Review: Lincoln's Code, The Laws of War in American History

Lincoln's Code: The Laws of War in American History

By John Fabian Witt

The laws of war govern the conduct of nations at war.  They are generally agreed terms that are internationally recognized as to how warfare is to be conducted, and what actions are not sanctioned by it.  Today we familiar with them as the Geneva Conventions.  They are result of hundreds of years of negotiations between nations and adapted to meet the evolving mores of their time.  But how were they developed and who was their author?  John Fabian Witt’s book “Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History” has the answer.

What we recognize today as the rules and laws of war were largely authored by a German-American jurist and political philosopher Frances Lieber.  His laws of war were encoded as Abraham Lincoln’s General Orders, No. 100 issued April 24, 1863 at the height of the American Civil War.  Before that however Professor Witt traces the rules of war from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 to the Mexican War, The Civil War until the issuance of General Orders No. 100. 

A good deal of time is spent in the discussion of what to do with slaves during a time of war.  Once captured are they to be set free?  Are they to be enlisted by the conquering foe and used as combatants against their former owners?  Or are they to be returned to their owners once the hostilities have ceased?  These questions were debated and argued over from the outbreak of the American  Revolution until slavery was at last abolished at the close of the Civil War.

Professor Witt deftly handles Major-General William T. Sherman’s idea of a harsh and total war against civilians and soldiers alike, employed during his March to the Sea and the Carolina Campaign, and argues it benefitted the Union by lessening the length of the war.  It therefore the “hard hand of war” was the most humane way of bringing hostilities to a close with the least amount of human suffering.  A view later endorsed by German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke.

Prize Courts and trials of civilians by Military Commissions are also thoroughly discussed, by the author.  Through it all Professor Witt shows how the guiding hand of Francis Lieber shaped the laws of war which are still largely in effect today.

“Lincoln’s Code,” is expertly researched and wonderfully written.  Its title may lead you to think it is exclusively Abraham Lincoln’s military policy during the Civil War, but it is so much more than that.  It is a book that not only belongs on the shelves of every student of the Civil War, but should also be equally shelved in law libraries across the country.

ISBN 978-1416569831, Free Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 512 pages, Photographs & Illustrations,  End Notes, Appendix & Index. $32.00.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: Such Troops As These

Such Troops as These:

The Genius and Leadership of

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson

By Bevin Alexander

When questioned many people may not know who Thomas Jonathan Jackson is, but nearly everyone recognizes the name of the revered Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.  In truth they are one in the same.  Jackson, the man, is himself an enigma, a devout Christian, and highly skilled military man, who wrote tender love letters to his esposita, and who did not shed a tear over the men killed under his command, but openly wept at the death of a little girl.

Stonewall Jackson’s military successes are legendary.  He drove the soldiers who served underneath him hard, and accomplished what many believed was not possible.  How he did this is the subject of Bevin Alexander’s book “Such Troops As These: The Genius and Leadership of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.”

Though Mr. Alexander does begin his book with Jackson’s early life and ends it with his death, it is far from a cradle to grave biography.  It is really not a biography at all, but rather a study of the military strategy and tactics of Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War.  Battle by battle the author demonstrates Jackson’s superior generalship with his strategy of rapid troop movements and fighting defensively on the enemy’s front while making an attack on his flank.

While correctly pointing out the error of frontal assaults against strongly fortified enemy positions and against the rapidly evolving weaponry of the mid 19th century, Mr. Alexander does come off as somewhat of a Jacksonian sycophant, claiming Jackson’s strategy superior to that of any other Confederate General, including that of Robert E. Lee.  Jackson’s biggest flaw, namely being the secrecy of his plans, is briefly dealt with, but had the author treated Jackson’s flaws with equal weight compared to Jackson’s greatness he would have had a much stronger book.

Mr. Alexander’s linear narrative is clear and easily read.  Thumbing through its bibliography and endnotes, gives one the impression that Mr. Alexander leaned too heavily on 19th century memoirs, and secondary sources, and I am always skeptical when an author sites himself as a source in an end or foot note. “Such Troops As These” is a well written and adequately researched book.  Civil War scholars and students will likely take away from it a greater understanding of Jackson’s strategy and tactics.

ISBN 978-0425271292, Berkley Hardcover, © 2014, Hardcover, 336 pages, Maps,  End Notes, Selected Bibliography & Index. $26.95.  Click HERE to purchase this book.

Review: American General, The Life and Times of William Tecumseh Sherman

American General:

The Life and Times of William Tecumseh Sherman

By John S.D. Eisenhower

Military Historian John S. D. Eisenhower, was a Brigadier-General in the U.S. Army Reserves, served as the United States’ Ambassador to Belgium during the first term of the Nixon Administration, and was the son of President Dwight D. and Mamie (Doud) Eisenhower.

Eisenhower, the author of numerous works of military history and biography including “Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott,” “So Far From God: The U.S. War with Mexico 1846-1848,” and “Zachary Taylor,” died at Trappe, Maryland on December 21, 2013.  At the time of his death he was the oldest living presidential child.  His final book, “American General: The life and Times of William Tecumseh Sherman,” was being made ready for publication at the time of his death and will be published posthumously on October 7, 2014.

“American General” is a short womb-to-tomb biography surveying the life of William Tecumseh Sherman, a Major-General in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and later General of the Army of the United States.  Sherman, often referred to as “the first modern general” is a polarizing figure of the Civil War depending on which side of the Mason-Dixon line one hails, his is either a hero or a villain, and rarely anything in between.  Eisenhower’s biography is not heavy on historical minutia, relying heavily on secondary sources and published letters, “American General” is a brief synthesis of Sherman’s life.  His engaging narrative moves quickly from event to event from his birth to his death.

While there is nothing new between its covers “American General” is a solid biography of Sherman, though there are a more than a couple of errors of a typographical nature (such as dates of the wrong year) that should Mr. Eisenhower have been alive at the time of publication surely would have been caught, but they few and their actual meaning is clear and they do not interrupt Eisenhower’s easily read narrative.

“American General” is well written and adequately researched.  Though there is nothing really “new” within it, it is still an excellent biography of one of America’s most memorable generals, and would serve as a great introduction to those who have only a basic knowledge of the man who was William Tecumseh Sherman.

ISBN 978-0451471352, NAL Caliber Hardcover, © 2014, Hardcover, 352 pages, Photographs, Appendices, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $28.95.  Click HERE to purchase this book.

Review: Abraham Lincoln Civil War Stories

Abraham Lincoln Civil War Stories:

Heartwarming Stories about Our Most Beloved President

Edited by Joe Wheeler

What can you say about Abraham Lincoln that hasn’t been said over and over again, again and again?  That’s the point of Joe Wheeler’s book “Abraham Lincoln Civil War Stories: Heartwarming Stories about Our Most Beloved President.”

Stories about Abraham Lincoln have been passed from person to person, first in orally and later written down, for a century and a half.  If one were to read them all they would have to search through many books, newspapers and magazines in libraries and archives to find them.  Mr. Wheeler has saved you the time and effort, collecting many of the most popular stories and poems in his book.  The stories span the breadth of Lincoln’s life and run from the humorous to the tear-jerker.  The book is split into four parts: The Frontier Years, Civil War – The Early Years, Civil War – The Later Years, and To Live on in Hearts is not to Die. 

I would venture to say that many of these stories are largely fictional, some more so than others, but all have some kernel of historical truth to them.  Included by Mr. Wheeler is one of my favorites, “The Perfect Tribute,” by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, which was turned into a made for television movie in 1991 and starred Jason Robards as Abraham Lincoln.

This is a great book for people who don’t know much about the 16th President of the United States or the Civil War.  For those who have studied and know a great deal about Lincoln and the war this book may help to understand the folklore surrounding Lincoln.  The stories are simply written, and range in size from a two to twenty pages in length which are easily read in a short time, so that you can pick the book up when you have just a few minutes to spare or a couple of hours.

ISBN 978-1476702865, Howard Books, © 2013, Hardcover, 384 pages, Photographs, Illustrations, & Notes. $22.99.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: Union Heartland

Union Heartland:

The Midwestern Home Front during the Civil War

Edited by Ginette Aley and Joseph L. Anderson

The American Civil War has often been characterized as the North vs. the South, but neither region was as homogenous as to fit within that brief, and incorrect definition.  The many facets of the Southern war experience have been studied and dissected, from its soldiers and generals, its politicians, the secessionists, the Southern Unionists, the enslaved, its women and the war on the Southern home-front.  The Northern perspective on the war is pales in comparison, and often treated as a single identity.  The Civil War was a vast and complicated event; those for and against the war populated on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.  The Northern experience of the war, every bit as factious as its Southern counterpart, but remains largely unexplored in the large body of literature produced about the war.

Geographically speaking those states that comprised “The North” can be split into three distinct regions, the Pacific Coast, the Midwest and the East.  Generally speaking the states comprising the Midwest are those to the west and north of Pennsylvania, and includes Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Kansas (Missouri and Kentucky, are often treated separately as “Border States”).

Ginette Aley and J. L. Anderson have consorted together and edited a book which tackles the war from the Midwestern perspective in their book “Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front During the Civil War.”  Following a forward by noted Civil War historian William C. Davis, its eight essays cover a wide variety of topics of the war:

Together editors Alley and Anderson present an introduction, “The Great National Struggle in the Heart of the Union.”

In “Captivating Captives: An excursion to Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison” Michael P. Gray discusses Sandusky, Ohio’s entrepreneurial windfall of having a camp for Confederate Prisoners of War just off its shore attracting the curiosity of both the local population and tourists alike.

A group of students at the University of Michigan who took it upon themselves, as their patriotic duty, to stay in school and finish their education instead of enlisting in the Union Army is featured in Julie A. Mujic’s essay “‘Ours is the Harder Lot’: Student Patriotism at the University of Michigan during the Civil War.”

R. Douglas Hart covers “The Agricultural Power of the Midwest during the Civil War.”

Soldiers’ wives left behind often became wards of their in-laws.  Nicole Etcheson delves into theses sometimes troublesome relationships between women and their in-laws in her essay “No Fit Wife: Soldiers’ Wives and Their In-Laws on the Indiana Home Front.”

The theme of the lives of those left behind is continued with Ginette Aley’s essay, “Inescapable Realities: Rural Midwestern Women and Families during the Civil War.”

Many Midwestern farmers who enlisted in the army left their wives at home to run the farm.  J. L. Anderson discusses how women adapted to running their farms, and the changing relationships between them and their soldier husbands in his essay “The Vacant Chair on the Farm: Soldier Husbands, Farm Wives and the Iowa Home Front, 1861-65.”

And lastly Brett Barker presents his essay “Limiting Dissent in the Midwest: Ohio Republicans’ Attacks on the Democratic Press.”

Alone each essay stands on its own merits.  All are well written and easily read.  Endnotes at the end of each essay reveal the depth and breadth of each author’s research, which due to a lack of secondary sources a large percentage of the research was based on primary sources.  Together each essay forms a cohesive portrait of the Midwestern experience of the war.  Is it an in-depth treatment of the Midwestern home-front experience during the war?  No, nor was it meant to be.  It is but a scratch on the ground’s surface of a well waiting to be dug, which when pumped will quench the thirst of those who love to drink from the fountain of Civil War scholarship.

ISBN 978-0809332649, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 224 Pages, Photographs & Illustrations, Chapter End Notes & Index. $39.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Review: The Fall of the House of Dixie

The Fall of the House of Dixie:

The Civil War and the Social Revolution

That Transformed the South

By Bruce Levine

Before the election of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th President of the United States on November 6, 1860 the South was at its apex; within the borders of its vast area a small minority of wealthy slave-owners amassed not only enormous fortunes but also a great power that dominated the United States’ political landscape since the end of the American Revolution.  Five years later, in the wake of the Civil War, the South had lost everything; its great cities lay in ruins, its landscape ravaged, its wealth gone, its slaves freed, and its political power vanished.  Why and how this stunning reversal of the South’s social, political and economic systems happened is the subject of Bruce Levine’s book, “The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution that Transformed the South.”

Levine, the J. G. Randall Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Illinois, sets the stage nicely in his first two chapters.  He describes the “House of Dixie” as it existed in 1860 and then reaches back through history to describe how it was built from its foundations up.  Having covered this background moves chronologically through the war, and describes events that slowly and gradually disassembled the Southern social, political and economic structure, piece by piece until its collapse.

Though “The Fall of the House of Dixie” is not a book of military history, it does cover it share of battles within the structure of its narrative, Levine’s focus is more on the social and economic impact of the war on the South.  A major component of the South’s economic and social systems was built on a shaky foundation of slavery.  The African-American’s experience, though not primarily dealt with, slavery and the status of slaves is a major focus of Professor Levine’s book. 

Levine demonstrates “The House of Dixie” was not built on a firm footing on bedrock, but rather on quicksand. As the status of the enslaved Blacks of the South changed during the war, the trickle of slaves leaving the plantations before the Emancipation Proclamation and the steady stream after it quickly eroded the foundation of slavery that the Southern social, economic and political system was built upon, and the passage of the 13th amendment destroyed it forever.

“The Fall of the House of Dixie” is very well researched.  Its author has exhumed a treasure trove of primary sources: letters, diaries, newspaper accounts and government documents to tell the tale of the multi-faceted drama of the South’s political, social and economic demise of the 1860s.  It is well written and engages its readers from its first to its last page.

ISBN 978-1400067039, Random House, © 2013, Hardcover, 464 pages, Photographs, Maps Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $30.00.  To purchase a copy of this book click HERE.

Review: 1863, Lincoln’s Pivotal Year

1863: Lincoln's Pivotal Year

Edited by Harold Holzer and Sara Vaughn Gabbard

On January 1, 1863 after spending a few hours welcoming visitors and shaking hundreds of hands, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which declared all enslaved people in areas where an active rebellion against to Government of the United States was in progress would be thence forward and forever free.  It was a momentous beginning for 1863, the second full year of the war, and what would prove to be a pivotal year for Abraham Lincoln and the divided nation.

Lincoln scholars Harold Holzer and Sara Vaughn Gabbard have edited a volume of essays by notable historians and scholars which examine the events during the twelve months between January 1st and December 31st, 1863 and titled it “1863: Lincoln’s Pivotal Year.”

“The Remembrance of a Dream” written by the book’s co-editor, Harold Holzer, introduces the volume is and is followed by ten essays which cover the events, developments and personalities that dominated the headlines in 1863:

In “The Day of Jubilee” Edna Green Medford covers the reactions of Northerners and Southerners, both black and white, to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Frank J. Williams tackles Lincoln’s use of his Constitutional war powers to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and his trying of insurrectionists by a military tribunal in “Under Cover of Liberty.”

As the author of “Lincoln and his Admirals” Craig L. Symonds justifiably handles the joint operations of the Army and Navy during the Vicksburg Campaign, as well as Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont’s failed attempted to shell and capture Charleston, South Carolina in “Lincoln at Sea.”

“Military Drafts, Civilian Riots” is Barnet Schecter’s essay on the first military draft issued by the United States Government and its resulting reaction of the New York City Draft Riots.

The Lincoln family during 1863 is the focus of Catherine Clinton’s essay, “The Fiery Furnace of Affliction.”

In “And the War Goes On” John F. Marzalek and Michael B. Ballard discuss how the twin victories of the Union Forces at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, dealt the hand of ultimate defeat to the Confederates, and yet the war continued on for another two years.

Bob Zeller discusses Civil War photography in his essay, “Picturing the War.”

“The General Tide” by William C. Davis paints the big picture of the war in 1863.

“The Gettysburg Address Revisited” by Orville Vernon Burton, need I say more.

Harold Holzer’s essay “Seldom Twice Alike: The Changing Faces of History” closes out the volume with a discussion about the use of Abraham Lincoln’s image and its effect on his supporters and those who opposed him.

The essays work as stand-alone pieces allowing the reader to easily read an essay in a sitting, and collectively as a whole while relating the events of 1863.  Each essay is well written and easily read with end notes after each chapter.  I’m confident the average Civil War student with a bit more knowledge of the war than the average casual reader would have no problem reading this book.

ISBN 978-0809332465, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 216 pages, Photograph & Illustrations, End Notes at the end of each essay, Appendices & Index. $32.95.  To purchase a copy of this book click HERE.

Review: Rise to Greatness

Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln

and America's Most Perilous Year

By David Von Drehle

The Time: January 1, 1862 – January 1,1863, America's most perilous year.  The Place: The United States, a country torn in half by a war between its Northern and Southern sections.  Since the surrender of the United States garrison at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861 and the defeat of the Northern Army at Bull Run on the following July 21st, the Southern forces have managed to keep their Northern counterparts at bay.  As the sunset fell on the final day of 1861, the future looked very bleak for the Union cause.

How Abraham Lincoln, President of all of the United States overcame military, political, social and economic challenges during the first full year of the war and transformed it from merely a war to restore to the Union the eleven seceded states to a revolution against slavery is the topic of David Von Drehle’s book, “Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year.”

Many people justly claim the twin victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg of the Federal Army on July 1-4 is the point at which the war turned in favor of the Union, but Von Drehle challenges that convention with his thesis that it was the slow and steady progress of the Federal Armies, in concert Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation is the true turning point of the war.

Beginning on New Year’s Day 1862 Von Drehle’s linear narrative chronicles the military victories at Forts Henry and Donelson, and Shiloh; the lethargic advance of Major-General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular Campaign; the routing of that same army during the Seven days Battles; and the trouncing of the Union Army of Virginia at Second Bull Run and the tactical draw, but strategic Victory at Antietam, after which Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation.

Lincoln’s evolving views on emancipation are thoroughly covered; from his plan for gradual and compensated emancipation; the colonization of the blacks, and finally to his singing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.

Another thread running throughout the book is Lincoln’s often antagonistic relationship with Major-General George B. McClellan.  Lincoln’s constant pushing and prodding for McClellan to advance the Army of the Potomac and fight; Lincoln trying his own hand as commander of the military and failing drastically; the firing, rehiring, and firing again of McClellan amply demonstrate how Lincoln grew into the job of Commander-in-Chief, and the slow and steady rise in his confidence and abilities while guiding the Northern population through their social, political and economic fears of emancipation.

“Rise to Greatness” is thoroughly researched and well written in an easily read, conversational style.  It is a great joy to read and is a book for academics or Civil War novices alike; everyone can learn something from the pages between its covers.

ISBN 978-0805079708, Henry Holt and Co., © 2012, Hardcover, 480 pages, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $30.00.  To purchase the book, click HERE.

Review: War on the Waters

War on the Waters:

The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865

By James M. McPherson

Literature on the American Civil War frequently overlooks and/or undervalues the contributions and importance of both the United States’ and the Confederacy’s Navies.  Though the Confederacy’s naval efforts pale to that of the Union’s, both navies contributed to their respective war efforts and changed the course of naval warfare forever.

James M. McPherson, the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University, and the author of Pulitzer Prize-winning “Battle Cry of Freedom,” has resurrected the 150 year old wreckage of the Union and Confederate navies from their murky depths, and brings to the surface the history of Civil War naval warfare in his book “War on the Waters: the Union and Confederate Navies 1861-1865.”

Tracing from the meager beginnings of a nearly nonexistent United States Navy and the complete nonexistence of a Confederate navy Professor McPherson builds his narrative chronologically through the mobilization the opposing naval forces to the victory of the Union and the defeat of the Confederacy, and covers both river and sea operations.  Discussed in detail is the Union Blockade, the capture of New Orleans, the battle between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor at Hampton Roads, as well as the joint operations between the Union Army and the “Brown Water” Navy, at Forts Henry and Donelson and operations during the Vicksburg Campaign as well as many other lesser known naval actions.

“War on the Waters, is well researched.  A search through Dr. McPherson’s end notes and bibliography reveals a nice balance between his use of primary and secondary sources leaning more toward primary source documents.  The book’s narrative is necessarily tilted to the victor’s side, not because of any perceived bias but rather from the sheer size of the United States Navy as compared to its Confederate counterpart.  It is book well written and easily read, and would appeal to academics and the casual reader alike. 

ISBN 978-0807835883, The University of North Carolina Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 304 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $35.00.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Long Road To Antietam

The Long Road To Antietam:
How the Civil War Became a Revolution

By Richard Slotkin

September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest day in American history.  Well into the second year of the American Civil War the blue-clad Union Army of the Potomac clashed with the gray and butternut clothed Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, and by the day’s end nearly 23,000 Americans lay dead, wounded, were prisoners of war, or missing.  Tactically the battle ended as a stalemate, but General Robert E. Lee’s decision to withdraw his troops from the field of battle, gave the strategic victory to the Union’s commander, Major-General George B. McClellan.  It was with this slim margin of victory that Abraham Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and changed the direction of the war from a restrained war against an opposing army to a war not only on the armies of the South, but also on its society and economy.

Richard Slotkin, an emeritus professor at Wesleyan University, covers this shift in Lincoln’s war policy in his book, “The Long Road To Antietam: How the Civil War Became a Revolution.” In it he details the war from its beginning stages until McClellan’s removal as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.  Contrasting the difficult and often antagonistic relationship between Lincoln and McClellan against that of the cooperative one of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, while weaving the political, social and economic motives of both sides Professor Slotkin has set them against the backdrop of the Battle of Antietam, and by doing so gives his readers a nearly panoramic narrative of but a small segment of the war.

When historians write about George B. McClellan, they generally fall into two camps, those who think McClellan was a paranoid and scheming buffoon, and those who think that he did the best with what he had.  Slotkin, clearly falls into the former, and more populous, group rather than the latter. Be that as it may, McClellan certainly gives his critics more than enough ammunition to fire at him, and thus his the wounding of his historical persona is somewhat self-inflicted.

In searching through Slotkin’s end notes, his book is largely based on secondary sources.  Though doing some internet searches of quotes within the text of his book leads one easily to their original primary source materials.  One must wonder why Mr. Slotkin chose not to rely more on primary sources.  His heavy use of secondary sources, may have negatively impacted his view of the Lincoln-McClellan relationship, and McClellan, the man himself.

I would heartily recommend “The Long Road to Antietam” to anyone interested in the American Civil War.  Over all the book is well written and informative, though the narrative is considerably slowed by the blow by blow account of the Battle of Antietam.  Professor Slotkin’s research stands on somewhat shaky ground where primary sources are concerned.  Nonetheless Richard Slotkin, makes his case as to why Antietam and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation should be considered a turning point in the Civil War, but calling it a “revolution” falls a little flat

ISBN 978-0871404114, Liveright, © 2012, Hardcover, 512 pages, Photographs, 8 Maps, 10 Illustrations, Chronology, Antietam Order of Battle, Endnotes, Selected Bibliography & Index. $32.95.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The Civil War, The Final Year Told by Those Who Lived It

The Civil War: The Final Year Told by Those Who Lived It

Edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Too often the study of the American Civil War is approached as if looking at a review mirror, looking back at events passed and knowing their outcome.  Such a view of an historical event diminishes the experience of those who lived through it.  For instance, we know that Abraham Lincoln handily won the 1864 Presidential Election and defeated Major-General George B. McClellan, but Lincoln was so uncertain of its outcome that on August 23, 1864 wrote a memo to his cabinet, agreeing that they will “co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards,” and had them sign it without showing them its contents.

Though one can never remove the historical knowledge of the outcome of the war, reading the documents, letters and diaries of the people who lived through the Civil War gives one a sense of immediacy of the events depicted and their yet unknown resolutions that you just don’t get in most history text books.

The Library of America, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War has produced a four volume set of books covering the entire span of the war, each one covering one year of the war, and using only the primary source material that other authors often use to write their books. “The Civil War: The Final Year Told By Those Who Lived It,” is the fourth and final volume in the series.

Beginning with the Southern diarist Catherine Edmonston’s entry for March 8, 1864 and ending with Union Major-General Gordon Granger’s General Orders No. 3 of June 19, 1865 announcing to the people of Texas that all slaves are now free, this volume covers the breadth, width and depth of the wars final and tumultuous year.

Notable inclusions in this hefty 1024 page tome include a May 11, 1864, letter from Ulysses S. Grant to Edwin M. Stanton and Henry W. Halleck, proposing that he will “fight it out on this line if it takes all summer;” Abraham Lincoln’s memorandum to his cabinet mentioned above; William T. Sherman’s September 12, 1864 letter to Atlanta’s mayor, James M. Calhoun and others, in which he states, “war is cruelty;” Sherman’s October 9, 1864 message to Grant promising to “make Georgia howl;” the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution forever abolishing slavery; Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address;  Grant’s terms for the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia;  and Robert E. Lee’s General Orders No. 9, his farewell message, are all among the many documents in this book which are too numerous to mention.

Aaron Sheehan-Dean has done a wonderful job of collecting and editing this selection of documents.  Each item is prefaced by a brief explanatory paragraph and then the document, in its entirety, follows.  Included at the end of this volume is a narrative chronology, biographical notes, notes on the texts, end notes, and lastly an index.

“The Civil War: The Final Year Told by Those Who Lived It” along with its previous three sister volumes, is an excellent resource for Civil War scholars or novices alike.

ISBN 978-1598532944, Library of America, © 2014, Hardcover, 1024 pages, Maps, Chronology, Biographical Notes, Note on the Texts, Notes & Index. $40.00.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: So You Think You Know Gettysburg? Volume 2

So You Think You Know Gettysburg? Volume 2

by James and Suzanne Gindlesperger

Gettysburg.  What more is there to say?  It is easily one of the most studied battles in all of world history.  So many books have been written about it and its participants that you could fill a good sized room in a library with nothing else but books on the subject.  And just when you think not another word could be written on the battle, out comes a new book, with a new perspective, adding yet another book to the already overcrowded shelves.

“So You Think You Know Gettysburg? Volume 2” takes a less traveled path than most books on the battle.  It’s not about the battle, but about the battle field, or rather, the monuments that cover the field.  Written by James and Suzanne Gindlesperger, it is their second volume covering the Gettysburg monuments, adding 220 additional park attractions to their first volume.

Their book divides up the massive Gettysburg Battlefield into 11 areas (A-K), each with its own map (and of course an additional map showing where each area on the battlefield is located is included at the front of the book).  Each chapter begins with its representative area map upon which the chapter’s featured monument are located, numbered as you would encounter them as you drive through the battlefield.  Each monument is numbered according to which area it is in, and its order on the tour route, therefore the first monument featured in the book, honoring the 121st Pennsylvania Infantry is numbered A-1.  The numbering is not continuous through the books but restarts with each chapter/area.

Each monument narrative begins with its area map location number such as A-5, and is followed by the name of the monument, Eighth Illinois Cavalry Monument, and its geographic coordinates, 39° 50.147’ N, 77° 14.968’ W.  A narrative follows describing the unit’s action on the field, a description of the monument, its designer, manufacturer or sculptor, and the date of its dedication.

The Gindlespergers include in their book, three appendices: Union Medal of Honor Recipients at Gettysburg, Confederate Medal of Honor Recipients at Gettysburg, and the Sullivan Ballou Letter, which considering Major Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry was killed nearly two years earlier during the First Battle of Bull Run seems a little out of place.  Also included at the end of the book is a suggested reading list.

“So You Think You Know Gettysburg? Volume 2” is a treasure trove of seldom discussed information about The Battle of Gettysburg, and it is an indispensible book for those interested in the battle, a great guide book for those touring the battlefield, and is a great book for those who haven’t yet visited the battlefield or those planning their future trip.

ISBN 978-0895876201, John F. Blair, Publisher, © 2014, Paperback, 234 pages, 12 Maps, 225 Color Photographs, Appendices, Further Reading & Index. $19.95.  To Purchase this book click HERE.

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.

Review: The Fiddler on Pantico Run

The Fiddler on Pantico Run:

An African Warrior, His White Descendants,
A Search for Family

By Joe Mozingo

Joe Mozingo knew himself as a white man with blue eyes.  The family lore was that the Mozingo surname was Italian, Spanish or Basque in its origins.  He had no reason to question it.  In his travels as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times he had a handful of chance encounters with people with the same name, some were black, and said their name was from Africa.  He also met with people from the African continent who told him his name was African.  Joe, a reporter with an eye for a good story, set about on a quest to discover the origins of his name that would take him on a personal journey crisscrossing the United States, and would spawn two trips to Africa.

What started out as a handful of newspaper stories grew into a book, “The Fiddler on Pantico Run: An African Warrior, His White Descendants, a Search for Family.”  His genealogical search led him to Edward Mozingo, the progenitor of the Mozingo name in the United States.  Edward, as it turns out, was black man, a slave brought from Africa to the Jamestown colony in Virginia in 1644, a man whom after serving as a slave for 28 years sued for his freedom and won.  Edward Mozingo married a white woman who was the mother of his children

Through DNA testing, Joe learned that he was not a directly descended in an unbroken line of male Mozingos but was likely the a descendant of one of Edward Mozingo’s granddaughters.  Seeking out Edward Mozingo’s American descendants Joe travels across the United States and interviews a number of people who share his last name.  White and black, some know the secrets of the family’s past while others, notably the family’s white descendants, are either wholly ignorant of the family’s origins, or also share the family tradition that the name was Italian,  Other white family members were blatantly racist and could not come to terms that their ancestor was a black man.

Searching for Edward Mozingo’s African origins lead Joe to research the history and intricacies of the Atlantic Slave Trade.  Two trips to Africa did little to fill in any facts that are actually known about Edward Mozingo himself, but did help Joe place Edward within the context of the time and place from which he likely came.

“The Fiddler on Pantico Run” is an absorbing look not only at Joe Mozingo’s paternal genealogy, but also the evolving definitions of race and racism in the United States.  Mr. Mozingo deftly demonstrates the color of one’s skin, even within the same family, can influence the destinies of people for generations.

ISBN 978-1451627480, Free Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 320 pages & Index. $32.00.  To purchase this 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.