Like all avid Civil War readers, I keep my radar finely calibrated to identify intriguing new releases. Decision at Tom’s Brook: George Custer, Tom Rosser, and the Joy of the Fight piqued my interest first b cause of the author’s name, William J. Miller, whose body of work (eight or so publications to date) reliably signals what, in my experience, is known as a “sure bet.” What many know of Tom’s Brook—the “Woodstock Races”— comes from brief treatments in general histories, or time line entries marking the victory that certified t superiority of Union cavalry. Fought six months to the day before the sur render at Appomattox, Tom’s Brook is the story of a small fight populated by big personalities (Sheridan and Early play enduring roles). The saga begins at West Point, where cadets Custer and Rosser were kindred spirits, and continues long aft the war, after Custer’s death, when Rosser maintained a war of words with former enemies and comrades alike. By keeping people—soldiers—at the heart of the narrative, a small incident of the war speaks to the whole. A first-rate scholar, and a battlefield tramper with a deep knowledge of the ground, Miller has assembled a solid history. Add to those credentials a rich editoria background, and years spent teaching composition and literature to Virginia college students, and you have an author who can ferret out a good story, and knows how to tell it
David Woodbury has edited/coedited numerous Civil War titles, and was a contributor to and cartographer for The Library of Congress CW Desk Reference. He was co-founder of the South Bay CWRT in San Jose, California, and coordinates battlefield tours for Woodbury Historical Tours. He works for Cengage Learning in San Francisco.
ader’s Redoubt – Book Review Editor’s note: For experts—authors, teachers and o this year which strikes them as
The Damned of Petersburg is the fourth in ultimately a series of fiv novels by Ralph Peters on events during the Civil War. This is historical fiction at its finest, writt by retired army Lieutenant Colonel Peters, covering some of the events of the siege of Petersburg in1864. Peters wastes no time drawing the reader into the dirty, often wet, in sect-filled world of the Civil War soldier, with oftentimes vulgar conversations between characters. He conscientiously relates real events, then fleshes them out in an entertai ing way. He presents a very realisti picture of what Civil war combat and maneuvering was all about, while weaving several characters’ stories into the narrative as events unfold, bringing to life notable commanders and characters on both sides. I find this approach to Civil War history a wonderful change of pace, and recommend this book to anyone looking for a combination of entertainment and perhaps some further knowledge of this part of the Civil War.
Lawrence K. Peterson’s Confederate Combat Commander: The Remarkable Life of Brigadier General Alfred Jefferson Vaughan Jr. was reviewed in the August president of the Rocky Mountain Civil War RoundTable in Denver.
year’s “Book Issue” we asked some C professionals—to choose a book publ ble or particularly interesting. He
Earl Hess is one of our most pro ic writers of Civil War military hi ry, and he has scored another winne in his recent military biography of Braxton Bragg. Bragg has become little more than a pejorative punch line among students of the Late Unpleasantness. His alleged sins of personality and generalship are wel known and rarely do historians assign anything positive to Bragg, ex cept to grudgingly acknowledge that he organized troops well. Hess takes a fresh look at this maligned officer and presents a much more balanced—and persuasive—picture. Don’t expect a revisionist screed. Hess takes Bragg to task where warranted. Yet Braxton Bragg: The Most Hated Man of the Confederacy will challenge long-cherished stories and assessments of the singe-most important Confederate commander in the Western Theater. Continue to despise Bragg if you must, but don’ do so without reading Hess’s new book first.
A. Wilson Greene, Executive Director, Pamplin Historical Park & the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, Petersburg. Author of The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion (2012).
2016 has already produced a number of excellently written and well-researched studies related to the Civil War era, but from my perspective one of the most notable books published this year (and my personal favorite) is a collection fifteen essays edited by Prof. Kirk Savage (University of Pittsburgh), The Civil War in Art and Memory (New Haven: Yale University Press). Through the careful analysis of monuments, photographs and art, this volume offers much food for thought about how things which appear in what Savage terms “major cultural spaces” have shaped and continue to shape people’s understanding of our American Iliad. As a history professor, I am always looking for unique ways to engage my students (and the broader public about why the Civil War still holds such an enormous grip on American society today. At times that can be difficult task, but this volume hel with its close analysis of an image such as Alexander Gardner’s photograph of the dead at Antietam, or A gust Saint-Gaudens’ Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. Each can be used as a medium through which to address the Civil War’s complexities.
Jonathan A. Noyalas is assistant professor of history at Lord Fairfa Community College in Middletown VA. In January he will join the faculty of Shenandoah University in Winchester, where he will serve as Director of the McCormick Civil War Institute.
Caught between its ties to the Southern slave economy and its own patriotic ardor to produce men and matériel for the Union, New York City was just as helpful to the Nor ern war effort as it was a hindranc Though the obvious tension of the forces at play in Gotham has been the fodder for great drama (most no tably in Martin Scorsese’s film, Th Gangs of New York), there have been relatively few studies of the City’ role in the war. Fortunately, John Strausbaugh’s City of Sedition: The History of New York City During the Civil War looks to rectify this bringing to life the heroes, villai deeds and misdeeds of New York City, all while exploring its very close ties to slavery. Given the su ject matter and Strausbaugh’s compelling prose, City of Sedition loo to be an exciting read.
Douglas Ullman, Jr., is the Digital Content Producer at the Civil War Trust, where he is responsible for the creation of much of the Trust’s web content. He has also produced the Trust’s smartphone touring apps, including apps for Gettysburg, Antietam, and the Atlanta Campaign (with Steve Davis). Apart from his work at the Trust, Mr. Ullman is an independent historian with a strong interest in the 1864 campaigns for Atlanta and Richmond. He is currently working on a regimental history of the 102nd New York Volunteers.
“What shall I read next?” In the late 1930s Douglas Southall Freeman explained how, after Gone With the Wind, folks asked him to recommend other books about the wartime South. Initially, he would suggest “the aperitifs and not the heavy works,” he once explained. But they kept wanting more recommendations. In further response, Freeman compiled a list entitled “A Confederate Book Shelf,” which he appended to his The South to Posterity: An Introduction to the Writing of Confederate History (1939). He catered his suggestions to those “who do not aspire to become specialists but wis to have a moderate familiarity with the literature.”
Dr. Freeman—he earned his Ph.D. in history at Johns Hopkins—wrote with his characteristic modesty. His Confederate book shelf not only features works of possible interest to those with a “moderate familiarity”; he offers one of the earliest defini tive rankings of Southern war-works published in the three generations a ter the conflict. Of course, “A Confederate Book Shelf” is today three-quarters of a century old. But to me, that’s one o its charms, as I re-read its entries this column. When, for instance, was the last time you thought of John W. Thomason’s Jeb Stuart (1930). It’s one of just nineteen “notable biographies” which Freeman chose to list. I bought my copy decades ago (for
mended it in one of his great lectur I attended at Emory. I was not surprised to find among
ic ’ s C orner his fourteen “distinguished personal narratives” Robert Stiles’ Four Years under Marse Robert (1903). I happen to own a third edition (Neale Publishing Company, 1904), and it’s one of the prized volumes on m own Confederate book shelf. From it comes one of my favorite stories. Jubal Early was a division commander in Jackson’s corps when “after a hard day’s march,” Stiles writes, General Early got the note seen in the upper right text box. Stiles comments that only Old Jube—and maybe Jeb—could have gotten away with “such an impertinent note to Jackson.” Just as you would expect, Mary Boykin Chesnut’s A Diary from Dixie made the list of “Interesting Na ratives by Women.” And Freeman was looking at the original edition of 1905. Think of what he would say about the modern version (1981), as edited by C. Vann Woodward! The conscientious compiler lists his almost sixty titles in a halfdozen categories, without offering evaluating comment. There’s an exception: “those who make their first adventure in the field,” he writes, “will do well to start with Robert S. Henry’s Story of the Confederacy.” When this volume, published in 1931, was reissued five years later, Freeman asked if he could write a Foreword. BobbsMerrill quickly agreed, and so in its 1936 edition we read Freeman’s appreciation of Henry’s history: “I regard The Story of the Confederacy much as John Addington Symonds did the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini—at present the book with which to begin one’s study of the period it covers and the book to which to return when everything els on the subject has been read.” Wow! Look closely at the “Some Notable Biographies” section and you’ll notice that Dr. Freeman did not include his own four-volume R. E. Lee, which won the Pulitzer Prize i 1935. When Ralph G. Newman of
1947, he corrected the self-effacin compiler’s omission by including all of the books which Dr. Freeman wrote, edited, or contributed to. Indeed, it was Freeman’s “Confederate Book Shelf” which prompted Newman to ask, “But what about Billy Yank’s books?” In answer, Newman assembled “A Union Book
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“The Bloody Fifth”: The 5th Texas Infantry Regiment, Hood’s Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia: Volume 1: Secession to the Suffolk Campaign. By John F. Schmutz. Maps, photos, notes, index, 336 pp., 2016, Savas Beatie,
Military history is replete with famous combat units: the 300-man Spartan body guard of Leonidas; the Theban Sacred Band; Rome’s 10th Legion; Napoleon’s Old Guard; the British Guards regiments and so forth. Few American Civil War units have the reputation and literature of the famous Texas Brigade of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. This recent study of one of component regiments adds to this history in a wonderful manner. Author John Schmutz has left few stones unturned in seeking out resources for the first volume of his unit study. He has wisely split his work into two volumes, the first of which covers the formation of the regiment and Texas Brigade through the campaigns that made their reputation, most notably the Seven Days and Sharpsburg. The second volume will cover the rest of their war ca post-Suffolk. Schmutz writes his history in th manner of older unit histories; tha is, not going into percentages of w members owned slaves, how much
property they had, or even what thei prewar careers were, although a bit of this can be found in the appendix of notable members of the regiment. Thus, Schmutz is able to keep the focus on the private soldiers and of cers and teach us what it took to fo the regiment as well as equip it. Th is very refreshing to this reviewer. Coming from Texas, a state with nascent industry at the time, equipping the troops was very problematic. The author goes into great detai on how they coped. Odd uniforms gathered from here and there with the home front chipping in to help a they could indicates what it took to raise and equip a new regiment. Schmutz also delves into their training camps as the men slowly became “not unwilling servants of Uncle Jeff.” The recruits’ travel to Virginia the things that gave them joy along the way offer a wonderful addition to how new soldiers think and act. Distractions such as impressing food and livestock along routes of march (much to the detriment of the locals and their time in New Orleans certainly took the sting out of marchin through swamps. The Texas troops’ skill at impressment would soon become legendary. Finally in Virginia, Schmutz moves into the 5th Texas’s battle history. Early battles along the Pot mac River, such as Freestone Point and Eltham’s Landing, gave the men their baptism of fire. Indeed, their motivation was “the deeds of the illustrious heroes of the Alamo, Goliad and San Jacinto.” The legend of the Texas Brigade began at the Seven Days, in particular their charge at Gaines’s Mill. In describing their plight in this a other battles, Schmutz shines as a writer. You are there as the men moved into the Boatswain’s Creek valley and then charged up its opposite bank into Federal fortification and broke the line. The battle was not yet won as the Texans moved across the hilltop to deal with new Union units. One of Ewell’s staff officers tried to inte vene in the 5th Texas command and was told, in no uncertain terms by Maj. John Upton, “Leave here you damn coward. These are my men,
these are Texans, and they don’t know how to run.…” The battle over, the legend of th Texas Brigade — which at the time included Hampton’s South Carolina Legion and the 18th Georgia Infantry—was secure. But more was to come. The Second Manassas Campaign followed by Sharpsburg—and the biggest losses that the Texas Brigade would suffer in the war there—lay ahead. Schmutz covers all in great detai weaving into his narrative wonderful quotes of the men in the ranks, including those of the Federals who faced them. The men tell of heroism, sadness, joy, comedy and more. The Texas Brigade and the 5th Texas, commanded by Col. Jerome B. Robertson, emerged from this blood-letting with such a reputation that soon a public cry arose to raise a full division of Texans for Lee’s army. This did not happen, although one was raised in the Trans Mississippi. The book ends with the Suffolk Campaign where James Longstreet’s Corps was sent to scour the countryside for food and other supplies while keeping a large Union garrison in the town occupied. Numerous skirmishes and the building of small forts along the Na semond River against Union gunboats occupied the 5th Texas while hundreds upon hundreds of wagons hauled goods back to Richmond. It was here that one of the regiment’s “rising stars,” Capt. Isaac Newton Turner, was mortally wounded while commanding several companies at Fort Huger. As he lay dying, he begged his comrades, “Men, if you can, please take me home to my mother, for I fear that she will worry so about me.” Schmutz has done a fine job telli the story of this famous regiment. H does not neglect the time between the battles when men recovered from wounds, buried their dead and dealt with disease. Their lack of good clothing (one mention of the unit having no seats in their pants is quite humorous) an the ever-present need for shoes fill many of the pages. Equipment buffs will enjoy the good descriptions of flags, uniforms and weapons. The biographies of noted 5th Texa members as well as detailed company histories conclude the volume. A
bit of tighter editing is needed. Ch tilly, for example, is mentioned in the same manner twice within a few pages. The lack of a bibliography is
also frustrating; this will hopefull be in the second volume. This is one of the best unit hist ries this reviewer has ever read. It
has it all and belongs on your Civil War bookshelf. Looking forward to Volume Two.
Greg Biggs of Clarksville, Tenn., is an expert on Civil War flags and
speaks widely also on logistics in the Western Theater.
Chronology of the Civil War in Fairfax County: Part I. By Edward T. Wenzel. Photos, maps, notes, index, 586 pp., 2015, Bull Run Civil War Roundtable, bullruncwrt.org,
Today Fairfax County, Virginia, i a paved parking lot. Traffic is foun on all of its roads, be they interst or community boulevards. It is also a landscape covered by extensive, sprawling commercial and residential real estate. Only a few lonely state historic markers dot its byway telling tales of what transpired the during the Civil War. The pristine landscape that was found during the Civil War is hardly discernable anymore. Between 1861and 1865 this same landscape, now dotted with high-rise buildings, numerous shopping malls, and community pools was a veritable no man’s land which saw the awful ravaging effects of the Civil War. S uated just south and west from Washington, D.C., part of it is bounded the Potomac River, while its center is attached to the town (now County) of Arlington. In this exhaustive and comprehensive survey of Fairfax County’s role in the Civil War, Edward T. Wenzel provides a glimpse into a landscape that only saw one major battle— Chantilly or Ox Hill during the Second Manassas Campaign — but was nevertheless ravaged by war and crisscrossed by men in both blue and butternut. Troops from both sides trekked across Fairfax during some of the seminal campaigns of the Eastern Theater, including First Manassas,
Second Manassas, Antietam Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. The book opens with a terrific introduction by John P. McAnaw, a retired infantry officer in the Unite States Army and past president of the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable. What is most striking about this volume is its copious use of archival photography, period illustrations and maps which provide readers with a kind of “then and now” reading experience. Wenzel’s chronology in this volume, dubbed Part I, covers from May 24, 1861 (the day Union troops occupied the county) to Dec. 31, 1862. Chronology of the Civil War in Fairfax County offers readers a glimpse not only of the combat and skirmishing which took place in Fairfax County, but also of the daily life of soldiering. For example, a grim tale is told about the work of Union surgeons operating in Centreville on wounded troops after the Second Battle of Manassas: “August 30, evening – September 2: Wounded soldiers pour into Centreville. Union surgeons work day and night removing shattered arms and legs. Severed limbs are piled high outside the Stone Church and other hospitals. The wounded and maimed, many dying from loss of blood, lay by the hundreds in the yards and along the walkways and are crowded into the houses and outbuildings.” With his text and index the author has done a real service to Civil War scholarship. The chronology is central to the book, offering a veritabl day-by-day account of one community’s place and struggle during the Civil War. However, this is not a book for the general Civil War enthusiast, better suited for an archiv or library. It is a researcher’s gold mine of information regarding dates, time of day, personalities, patrol re ports, picket accounts and troop deployment. Anyone seeking a slice of the war from one geographic locale will not be disappointed with Wenzel’s important contribution to Civil War literature.
Jim Percoco of Lorton, Va., is Teacher-in-Residence for the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a nonprofit initiative to raise historical awareness in the PennsylvaniaMaryland-Virginia area.
Lincoln’s Greatest Journey: Sixteen Days that Changed a Presidency, March 24-April 8, 1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau. Notes, bibliography, index, 337 pp., 2016, Sav
In the unofficial tradition est lished by his predecessors, Abraham Lincoln rarely left Washington during his administration. So perhaps it is not surprising that tho precious few occasions when he did escape the bustle of the nation’s ital—from vexing visits with Georg McClellan to a November overnight in Gettysburg—have assumed pride of place among the most iconic moments of his presidency. In his latest effort, historian Detailed, Compact Account Of Impor Reviewed by Thomas J. Ryan
Out Flew the Sabres: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863. By Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis. Illustrated, photos, map appendices, 168 pp., 2016, Savas
Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, designated June 9, 1863, as the date to begin an expedition into the North from an operational base near Culpeper, Va. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac, preempted
urg As War Nears End Andre Trudeau, whose prolific pen has produced essential works on the Civil War’s final year—including careful studies of both the Overland and Petersburg campaigns and a very fine treatment of African American soldiers—turns his attention to the remarkable story of Lincoln’s longest (and, as it turned out, last presidential sojourn. From March 24 to April 8, 1865, the president, quartered on a spacious side-wheel steamer docked at Ulysses S. Grant’s humming Petersburg headquarters, took a curious reprieve from the onerous demands of Washington, D.C., by experiencing firsthand the twilight of the wa in Virginia. Written in the author’s character istic, page-turning prose, Lincoln’s Greatest Journey keenly captures the dynamics of the war’s end, offering the richest account to date of these 16 vital days—as well as the first serious treatment of Lincoln’s trip since historian Donald C. Pfanz’s contribution to H.E. Howard’s venerable “Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders” series, Abraham Lincoln at City Point (1989). Though brimming with meticulous, painstaking detail, Trudeau’s narrative never loses momentum— expertly alternating between Lincoln’s itinerary and ongoing militar events, both in the trenches coiled around Petersburg and on the breathless road to Appomattox. Throughout, a number sub-plots are developed: most notably the spectacle of an irascible Mary Todd Lincoln, all too quick to discern ndy Station Battle this movement in the early hours of June 9 by sending his cavalry corps, reinforced by some 3,000 infantry, across the Rappahannock River to break up what he believed to be a planned Rebel cavalry raid. This action resulted in the large cavalry battle of the Civil War in t vicinity of Brandy Station, a stop o the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. The battle at Brandy Station has taken on iconic stature, primarily because it featured roughly 18,000 cavalrymen clashing over a 14-hour period and witnessed the emergence of the Union cavalry as a viable opponent for their Rebel counterparts. Out Flew the Sabres, part of Sava Beatie’s Emerging Civil War Series, relates how the battle unfolded, and includes a tour guide of eight locations where the maneuvering and fighting took place. Noted Civil War cavalry expert Eric J. Wittenberg along with Daniel T. Davis, co-author of other books i this series, combine their talents i a succinct, 100-page description of this crucial confrontation. Kristopher D. White’s foreword sets the stage, labeling Brandy Station as a turning point during the Civil War with the Federal cavalry coming of age during this encounter. The price was steep, given Union casualties exceeded 850 killed, wounded and missing. While the Union cavalry had the element of surprise on their side
personal affronts in the actions of Julia Dent Grant (and many others). Also worthy of note are Secretary of State William Seward’s anxious curiosity about Lincoln’s lengthy visit and the telegraphic banter between the president and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Lincoln’s Greatest Journey depicts a drawn, haggard president, steeled for the many challenges of his threeweek-old second term by the sights, sounds, and sentiments of the Richmond-Petersburg front—a front that he was loath to leave until Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had finally capitulated to his boys i blue. Lincoln arrived in time for the la major Confederate assault at Petersburg, heard the rattle of musketry along Petersburg’s western front, and walked the streets of Richmond after its evacuation. Throughout it all, he yearned for the war to be over. Indeed, Trudeau argues that Lincoln’s layover at City Point marked him indelibly. During his extended visit, the president reviewed both white and black soldiers; eyed knots of threadbare Confederate prisoners; paced the deck of the River Queen as cannon belched forth their fire in th distance; marveled at civilian homes pocked by shells and a landscape littered with human debris; peppered generals, both with questions and his folksy yarns; clicked battlefield dispatches off to Washington; and, finally, took a sobering stroll throu the wards of the Depot Field Hospital, where men mangled and maimed at Fort Stedman, White Oak Road,
during the battle’s opening phase, quick reaction on the part of the Reb els stemmed what could have turned into a disaster for Maj. Gen. James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart’s cavalry forces. Union division commander Brig. Gen. John Buford led his cavalry into the fray with skill and determination after fighting his way across the Rappahannock River via Beverly Ford. Opportunity for victory went awry when corps commander Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton hesitated in committing reinforcements at critical junctures, and the divisions of Col. Alfred Duffié and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg delayed crossing the river at Kelly’s Ford because Duffié had taken a wrong road in his march to the river. Stuart and his subordinate officers recovered from the initial surprise and shock of the unexpected attack, and rallied to fend off stubbor Union thrusts throughout the day. Fortunately for Stuart, the ineptness of Brig. Gen. Beverly Robertson, whom he considered a most troublesome officer, was offset by Duffié’s ineffectiveness and poor judgment. Though not gaining a victory, and withdrawing from the field as darkness neared, Yankee cavalrymen took solace, given that they had competed well against the previously dominant Rebel horse soldiers. Brandy Station set a pattern for future competitive engagements between these forces.
and Five Forks felt his comforting grip. Serious readers will relish the “Sources Casebook,” a 23page appendix revealing, chapter by chapter, both the author’s interpretive decisions (Trudeau’s account corrects a number of errors in the chronology of the trip, slayi several enduring myths along the way) and his indefatigable research in recondite sources. The book is also handsomely illustrated, not only by period photographs, but also by a number of original maps that retrace Lincoln’s steps and track the progress of the armies. Trudeau makes an airtight case that Lincoln’s trip was significant, but did it change Lincoln’s presiden cy, as the author so boldly announce in the subtitle? Or was it the case the trip merely confirmed Lincoln’s convictions? The president had, after all, tou battlefields, visited hospitals, reviewed troops, encountered African Americans, and come close to combat (at Fort Stevens, on the fringe Washington) before the River Queen docked at City Point. Lincoln unveiled his blueprints for reconstruc tion in December 1863, tussled with the radicals of his own party, and e oquently looked toward the peace— including postwar care for veterans, widows, and orphans—in the lyrical words of his Second Inaugural. The answers to these questions, I suppose, depend upon how literally one interprets Lincoln’s April 1864 avowal to Kentucky newspaperman
A postscript titled “The Road to Gettysburg” states Hooker “remained largely blind” and “unsure of what awaited him” after his army began crossing the Potomac on June 25 at Edward’s Ferry. However, prior to ordering his army across, Hooker learned from observation posts atop Maryland Heights and agents operating in the vicinity of South Mountai that Lee’s army was crossing the Potomac into Maryland and “moving in force into Pennsylvania….” In other words, Hooker’s intelligence assets kept him informed where Lee was, and where he was heading. Appendices cover “The Four Battles of Brandy Station” by Wittenberg, “The Winter Encampment” by Mike Block, and “The Battle of Kelly’s Ford” by Davis. In an afterword Civil War Trust President O. James Lighthizer relates the prolonged
Albert Hodges (Trudeau quotes the letter early in the book) that he “h not controlled events.” Those who believe that Lincoln was a “man of ideas,” firmly in control of both his principles and the progress of the war, will discern herein less change and more continuity. Still, it is difficult to den this was a poignant and emotional episode in the life of Abraham Lincoln and his divided nation. And we cannot resist the urge, perhaps, to parse it as we ponder that perennial question: what if Lincoln had lived? A few minor errors, typographical and otherwise, appear in the text. William Tod Otto, for example, is incorrectly identified as Secretary the Interior (he merely worked for the department), and Elihu Washburne represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives, not the Senate. Nonetheless, Trudeau has made another sterling contribution to the literature, expertly recasting the f days of the rebellion as rising—not falling—action. As such, this fine book deserves both the wide-ranging readership it will attract and t acclaim it will undoubtedly garner. devoured it in two sittings.
Dr. Jordan is Assistant Professor of History at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He is author of Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War (Liveright Publishing, New York, 2015).
struggle to save the battlefield in “The Fight to Preserve Brandy Station,” particularly the dedication a persistence of Clark “Bud” Hall. Hal Jespersen’s maps and numerous battlefield photographs are additional resources in learning about Brandy Station. An order of battle for both Union and Confederate cavalry is included. This compact study presents a detailed description of the many encounters that collectively comprise the Battle of Brandy Station. provides a scholarly analysis of the conflict, and will serve as a welcom resource for anyone planning to visi the battlefield.
Thomas J. Ryan of Bethany Beach DE is author of Spies, Scouts and Secrets in the Gettysburg Campaign (Savas Beatie, 2015).
The Red River Campaign and Its Toll: 69 Bloody Days in Louisiana, March-May 1864. By Henry O. Robertson. Photos, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index,
The invasion of northwestern Lou isiana by Federal forces in the spr of 1864 was launched with several different objectives. From capturin the Confederate headquarters of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi in Shreveport, to serving as a laun ing point for a further invasion of Texas, the campaign ultimately failed. But while several works examine the military impact of the campaign, the social history that t war had on the area during this per od has never been explored. The relationships between civilians and t military are an untapped resources Robertson explores in this work.
Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks. (Library of Congres)
The Red River Campaign was part of a two pronged invasion in Confederate Trans-Mississippi. Th southern portion of the attack mo up the Red River from southeaster Louisiana in an effort to take Shreveport. A Federal army under the command of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks was accompanied by a flotilla of ironclads and other warships unde the command of Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter. These forces were opposed by Confederate troops under the command of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, with field command i Louisiana taken by Lt. Gen. Richa Taylor. Union forces slowly moved up t river while the Confederate force retreated in the face of the adva Some small-scale engagements took place but major actions were avoided. Eventually Taylor attack
the Federals at Mansfield, in spite an order from Smith to avoid a major engagement. The battle was a major Confederate victory, stopping the Union advance and forcing the Federal troops to retreat to the small town of Plea ant Hill. The Confederates launched more attacks the next day, but Banks was able to repulse these efforts. D ciding not to continue the advance t Shreveport, Banks began to lead his army back down the Red River. The naval force was temporarily trapped near Alexandria due to low water but the boats were able to escape. Robertson, a professor of history at Louisiana College in Pineville, does an admirable job relating campaign events to readers. Written aft years of research, the work utilizes many primary sources in an effort to bring the voice of common soldiers to the reader. The major problem with this work is the fact that it focuses on the s cial history of the campaign while including information about the military aspects. This makes the title a bit misleading, especially for readers who expect a work focused on the campaign’s military history. Those read ers would be better served by picking up another title that explores t Red River Campaign. This title would be a perfect selection for readers who are unfamiliar with the Red River Campaign and need an overview of the events as they transpired, as well as the social history of the area.
David Sesser is Collections Librarian at the Huie Library, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Ark.
The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863. By Robert Orrison and Dan Welch. Illustrated, photos, maps, 19
In September 1958 Dr. James I. Robertson Jr. (who was also my graduate professor at Virginia Tech) observed in Civil War History that the Civil War “lives on with vitalit through many pens and presses.” Although Robertson’s observation is as true today as it was on the ev of the Civil War centennial, nothing makes the Civil War more tangible than visiting the places where soldiers of blue and gray once trod, fought, camped and sacrificed. While millions visit Civil War sites each year, no single place is more popular than Gettysburg. Visitors to Gettysburg have a plethora o sources available to guide them over those hallowed fields, but what they did not have—until the release of th fine book—was a succinct and comprehensive guide that offered access to the many places through which the Army of Northern Virginia and Army of the Potomac marched, skirmished and camped en route to Gettysburg and the places those armies passed through during the Confederate retreat from Pennsylvania. Authors Rob Orrison and Dan Welch, both of whom possess significant experience in public histor and education, have produced a first rate guide book. The authors organize the guide into five main chapters, four of
which contain tours. The first chapter covers the Confederate advance into Pennsylvania and begins in Culpeper, Va., and ends at Gettysburg. The second chapter follows the path of the Union armies into the Keystone State starting at Chatham in Fredericksburg, Va. In the third chapter Orrison and Welch trace the route of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s exploits from the Battle of Aldie Mill to his arrival at Gen. Ro ert E. Lee’s Headquarters on July 2, 1863. After offering a brief overvie of the Battle of Gettysburg in the fourth chapter, Welch and Orrison examine the retreat from Gettysburg, starting in Fairfield, Pa., and term nating in Williamsport, Md., in the guide’s final chapter. Throughout the guide, which includes a total of 87 stops, the authors offer succinct summaries of the significance of each site, detailed driving directions and GPS coordinates. Sevente maps by the incomparable Hal Jespersen dramatically enhance the volume. Additionally, the authors do an excellent job of succinctly contextualizing the campaign’s origins and consequences. However, this guidebook does much more than provide context and offer a litany of stops tracking the movement of troops from one point to the next. The authors’ use of pri mary accounts throughout the book allows readers to connect with Union and Confederate soldiers and understand what they felt at various poin in the campaign. Furthermore, the authors offer in sight into the ways in which Union and Confederate soldiers interacted with civilian populations during the campaign. Orrison and Welch’s volume is a first-rate guidebook that is an essential addition to the mammoth amount of literature on the Gettysburg Campaign. There is no doubt that this book will assume its place alongside J. David Petruzzi’s The Complete Gettysburg Guide (2009) and Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler’s A Field Guide to Gettysburg (2013) as an essential tool for studying one of the Civil War’s most iconic campaigns.
Dr. Jonathan Noyalas is author, most recently, of Civil War Legacy in the Shenandoah: Remembrance, Reunion, and Reconciliation (History Press, 2015).
