior military experience (i.e. Mexican War Veteran), and commands held. The remainder of each entry provides quotes of what other notable historical figures of the era had to say about the subject.  Each quote is sourced, with its author, work and page number.

Though “The Civil War Generals” has chapter an opening chapter with quotes “On Generalship,” a chapter of “Composite Quotes,” and three appendices of Maps, The Contributors, and The Battles, the bulk of the book is devoted to the Generals of the North and South.  With 167 pages devoted to the Union generals and 66 to the generals of the Confederacy, there is a bit of a disparity.  Considering more memoirs, collections of correspondence and diaries were published from the War’s participants who were clad in blue rather than those who wore the gray, and coupled with the fact The North had more man-power and therefore more generals that The South, that disparity can easily be explained.

“The Civil War Generals” is a fantastic addition to the libraries of Civil War scholars and casual readers alike.  It offers an easy, one-volume, cross reference guide of the reputations, warts and all, of the generals who waged war with and against each other from 1861 to 1865.

ISBN 978-0760345160, Zenith Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 304 pages, Maps, Photographs, Appendices, Bibliography & Index. $28.00.  To Purchase this book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Confederate General William Dorsey Pender

Confederate General William Dorsey Pender:The Hope of Glory

by  Brian Steel Wills

During the Civil War, North Carolinian William Dorsey Pender established himself as one of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s best young generals. He served in most of the significant engagements of the war in the eastern theater while under the command of Joseph E. Johnston at Seven Pines and Robert E. Lee from the Seven Days to Gettysburg. His most crucial contributions to Confederate success came at the battles of Second Manassas, Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. After an effective first day at Gettysburg, Pender was struck by a shell and disabled, necessitating his return to Virginia for what he hoped would be only an extended convalescence. Although Pender initially survived the wound, he died soon thereafter due to complications from his injury.

In this thorough biography of Pender, noted Civil War historian Brian Steel Wills examines both the young general’s military career and his domestic life. While Pender devoted himself to military service, he also embraced the Episcopal Church and was baptized before his command in the field. According to Wills, Pender had an insatiable quest for “glory” in both earthly and heavenly realms, and he delighted in his role as a husband and father. In Pender’s voluminous correspondence with his wife, Fanny, he shared his beliefs and offered views and opinions on a vast array of subjects. In the end, Wills suggests that Pender’s story captures both the idealistic promise and the despair of a war that cost the lives of many Americans and changed the nation forever.

About The Author:

Brian Steel Wills is the director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era and professor of history at Kennesaw State University. He is the author of numerous books about the Civil War, including George Henry Thomas: As True as Steel, The War Hits Home: The Civil War in Southeastern Virginia, and A Battle from the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

ISBN 978-0807152997, Louisiana State University Press, ©2013, Hardcover, 304 Pages, Photographs, Maps, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $39.95.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Jeb Stuart and the Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg

Jeb Stuart and the Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg

By Warren C. Robinson

“The Army was much embarrassed by the absence of the cavalry,” Robert E. Lee wrote of the Gettysburg campaign, stirring a controversy that continues even today. Lee’s statement was an indirect indictment of Gen. James Ewell Brown (“Jeb”) Stuart, who was the cavalry. This book reexamines the questions that have shadowed the legendary Confederate hero and offers a fresh, informed interpretation of his role at Gettysburg.

Avoiding the partisan pros and cons characterizing previous accounts, Warren C. Robinson reassesses the historical record to come to a clearer view of Stuart’s orders for the crucial battle (as well as what was expected of him), of his actual performance, and of the impact his late arrival had on the outcome of the campaign. Though Stuart may not have disobeyed Lee’s orders, Robinson argues, he did abuse the general’s discretion by raiding Washington rather than scouting for the army at Gettysburg—a move that profoundly affected Confederate fortunes and perhaps the war itself.

ISBN 978-0803248564, University of Nebraska Press, © 2007, Paperback, 216 Pages, Photographs & Illustrations, Maps End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $17.95.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Review: America’s Great Debate

America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That Preserved the Union

By Fergus M. Bordewich

Since its establishment by the Constitution in 1787 the Federal Government was dominated by the Southern States.  The steadily disproportionate population growth in the Northern States as opposed to their Southern sisters gradually chipped away at the Southern dominance in the United States House of Representatives.  By 1850 the Southerners were outnumbered in that institution.  With fifteen Free States in the North and fifteen Slave States in the South, through the guarantee of equal representation of each State in the United States Senate granted by the Constitution, the South still held power and sway in the Senate.

The discovery of gold in California and its application for statehood threatened to upset the delicate balance of power and give the Northern States the majority in both Houses in Congress for the first time in its history.  In his book, “America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union,” Fergus M. Bordewich, tackles the following ten month debate over California, Slavery and the Constitution in the Senate.

Mr. Bordewich’s narrative begins by setting the stage.  He points to “Manifest Destiny” as being the idea responsible for the Mexican War.  He further explains the possibility of the spread of slavery into that territory so recently acquired from Mexico, and how that territory would be formed in the new states fueled the fire of sectional discourse.  The discovery of gold in California and the resulting exponential increase of its population due to the gold rush only exacerbated the situation. The lack of any form of organized government made it imperative that something be done to establish government and order in California or she would quickly descend into anarchy.  If California came into the Union as a new state it was a virtual certainty that she would enter as a Free State and thus upset the balance of power between the Northern and Southern States in the Federal Government.  Sensing the impending diminishment of its political power, secession was openly discussed in the Southern States.

The vagueness of Texas’ unresloved western border complicated issues even further when she claimed the Rio Grande as her western border, laying claim to half of what would eventually become the state of New Mexico.  Texas, a slave state, was readying an army to invade the New Mexico Territory and assert her claim.

Henry Clay had an answer.  Despite his self imposed retirement Clay was once again elected to the Senate by the Kentucky Legislature.  “The Great Compromiser” would return to Washington in December with a plan that he hoped would resolve the issues and heal the ever widening chasm between the country’s Northern and Southern sections.  His plan would become known to history as The Compromise of 1850.  Thereby he appealed to Congress to:

• Form Territorial Governments in New Mexico and “Deseret” (later to become Utah) without regard to slavery.
• Set Texas’ western border, and if she released her claim to the New Mexico Territory the United States would pay off its sizable public debt.
• Abolish the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
• Toughen the Fugitive Slave Law.
• Forbid the passage of any law prohibiting or obstructing trade in slaves between the slaveholding states.

Mr. Bordewich’s narrative quickly summarizes the web of tangled issues, explains each of Clay’s proposals and demonstrates why each was necessary and relevant to the situation at hand.  Once Clay introduces his compromise the author closely follows the machinations of the debate, and the ever shifting political alliances in Congress.  Speech after speech is delivered on the floor of the Senate by the great orators of the day; Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, William H. Seward and Stephen Douglas. Mr. Bordewich does admirable job summarizing these lengthy speeches, both for and against, the compromise,

Much to Clay’s dismay when the Compromise finally reached the floor for a vote it was in the guise of an omnibus bill.  All of Clay’s proposals were packed into one single pill designed to cure the nation of all its various political illnesses.  It was too big a pill for Congress to swallow as a whole, and it fell to defeat.

After the demise of the Omnibus Bill, the torch passed from Henry Clay to Stephen A. Douglas, the Senator from Illinois, who worked tirelessly to pass each of Clay’s proposals as single, standalone pieces of legislation.  One by one, by various combinations of different factions within the congress pass each bill, each a pill designed to cure the particular ill for which it was designed.

Clay’s medications and Douglas’ doctoring did not cure, but only postponed the malignancy of the secession cancer that threatened to cause the death of their patient.  North was not ready for war, Bordewich points out, in 1850 and further states that had it broken out the South would have in all likelihood secured her independence, by doing so the precedence of secession would be established, and the resulting probability that other sections would follow the example.  Without the Compromise of 1850 a map of the North American continent would look vastly different than it does today.

“America’s Great Debate” is exhaustively researched well written.  It is a must read for anyone interested in the history of antebellum America.

ISBN 978-1439124604, Simon & Schuster, © 2012, Hardcover, 496 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $30.00.  To Purchase this book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Gettysburg, The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War

Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes

in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War

Iain C. Martin

An exciting and educational look at the greatest battle of the American Civil War for young adults!

In the summer of 1863, General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia advanced into Pennsylvania in a daring offensive to win the Civil War in a single campaign. They met the Union Army at a quiet crossroads town called Gettysburg, and engaged in the greatest battle ever fought on American soil. Three days of combat ended on July 3 with Pickett's Charge, a heroic assault by nine of Lee's brigades against the Union defenses on Cemetery Ridge. Their repulse at the stone wall became known as the "high-water mark" of the Confederacy. At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery that November, Lincoln used the occasion to deliver his Gettysburg Address, a short, two-minute speech that became the most famous in American history.

In this original retelling of the Gettysburg story, Iain C. Martin draws upon firsthand accounts—from the generals to the lowly privates and civilians caught in the epic struggle. Readers will discover history through the experiences of two Gettysburg teenagers—Matilda "Tillie" Pierce and Daniel Skelly. Featuring the artwork of Don Troiani, original photos, full-color maps, interesting tales, and trivia, Gettysburg gives young readers a fascinating look into this great turning point of American history—and just in time for the 150th anniversary of the epic battle.

About the Author

Iain C. Martin is a freelance writer and historian, with an MA in history from Southern Connecticut State University. He is author of numerous books, including The Greatest U.S. Marine Corps Stories Ever Told. This is his first book for young adults. 

ISBN 978-1620875322, Sky Pony Press, © 2013, Hardcover, Dimensions 10.5 x 8 x 1 inches, 208 pages, 12 Color Maps, 25 Illustrations, 90 Black & White Photographs, Glossary, Bibliography & Index. $16.95.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: The Politics of Faith During the Civil War

The Politics of Faith During the Civil War

By Timothy L. Wesley

In The Politics of Faith during the Civil War, Timothy L. Wesley examines the engagement of both northern and southern preachers in politics during the American Civil War, revealing an era of denominational, governmental, and public scrutiny of religious leaders. Controversial ministers risked ostracism within the local community, censure from church leaders, and arrests by provost marshals or local police. In contested areas of the Upper Confederacy and border Union, ministers occasionally faced deadly violence for what they said or would not say from their pulpits. Even silence on political issues did not guarantee a preacher s security, as both sides arrested clergymen who defied the dictates of civil and military authorities by refusing to declare their loyalty in sermons or to pray for the designated nation, army, or president.

The generation that fought the Civil War lived in arguably the most sacralized culture in the history of the United States. The participation of church members in the public arena meant that ministers wielded great authority. Wesley outlines the scope of that influence and considers, conversely, the feared outcomes of its abuse. By treating ministers as both individual men of conscience and leaders of religious communities, Wesley reveals that the reticence of otherwise loyal ministers to bring politics into the pulpit often grew not out of partisan concerns but out of doctrinal, historical, and local factors.

The Politics of Faith during the Civil War sheds new light on the political motivations of homefront clergymen during wartime, revealing how and why the Civil War stands as the nation s first concerted campaign to check the ministry s freedom of religious expression.

About the Author

Timothy L. Wesley teaches history at Pennsylvania State University, where he is a fellow with the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center. He and his wife Linda live in State College, Pennsylvania.

ISBN 978-0807150009, Louisiana State University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 320 pages, End Notes & Index. $45.00.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Civil War, The Third Year Told By Those Who Lived it

The Civil War:

The Third Year Told By Those Who Lived It

Edited by Brooks D. Simpson

“The Civil War: The Third Year Told By Those Who Lived It,” is the third volume in The Library of America’s four volume series of first person accounts of the American Civil War.  Spanning from January 20, 1863 to March 10, 1864 this volume covers the third year of the war.  Like its preceding volumes, its multiple viewpoints cover the war’s third year from nearly every conceivable angle: Union and Confederate; from the home front to the front lines; soldiers, civilians and politicians.

Editor Brooks D. Simpson has culled from thousands of newspaper articles, diaries and journals, letters, memoirs and official documents, collected the richest of these historical documents and presented them chronologically.  One hundred and fifty years after the guns fell silent, readers of this book know how the it all will end.  But those who lived through it did not, and that gives an immediacy to these documents, the lives of their authors and the war itself, that one does not often get from reading biographies, histories of the war, or about the battles themselves.

Reading through its Table of Contents is like reading a “Who Was Who” of notable Civil War personalities from 1863, from Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis to Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, George G. Meade and Robert E. Lee.  Official documents as well as private correspondence help to illuminate the war’s most tumultuous year.  Also included in this collection are many unfamiliar names, who wrote letters and diaries.  These entries, the war at home as well as the news from the front lines, give this collection a deeper, more intimate and personal meaning.

One of the highlights of this collection are items dealing with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, featured in the movie Glory, from its formation to the burning of Darien, Georgia and its defeat at Battery Wagner.  Of cource,1863 being the watershed year of the war, the Battle of Chancellorsville and the death of Stonewall Jackson also receive treatment, as well as the Gettysburg Campaign, The Vicksburg Campaign, and the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Mr. Simpson has prefaced each document with a short introductory paragraph, placing the document that follows in its proper historical context, and giving additional information wherever warranted.  The documents, however, speak for themselves, separately and collectively as a whole.

The Library of America’s “The Civil War: Told By Those Who Lived It” is an indispensible work not only for serious students of the Civil War, but also for those with a casual interest in the war as well.

ISBN 978-1598531978, Library of America, © 2013, Hardcover, 936 pages, Maps, Chronology, Biographical Notes, Note on the Texts, Notes & Index. $40.00.  To purchase this book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Allegany to Appomattox

Allegany to Appomattox:

The Life and Letters of Private William Whitlock

of the 188th New York Volunteers

By Valgene Dunham

On September 7, 1864, William Whitlock, aged thirty-five, left his wife and four children in Allegany, New York, to join the Union army in battle. More than 100 years later, his unpublished letters to his wife were found in the attic of a family home. These letters serve as the foundation for Allegany to Appomattox, giving readers a vivid glimpse into the environment and political atmosphere that surrounded the Civil War from the perspective of a northern farmer and lumberman.Ni

Whitlock's observations tell of exhausting marches, limited rations, and grueling combat. In plainspoken language, the letters also reveal a desperate homesickness, consistently expressing concern for the family's health and financial situation and requesting news from home. Dunham's detailed descriptions of the war's progress and specific battles provide a rich context for Whitlock's letters, orienting readers to both the broad narrative of the Civil War and the intimate chronicle of one soldier's impressions.

About the Author

Valgene Dunham is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. He is the author and coauthor of numerous books, chapters, and journal articles.

ISBN 978-0815610113, Syracuse University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 264 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, Footnotes, Appendices, References & Index. $29.95.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Civil War In Color

The Civil War in Color: A Photographic
Reenactment of the War Between the States

By John C Guntzelman

Colorizing photographs has been around nearly as long as photography itself.  In efforts to transcend the limits of their medium early photographers would often hand tint their photographs with a broad use of various artistic techniques and tools.  Some were more successful than others, but I think it’s fair to say, no improvement made then, to the black and white, gray, and sepia toned images, rendered anything close to the lifelike photographic quality that we of the 21st century are accustomed to today.  The vibrant colors of today’s real life keep the gray and sepia monochromatic toned photographs of one hundred and fifty years ago at a removed distance from their modern day viewers.

As an experienced cinematographer John C. Guntzelman has merged his knowledge of 21st century photographic technology and his passion for the American Civil War and created “The Civil War in Color: A Photographic Reenactment of the War Between the States,” a coffee table sized book of colorized images from the Civil War.

Having carefully colorized some of the most iconic images from America’s greatest conflict, Mr. Guntzelman has resurrected them from the dusty and murky past and gives them a reality and an immediacy that they have never had before.  The colorized photograph of Alexander Gardener’s February 5th, 1865 portrait of Abraham Lincoln (on page 24) looks as if he were sitting for the portrait today, and gives him a humanity that is somewhat removed from the original photograph.

Guntzelman’s colorizations are, however, somewhat hit-and-miss.  The blue uniforms in portraits of Union Generals in the front of the book, such as Ulysses S. Grant, William Sherman, Philip Sheridan seem to be too much of a vibrant blue.  Others of the colorized photographs, such as the group photographed with Union General Rufus Ingalls (page 132) have a nearly Technicolor look to them While other pictures such as Company E of the 4th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment (on pages 56 & 57) look like they could have been taken with a modern digital camera.  By and large, however, the application of color to these photographs is nothing less than stunning.

The pictures of the dead on the battlefield, for the most part, I feel are not enhanced much by the addition of color.  Though in their day they were frightening to those who viewed them, by today’s standards they are a bit sterile.  The grizzly, disfiguring, bloody, mortal wounds were often not photographed in detail.  When the dead were photographed it was often from a little bit of a distance.  Colorizing these photographs does lend an air of humanity to the dead, but with the exception of the picture of the Federal soldiers killed near McPherson’s Woods at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 (page 213) the gruesome and goriness of war is not palpable to today’s modern viewers.  This is not the fault of Mr. Guntzelman, but rather of the Civil War photographers and photographs themselves.

ISBN 978-1402790812, Sterling, © 2012, Hardcover, Dimensions 10.6 x 11.2 x 1.1 inches, 256 pages, Photographs, References, Picture Credits & Index. $35.00.  To Purchas the book click HERE.

Review: Robert Toombs by Mark Scroggins

Robert Toombs: The Civil Wars of a
United States Senator and Confederate General

By Mark Scroggins

Civil War scholarship often falls victim to the cult of celebrity; thousands of tomes have been written about Abraham Lincoln and hundreds about Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman, Stonewall Jackson and others of their like.  It’s understandable; it is what sells.  Books focusing on the less than stellar personalities of the antebellum and Civil War period are noticeably fewer.

Robert Toombs, ranks among those notables of the 19th century so often overlooked, that is until now.  Author Mark Scroggins has authored biography of the Confederacy’s first Secretary of State, and later Brigadier General.

Scroggins’ womb to tomb biography (pun intended) covers the width, depth and breadth of Robert Toombs life, the successes and the failures, beginning with his ancestry and ending at his death.  Scroggins literally follows Toombs life from Washington, Georgia to Washington D. C. and back.  Mr. Scroggins’ book details the quick rise of the sarcastic and egotistical Georgia politician from state office to United States Congressman and Senator; from Whig to Democrat; from a Unionist of the 1840’s and 1850’s to one of the South’s most fiery Secessionist; from politics, as the Confederacy’s first Secretary of State, to the battlefield as one of the Confederate Army’s most unsuccessful Brigadier Generals; and finally to his final role as an unreconstructed rebel.

Often acerbic and sarcastic, Scroggins points out Toombs could also be charming and graceful, but demonstrates his ego and fiery demeanor often won him as many enemies as it did friends, and often prevented him from rising to the level of his personal ambitions.

Scroggins’ book is well researched, but reads like a history textbook, which weighs down the forward movement of his narration.  The text of the book is set in a small font and very compact with very little “white space” on the page, which in combination with the dryness of his narrative makes for tedious reading and leaves his reader with little sense of progress.  Had Scroggins’ book been set in font size found in most hardcover books I suspect his 242 page book would lean more towards a 450 to 500 page book.  A cover price of $35 seems a little excessive for a book of its physical size, but taken with the immense scope of its contents, it is an equal value to any other book covering a like subject.

ISBN 978-0786463633, McFarland, © 2011, Paperback, 242 pages, Photographs, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $35.00.  To purchase the book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: The Prairie Boys Go to War:

The Prairie Boys Go to War:

The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865

By Rhonda M. Kohl

Cavalry units from Midwestern states remain largely absent from Civil War literature, and what little has been written largely overlooks the individual men who served. The Fifth Illinois Cavalry has thus remained obscure despite participating in some of the most important campaigns in Arkansas and Mississippi. In this pioneering examination of that understudied regiment, Rhonda M. Kohl offers the only modern, comprehensive analysis of a southern Illinois regiment during the Civil War and combines well-documented military history with a cultural analysis of the men who served in the Fifth Illinois.

The regiment’s history unfolds around major events in the Western Theater from 1861 to September 1865, including campaigns at Helena, Vicksburg, Jackson, and Meridian, as well as numerous little-known skirmishes. Although they were led almost exclusively by Northern-born Republicans, the majority of the soldiers in the Fifth Illinois remained Democrats. As Kohl demonstrates, politics, economics, education, social values, and racism separated the line officers from the common soldiers, and the internal friction caused by these cultural disparities led to poor leadership, low morale, disciplinary problems, and rampant alcoholism.

The narrative pulls the Fifth Illinois out of historical oblivion, elucidating the highs and lows of the soldiers’ service as well as their changing attitudes toward war goals, religion, liberty, commanding generals, Copperheads, and alcoholism. By reconstructing the cultural context of Fifth Illinois soldiers, Prairie Boys Go to War reveals how social and economic traditions can shape the wartime experience.

About the Author

Rhonda M. Kohl is a historian and writer in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Civil War History, and Illinois Historical Journal.

ISBN 978-0809332038, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 328 pages, Photographs, Maps, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $39.95.  To purchase a copy of this book click HERE. Show more

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Review: The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine

The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine

By Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein

It is doubtful that my great-great-grandfather, Alonzo Luce, a member of the 19th Illinois Infantry, ever participated in a battle.  He spent nearly the entirety of his three year enlistment rotating into and out of regimental and general hospitals.  Among his numerous medical complaints were catarrh, intermittent and remittent fever, acute bronchitis, and finally acute and chronic diarrhea.  Reading through his medical records, I can’t help to wonder what Alonzo Luce’s Civil War experience must have been like.

To have an understanding of the daily life of a soldier, be he either Confederate or Federal, during the American Civil War, one must have a basic knowledge of the medical terms and practices of the time.  That is where Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein’s “The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine” comes in very handy.

Entries in Ms. Schroeder-Lein’s encyclopedia cover many the diseases to which Civil War soldiers commonly fell victim.  There are many other entries covering Civil War battles, notable people, medicines, medical practices, hospitals and accoutrements.  Pretty much any question regarding the who, what, where and how of Civil War medicine can be found between the covers of her book.

Entries range from a paragraph to several pages, and each article is followed by a bibliography, usually citing at least three sources, and a “See Also” section, pointing the reader to at least five other entries in the encyclopedia.  At 421 pages, it is not an in-depth reference on the topic of Civil War medicine, nor was it meant to be.  But Ms. Schroeder-Lein does give her reader a broader understanding of Civil War era medicine by which one gains a broader understanding of the war itself and the experience of its participants.

ISBN 978-0765621306, M E Sharpe Inc., © 2008, 1st Paperback Edition, 2012, 421 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, Chronology, Bibliography & Index. $34.95.  To purchase a copy of this book please click HERE.

Review: For Liberty

For Liberty:
My Ancestor’s Story of Immigration and the Civil War

By Larry B. Bramble

Larry Bramble in his book “For Liberty: My Ancestor’s Story of Immigration and the Civil War,” does what any good amateur genealogist, or family historian, should do.  He sets the lives of his ancestors in their proper context against the larger historical backdrop.  Unfortunately that is all that can be said about it.

Tracing the military history of his great-great-grandfather, Philip Lenderking, of the 5th Maryland Infantry, and his four brothers; Frederick, of the Fremont Body Guard and the 181st Ohio Infantry; Rudolph, of the 2nd Michigan Infantry; George of the 27th Michigan Infantry and Louis, of the 12th Maryland Infantry; as well as his great-great-grandfather Taugart Snyder of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

The compiled service records of each featured soldier, and the pension records of Frederick and Philip Lenderking, all from the National Archives, and seven reports from the “Official Records” are the only primary source material I was able to unearth in Mr. Bramble’s bibliography, though there are excerpts from letters mentioned in his text they are not noted in the bibliography.  Mr. Bramble also sighted in his bibliography one magazine article and seven printed works, two of which were the King James Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.  The rest, and indeed a very large percentage of his research, was done online using a wide variety of websites, some more credible than others.  I counted 102 citations to online sources with 28 of them being Wikipedia articles.

Mr. Bramble relates the experiences of his ancestors in a linear narrative, chronologically as they happened.  But with so few primary resources to rely upon, Mr. Bramble is left to give a thumbnail sketch of each battle his family members participated in, gleaned in large part from only secondary sources, with a few statistics thrown in.

Throughout the book are many photographs, illustrations and maps.  Many of the maps are hand-drawn and had to be so reduced in size for publication that many of them are illegible, and therefore are not at all useful in supplementing the text.

What Mr. Bramble has attempted to do is admirable.  It is important to be able to set the lives of your ancestors against the backdrop of the historical past, by doing so you get a much clearer understanding of who they were and where they fit into the larger historical picture.  But with such scant primary resources to pull from, and such heavy use of online and secondary sources, Mr. Bramble has written a book that will only be useful to the members of his family.

ISBN 978-1257976003, Lulu.com, © 2011, Softcover, 268 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, Footnotes, Bibliography. $16.49.  To purchase click HERE.