Booknotes V (May '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams: Leader of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and the 8th U.S. Cavalry by Robert W. Lull (Univ of N Tex Pr, 2013).

This military biography of Williams should serve to bring some needed attention to Civil War events in the Indian Territory and bordering T-M Confederate states, as well as more detail on the fighting career of the 1st Kansas Colored infantry regiment.

2. North Carolina Civil War Monuments: An Illustrated History by Douglas J. Butler (McFarland, 2013).

"This illustrated history details North Carolina's commemorative response to a war in which more than 30,000 of its soldiers died in military service: 101 Confederate monuments--and eight Union memorials, including one honoring African American troops--were dedicated across the Tarheel State between 1865 and the Civil War centennial in 1961. The location, design, funding and dedication of these memorials reveal a society's evolving grief and the forging of public memory. Committee minutes, financial records, legal documents, and contemporaneous accounts highlight the challenging and often contentious process through which these monuments were realized. Manufacturers' catalogs and advertisements, as well as spirited editorial exchanges in newspapers and magazines, provide further insight into the sculptural, technological and cultural milieu".

3. The Civil War in 50 Objects by Harold Holzer & The NY Hist Society (Viking, 2013).

This book recounts the war through 50 historical items held in the NYHS's collection.

Spurgeon: "A KANSAS SOLDIER AT WAR: The Civil War Letters of Christian and Elise Dubach Isely"

[A Kansas Soldier at War: The Civil War Letters of Christian and Elise Dubach Isely by Ken Spurgeon (The History Press, 2013). Softcover, 2 maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:161/187. ISBN:978-1-62619-015-3 $21.99]

Swiss immigrant husband and wife Christian and Elise Isely were residing in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1861. A Douglas Democrat, Christian, perhaps through his experience of the border troubles of the 1850s, was more anti-slavery and pro-Union than his parents and siblings living in Winesburg, Ohio. When Civil War broke out, he decided to enlist in the 2nd Kansas Cavalry, leaving his politically like-minded wife behind in Missouri. Their hundreds of letters to each other comprise the backbone of Ken Spurgeon's A Kansas Soldier at War. Eschewing the typical format of published Civil War correspondence, the author instead incorporates letter excerpts of various length into a narrative structure.

It is obvious from the pair's always affectionate writings that they were extremely devoted to one another. It also becomes immediately apparent to the reader that a common religious faith was an integral part of their marital bond. Even in an era where such sentiments were commonly expressed in letters, their pervasiveness in the Isely correspondence makes it clear that spiritual considerations were deeply embedded in all aspects of their lives.

In contrast to his brother Henry's service with the Union army in South Carolina and Virginia, Christian experienced little in the way of direct combat, so readers looking forward to information about the fighting in the Trans-Mississippi will be somewhat disappointed. For an extended period, Christian was detached from the regiment to man the defenses of Fort Leavenworth. When he finally did join the 2nd Kansas Cavalry in the field, most of his combat experience was in fighting guerrillas. His most detailed account of a specific battle is for Devil's Backbone, a September 1863 fight in Arkansas that remains little regarded in the literature. Before mustering out at the expiration of his enlistment in fall 1864, he also participated in the Camden Expedition, though it is unclear from the passive nature of the selected excerpts what he actually experienced firsthand.

What I found most interesting was the stormy relationship between the couple and the Iselys in Ohio, who were all anti-war Democrats. As mentioned above, Christian was also a Democrat [he and his wife gave their first son, who unfortunately died as an infant, the middle name "McClellan"], but repeatedly clashed with his parents and brothers over fighting a destructive war to reunite the country and abolish slavery. When heated acrimony threatened permanent schism, Elise would always entreat her husband to preserve family relations and never allow politics to interfere with personal regard. However, emotions seemed to always be on edge.  Elise herself resided with the Ohio Iselys for a lengthy period during the war, a situation that resulted in many uncomfortable moments but also likely helped keep the family intact. When both of Christian's brothers were drafted, Henry chose to report while the other purchased a substitute. Henry, who remained a critic of the Lincoln administration while in the army, deeply resented Christian's "Copperhead" accusations while the younger Isely was fighting and bleeding for the country. He even reenlisted while Christian left the army for home. Even so, with the help of Elise (who liked Henry very much when met him in Ohio), their strained relationship never reached the breaking point.

While it will disappoint some readers that full transcriptions of the family correspondence are not available, A Kansas Soldier at War is a valuable publication. Published Trans-Mississippi soldier letters remain rare so those with a special interest in the war in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory will find Spurgeon's work useful. While the book's contribution to the military historiography may be limited, as a social historical case study of the conflicts of conscience experienced by countless families during the Civil War, it is quite insightful.

Booknotes IV (May '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Chancellorsville's Forgotten Front: The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church, May 3, 1863 by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher White (Savas Beatie, 2013).

Savas Beatie is releasing a small flood of Chancellorsville related titles this year (including two about Jackson's demise). The first full length study of these two [Salem Church and 2nd Fredericksburg] critically important elements of the larger Chancellorsville campaign and battle, this book is highly anticipated.

2. Calamity at Chancellorsville: The Wounding and Death of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson by Matthew Lively (Savas Beatie, 2013).

This book seeks to set the record straight on the many questions [e.g."If he wasn't wounded where history has recorded, then who delivered the fatal volley? How many times did he fall from the stretcher? What medical treatment did he receive? What type of amputation did Dr. Hunter McGuire perform? Did Jackson really utter his famous last words, 'Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees?' What was the cause of his death?"] surrounding Jackson's friendly fire incident and subsequent death.

3. Lincoln Dreamt He Died: The Midnight Visions of Remarkable Americans from Colonial Times to Freud by Andrew Burstein (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013).

An examination of how dreams of famous American historical figures influenced their waking lives, subjects include Civil War era historical and literary personages like Lincoln, Alcott, and Twain.

4. Little Women: An Annotated Edition by Louisa May Alcott, ed. by Daniel Shealy (Belknap, 2013).

A heavy, oversized illustrated tome, this edition is presented with two columns, Alcott's text on the left and Shealy's biographical, cultural, and language references on the right. I'm not sure why Harvard sent me a copy of this one, but it's possible they think I need more literary refinement in the midst of all this military history.

Barnickel: "MILLIKEN'S BEND: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory"

[ Milliken's Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory by Linda Barnickel (Louisiana State University Press, 2013). Hardcover, maps, photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:203/308. ISBN:9780807149928 $39.95]

The military side of the Battle of Milliken's Bend has been well documented in book chapters and articles written by Civil War in the Mississippi Valley experts Ed Bearss, Warren Grabau, Terrence Winschel, and Richard Lowe. However, Linda Barnickel's Milliken's Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory is the first study to examine in depth the clash's political and cultural background and meaning. It is also the first book length treatment.  Several 1863 battles involving biracial Union armies were fought around the same time, Port Hudson (May 27), Milliken's Bend (June 7, 1863), and Fort Wagner (July 18), but the U.S. command at Milliken's Bend was the only one composed almost entirely of black troops^* [a detachment of 120 men from the 23rd Iowa were the only white soldiers present, excepting the officers leading the other regiments].

Well researched and presented background material in several areas provides useful context for what follows.  Initially, the Union army's recruitment of black soldiers was poorly organized.  De facto conscription by aggressive recruiters disrupted the labor pool of the government's contract plantation system in NE Louisiana. Even with these unscrupulous operators, considering the available manpower, too many new regiments were authorized at the same time, with the result that all were understrength [the three Louisiana regiments and the 1st Mississippi at Milliken's Bend together numbered just over 1,000 men].  Predictably, these efforts did not sit well with Confederate soldiers and civilians.  Fears of violent slave revolt ran deep in areas like NE Louisiana, where whites were greatly outnumbered.  Here, Barnickel mines the writings of Milliken's Bend resident Kate Stone as a representative example of the views and experiences of slaveholding civilians living under a Union occupation that instantly raised the local threat level and permanently altered relations between the races. Thoughts and concerns surrounding servile insurrection also occupied the minds of soldiers. As the Confederate troops that fought at Milliken's Bend were from Texas (McCulloch's brigade of Walker's Texas Division), it is not unreasonable to assume the previous year's incendiary outbreak (blamed at the time on abolitionist agitators but later thought be caused by defective "prairie matches") was fresh in their minds.  Equating the Union army's deployment of black troops with inciting a race war at home, Confederates did not consider the enemy soldiers at Milliken's Bend to be legitimate combatants. The Texans thus had many reasons to be highly motivated on June 7.   Dueling U.S. and Confederate official policies dealing with the legal standing of black soldiers and their treatment, as well as that of their white officers, after capture are also explored.

In many modern academic studies of this type, coverage of the battle itself is a very secondary concern, but Barnickel's account, though brief, is acceptable. Others have written more detailed treatments, but this book covers the key points and basic flow of events. Both sides were roughly equal in strength, but, even though the Union brigade under Colonel Lieb was situated in a strong defensive position with flank protection and a pair of levies in front strengthened by cotton bales, the trained but combat inexperienced Texans rapidly drove the raw black recruits and the Iowa veterans back to the riverbank, where timely naval gunboat support discouraged any further assaults. Union casualties were heavy (119 killed, 241 wounded, and 132 captured out of 1,148 present), with Confederate losses estimated at less than 200. The author suggests that animosity felt between the absent white cavalry companies and the officers and men of the brigade to which they were attached as scouts might have been detrimental to Union preparations for the attack. Command level officer turnover in the African Brigade just prior to the Battle of Milliken's Bend could also have contributed to battlefield confusion and high casualties.

With longstanding accusations of atrocities associated with the battle, it is no surprise that much attention in the book is paid to the aftermath of Milliken's Bend.  The author acknowledges the impossibility of determining the fate of all the soldiers captured at the Bend, but there's no indication a massacre occurred and many of the prisoners were apparently returned to slavery and shipped to Texas [several actually returned to their old regiments with the end of the war in 1865]. It was a different matter with the three white officers captured during the battle. While one eventually was released, circumstantial evidence points to the other two being killed in some extralegal manner. By whom and under whose orders remains unknown, but the author suggests that Confederate cavalry may have been responsible, either the 15th Louisiana Cavalry battalion or Parsons's Texas brigade (the latter accused on several occasions of killing black prisoners and civilians).

Remembrance of Milliken's Bend comprises the book's final section. Barnickel posits that the post-war writings that continued to claim that a massacre occurred were often the result of geographical and temporal confusion. The author notes that several battles and skirmishes were fought at Mississippi river posts garrisoned by black soldiers around the same time period, and writers, newspaper reporters, and aged memoirists seem to have merged events or mistaken one for another. Citing Milliken's Bend veterans, the author also joins a growing number of historians challenging historian David Blight's influential thesis that black soldiers were essentially abandoned by their white comrades in the post-war reconciliation period. This section also discusses more recent efforts to memorialize the battle at Vicksburg National Military Park and other places (the site itself has been washed away). At least in terms of getting Milliken's Bend recognized at the heavily visited Vicksburg park, the effort appears to have been successful, although perhaps too much so if Tim Kavanaugh's claim that, as of 2011, the battle "has more interpretive space at the Vicksburg visitor's center than Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, and Big Black River combined." (pg. 179) is accurate.

Linda Barnickel's Milliken's Bend finally gives the battle and the men that fought it their proper due. It truly was a small battle with significant consequences, among them an inspiring effect on black recruitment in the North, a compelling reason for white Union soldiers and civilians to reevaluate their racial prejudices, and a prominent role in the breakdown of the prisoner exchange system. This study is an exhaustively researched gem and a model for future combined battle and memory studies.

* - I don't mean to slight the significance of Island Mound, fought by the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, but the numbers engaged in the much earlier October 29, 1862 encounter in Missouri pale in comparison to the battles mentioned above.


More CWBA reviews of LSUP titles:
* Battle of Stones River: The Forgotten Conflict Between the Confederate Army of Tennessee and the Union Army of the Cumberland
* Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates
* The Last Battle of the Civil War: United States Versus Lee, 1861-1883
* Confederate Guerrilla: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia
* Lincoln and Citizens' Rights in Civil War Missouri: Balancing Freedom and Security
* War No More: The Antiwar Impulse in American Literature, 1861-1914
* Isham G. Harris of Tennessee: Confederate Governor and United States Senator
* Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty, and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Carolina Community 1861-1865
* Mosquito Soldiers: Malaria, Yellow Fever, and the Course of the American Civil War
* Homegrown Yankees: Tennessee's Union Cavalry in the Civil War
* John Bankhead Magruder: A Military Reappraisal
* A Wisconsin Yankee in the Confederate Bayou Country: The Civil War Reminiscences of a Union General
* Bleeding Borders: Race, Gender, and Violence in Pre-Civil War Kansas
* Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era
* Where Men Only Dare to Go Or the Story of a Boy Company, C.S.A.
* Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks
* Walker’s Texas Division, C.S.A.: Greyhounds of the Trans-Mississippi
* The Confederate Cherokees: John Drew's Regiment of Mounted Rifles
* A Crisis In Confederate Command: Edmund Kirby Smith, Richard Taylor, And The Army Of The Trans-Mississippi
* The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock

Campaign to Nowhere reprint

I never thought I would see David Smith's Campaign to Nowhere, the best history of the 1863-64 military maneuvers in Upper East Tennessee post-Knoxville 'siege', ever get reprinted. Before now, just finding a copy of this heavily illustrated oversize paperback was practically impossible.  If you're interested in the subject, have a go at it. It's worth it.

On the perils of reviewing

This piece by John Stackhouse -- Why You Should Review–and Shouldn’t -- doesn't apply to my situation but is an interesting commentary on academic book reviewing and human nature.  It also recalls to mind the late John Y. Simon's quip that it's better to write a positive endorsement of a bad book than lose a friend.

Remember this the next time the glowing jacket blurbs for a drearily unoriginal book written by a widely admired Civil War historian raises your bile.

Booknotes III (May '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864 by Hampton Newsome (Kent State UP, 2013).

Newsome covers the series of October 1864 battles fought east of Richmond and south of Petersburg while also reminding readers how mindful both sides were of how their results might affect the following month's presidential election.

2. The Battle of Pickett's Mill: Along the Dead Line by Brad Butkovich (The History Pr, 2013).

This book looks like a solid overview of the battle, accompanied by numerous and detailed maps.

3. Confederate General William "Extra Billy" Smith: From Virginia's Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat by Scott L. Mingus Sr. (Savas Beatie, 2013).

Colorful political generals can usually attract a biographer or two, but Mingus is the first to attempt a full treatment of the man most famous for his good old boy corruption and his controversial place in Gettysburg lore.

4. Suppliers to the Confederacy: British Imported Arms and Accoutrements by Craig L. Barry and David C. Burt (Schiffer Pub, 2013).

With over 150 color photos, this is a beautifully presented historical catalog of British manufactured pistols, rifles, and accoutrements secreted through the blockade for the benefit of Confederate arms.

Erwin: "GUERRILLA HUNTERS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI"

[Guerrilla Hunters in Civil War Missouri by James W. Erwin (The History Press, 2013) Softcover, maps, photos, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:128/141. ISBN:978-1-60949-745-3 $19.99]

From the 1861-62 winter period onward, the federally funded Missouri State Militia (MSM) was the primary counter-guerrilla force in the state. Fourteen regiments were raised, composing something under 15,000 men, as well as a small number of battalions, artillery batteries, and independent companies (although subsequent reorganizations and consolidations reduced these numbers).

In confronting Confederate cavalry forces, several units, such as the 3rd, 7th, and 8th MSM, performed on a level belying the typical dismissive attitude most observers held regarding the reliability of Civil War militia organizations.  On the other hand, in terms of treatment of civilians and enemy prisoners, the reputation of the MSM was not a spotless one, with atrocities committed on both sides. Unfortunately, their significant service remains almost entirely overshadowed by the vast and still rapidly growing literature devoted to the guerrillas themselves. Not a single full MSM regimental history has been published. If nothing else, James Erwin's Guerrilla Hunters in Civil War Missouri brings some much deserved attention to these militiamen and their units.

Erwin's book is neither a comprehensive treatment of the organization and operations of the MSM nor an attempt at a social and demographic analysis of its membership. Instead, it is a selective (but geographically inclusive) narrative history of units and individuals. Brief accounts of battles fought by MSM units against guerrillas, Confederate recruitment expeditions, and cavalry raids are present, as well as profiles of prominent leaders like Odon Guitar and Bazel Lazear. In addition to these, Erwin also offers readers glimpses into the ranks, following the stories of a half dozen or so enlisted men. The 3rd MSM's George Wolz, especially, is present throughout the book. Other organizations, like the Enrolled Missouri Militia (EMM)^*, are also briefly mentioned. The book's photography is strong, and includes some rarely seen images, an example of which is an excellent group photo of a blockhouse garrison of EMM with their distinctive strips of white cloth secured around their hats (necessary to identify the otherwise non-uniformed combatants).

On the downside, the bibliography is thin and the text is undocumented. There are a few noticeable errors spread about, including the author's unfortunate decision to present both sides of the fictional Pulliam's Farm Massacre, as if the thoroughly discredited claims of a mass killing of pro-Confederate civilians at that location remain open to debate. While Guerrilla Hunters in Civil War Missouri doesn't offer new information for seasoned readers, author James Erwin deserves credit for bringing the subject of the Missouri State Militia to a potentially wider audience. No other book length publication has done this, in popular or scholarly format, and there's real value in that.

* - if you find the array of Civil War Missouri militia formations bewildering, I would suggest Kirby Ross's Missouri Militias as an excellent introduction.

Booknotes II (May '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Los Angeles in Civil War Days, 1860-1865 by John W. Robinson (U of Oklahoma Pr, 2013).

When I first heard that this book was in the pipeline, I wrongly assumed it was a new title. A first edition of 300 copies was published 30 years ago by Dawson's Book Shop in LA. Used copies are extremely difficult to find so UOP is to be commended for reprinting this scarcity.

2. Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by Allen C. Guelzo (Knopf, 2013).

It is easy to imagine that a Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College might be bitten by the bug carrying the 'I think I'll write a big Gettysburg battle book' virus, but seeing Guelzo's name attached to a 500 page campaign history is surprising nonetheless. Good for him for stepping out of the career comfort zone. The publisher makes the lofty claim that: "Of the half-dozen full-length histories of the battle of Gettysburg written over the last century, none dives down so closely to the experience of the individual soldier, or looks so closely at the sway of politics over military decisions, or places the battle so firmly in the context of nineteenth-century military practice".

3. The History of the Sixteenth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Volume 1): We Were Spoiling for a Fight April 1861-August 1862, The History of the Sixteenth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Volume II): No Hope of Getting Out Alive - Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Chattanooga September 1862-December 1863, and The Battle of Perryville and the Sixteenth Tennessee Infantry Regiment: A Re-evaluation by Jamie Gillum (Author, 2011-12).

A self-published regimental history trilogy for the Confederate 16th Tennessee VI, the third volume is a micro-history of the unit's participation in the Battle of Perryville. We know how these things usually go, but delving into this set looks worthwhile.

Booknotes (May '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Rethinking Shiloh: Myth and Memory by Timothy B. Smith (U of Tenn Pr, 2013).

Sort of a follow up to The Untold Story of Shiloh, this new collection has nine essays (presumably original in part or whole). From the description: "The topics range from a compelling analysis and description of the last hours of General Albert Sidney Johnston to the effect of the New Deal on Shiloh National Military Park and, subsequently, our understanding of the battle. Smith’s careful analyses and research bring attention to the many relatively unexplored parts of Shiloh such as the terrain, the actual route of Lew Wallace’s march, and post-battle developments that affect currently held perceptions of that famed clash between Union and Confederate armies in West Tennessee".

2. The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy's Greatest Icon by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White (Savas Beatie, 2013).

This new paperback is a revised and expanded edition of the authors's 2010 Thomas Publications hardcover of the same main title (and part of Savas Beatie's lavishly illustrated series Emerging Civil War). The 2nd edition has numerous appendices, looking at subjects like Jackson's Lexington, his post-mortem legacy, and the physical monuments dedicated to him.

3. Columns of Vengeance: Soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864 by Paul N. Beck (U of Oklahoma Pr, 2013).

Among the battles covered in Beck's brief overview are Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, Stony Lake, Whitestone Hill, and Killdeer Mountain. Also of interest is Beck's attempt to revive the Civil War context of these campaigns.

Faller: "THE INDIANA JACKASS REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL WAR: A History of the 21st Infantry / 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment, with a Roster"

[ The Indiana Jackass Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 21st Infantry / 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment, with a Roster by Phillip E. Faller (McFarland 800-253-2187, 2013). Softcover, 23 maps, photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:272/375. ISBN:978-0-7864-7046-4 $45]

Its formation authorized by the Indiana legislature in June 1861, the 21st Indiana Volunteer Infantry organized and trained at camps Morton and Sullivan under the command of Colonel James W. McMillan. Sent to Baltimore, the men saw their first "action" clearing Virginia's Eastern Shore. Ordered in March 1862 to embark for Ship Island as part of Benjamin Butler's New Orleans expedition, the Hoosiers did not stay in the east long. After spending a time manning the Crescent City defenses and conducting operations in the swamps opposite, the 21st was shipped north to occupied Baton Rouge, where they played an important role in repulsing the August 5, 1862 Confederate assault on the Louisiana capital city. After the battle, they returned to the LaFourche District.

In an unusual turn of events, the entire regiment was converted to heavy artillery in February 1863. Their first major operation as the newly designated 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery was against Fort Bisland during Nathaniel Banks's Bayou Teche Campaign. In May, most of the 1st was sent to Port Hudson (Company F was left behind in the LaFourche), where the companies were parceled out among the besieging batteries. They served there for the duration of the long, bloody siege. Later, a detachment accompanied Banks's Red River expedition. After reorganization subsequent to the expiration of the original enlistment period, the 1st participated in the closing of Mobile Bay and the later siege and capture of the inner forts protecting the port city of Mobile itself.

Well researched and with an abundantly detailed narrative, Phillip Faller's The Indiana Jackass Regiment in the Civil War is a remarkable regimental history. In addition to providing a fine account of the 21st regiment's place in the Battle of Baton Rouge itself, a very good overview of the entire engagement is provided [deserving of recognition alongside the earlier work of Ed Bearss and Thomas Richey]. The maps for this section are among the best ever created for this battle. Every bit as good are the sections covering the 21st/1st's various periods of service in SW Louisiana. Students of the 1862-63 fighting along the railroad, bayous, bays, and lakes in this hotly contested area will greatly benefit from Faller's research. However, as impressive as all these finely crafted components are, perhaps the most significant historical value resides in the Port Hudson chapters, meticulous depictions of field and siege artillery operations that go far beyond just the actions of the 1st Indiana.

When the subject of Union heavy artillery regiments is raised, the thoughts of most Civil War readers and scholars undoubtedly are directed toward those unfortunate units repurposed from static Washington garrison duty to active service as line infantry with an Army of the Potomac bled white during the 1864 Overland Campaign. Faller deserves credit for not only moving the discussion to the western theater, but also for enhancing the historiography with easily the best unit history of a heavy artillery regiment performing its originally intended branch of service specialization. Supplemental material in the form of detailed order of battle data, lists, and charts rewards the more serious student with a wealth of battery armament, munitions, unit position, and firing range data for Baton Rouge, Bisland, Port Hudson, Spanish Fort, and Fort Blakely. For the Port Hudson siege, the author's research into the artillery used by both sides corrects the historical record in several areas, including battery commander names and gun tube classifications.

Overall, there's not much to complain about beyond the need for another round of copyediting. If one really wants to quibble, the rest of the maps don't match the refined quality of the excellent Battle of Baton Rouge series. But these are only minor reservations that don't detract significantly from what is an exceptionally good unit study. Many audiences will appreciate this book. While the extensive officer biographies common to books of this type are not present here, those interested in Indiana's Civil War soldier perspectives will nevertheless find copious first hand information gleaned from manuscripts and other primary source materials, as well as a detailed roster. As one might guess from the descriptions above, artillery students are in for a real treat. Finally, significant light is shed on the oft neglected Civil War in SW Louisiana. Even those already familiar with the work of Christopher Pena, Donald Frazier, Art Bergeron, and others will find much to consider. To these individuals, and really anyone with a desire to read something truly off the beaten path of Civil War publishing, The Indiana Jackass Regiment in the Civil War is highly recommended.

[I may have missed it, but I don't recall specific mention of the origins of the "Jackass Regiment" moniker, or how the men felt about it. The infantry regiment had a mule-drawn battery of captured guns attached to it, and perhaps the siege guns were largely transported by mule. The men might also have been temporarily mounted on the beasts for a specific mission a la Joe Mower's Jackass Cavalry.]

Greyhound Commander

Reader Don H. notified me that the next LSUP catalog is already available. Gordon Rhea fans will lament yet another year passing with no final volume from his Overland Campaign series.  The one that interests me most is a primary source history edited by Richard Lowe and titled Greyhound Commander: Confederate General John G. Walker’s History of the Civil War West of the Mississippi (September 2013). From the description:

"While a political refugee in London, former Confederate general John G. Walker wrote a history of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River. Walker’s account, composed shortly after the war and unpublished until now, remains one of only two memoirs by high-ranking Confederate officials who fought in the Trans Mississippi theater. Edited and expertly annotated by Richard Lowe—author of the definitive history of Walker’s Texas division—the general’s insightful narrative describes firsthand his experience and many other military events west of the great river."

Others directly Civil War-related:
Confederate General William Dorsey Pender: The Hope of Glory by Brian Steel Wills.
Apocalypse and the Millennium in the American Civil War Era edited by Ben Wright and Zachary W. Dresser.

Booknotes VI (Apr '13)

New Arrivals:

1. A Kansas Soldier at War: The Civil War Letters of Christian and Elise Dubach Isely by Ken Spurgeon (The History Pr, 2013).

This is a welcome study of a soldier who served in the Trans-Mississippi with the 2nd Kansas Cavalry. Isely's letters to his wife are not reproduced in full but rather as excerpts integrated into a narrative. I am not yet sure if arrangements have been made to make the full letter transcriptions available online.

2. Guerrilla Hunters in Civil War Missouri by James W. Erwin (The History Pr, 2013).

Rather than a high level overview of the counterinsurgency campaign in Missouri (though there are probably elements present), this book appears to concern itself instead with geographically representative individual accounts.

Quist & Birkner (eds.): "JAMES BUCHANAN AND THE COMING OF THE CIVIL WAR"

[James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War edited by John W. Quist and Michael J. Birkner (University Press of Florida, 2013). Hardcover, notes, index. 299 pp. ISBN:9780813044262 $69.95]

The man many historians rate as the worst American president isn't the object of much genuine reflection in the modern Civil War era historiography. This certainly isn't the case in editors John Quist and Michael Birkner's James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War, a compilation of meaty essays dealing with the entirety of Old Buck's time in office. The nine chapters [8 essays by eight different scholars and an interview with William Freehling and Michael Holt] range in tone from partly sympathetic to downright hostile. As one might guess, none attempt a complete rehabilitation of the image of Buchanan but several offer compelling reasons to temper popular disdain for the Pennsylvanian Democrat.

Historian Jean Baker and legal scholar Paul Finkelman author the two most fervently condemnatory articles. Finkelman is critical of Buchanan's support for the Dred Scott decision and expresses considerable dismay at the unethical lengths Buchanan was willing to go to pressure wavering justices. The writer presents the latter as an extraordinary breach of the separation of powers, but undermines his own case by admitting in the notes what the more cynical reader already suspected, namely that politicians meddling with court cases was not unprecedented in the history of nineteenth century American governance. Finkelman's view that an early demonstration of Jacksonian resolve could have headed off the spread of secession strikes one as both a misreading of the Nullification Crisis and a misjudgment of the political realities of 1860. Baker is alone among the writers in considering Buchanan to be quasi-disunionist, a man with such deeply ingrained pro-Southern sympathies that every decision, whether consciously or unconsciously made, furthered secessionist interests. More persuasive are those that paint a picture of a solid unionist whose ideas of limited government could not countenance the type of executive action that might precipitate sectional warfare. Buchanan's essential determination that secession was illegal but the president lacked the constitutional means to prevent any state from doing it is an intellectually confounding construct for sure, but one wishes the view had been treated with enough seriousness to at least inspire a detailed critique of it somewhere in the volume.

Of course, there was more to Buchanan's presidency than the secession crisis and several essays address these topics. Nicole Etcheson applies her considerable "Bleeding Kansas" expertise to Buchanan's handling of the Lecompton Constitution, the legacy of which was a deep wedge driven between northern and southern Democrats and political enmity between the president and 1860 election hopeful Stephen Douglas. John Belohlavek's contribution reminds readers of the foreign policy successes of the Buchanan administration, those that advanced American security and/or business interests in Asia, the Pacific Northwest, Central America, and the Caribbean. One of the better articles is William MacKinnon's analysis of the Utah crisis and military expedition. MacKinnon credits the president with finally addressing the problem of Brigham Young's theocratic governorship of Utah Territory, a thorny issue sidestepped by predecessor Franklin Pierce. On the other hand, the writer argues persuasively that Buchanan bungled the Utah situation with poor leadership appointments, badly informed decisions on the use of the military, deficiencies in establishing communications, and burdening the country with a huge debt load. An interesting question is whether any useful comparisons can be made between how Buchanan handled this first instance of rebellion and the second far more serious one. The answer remains unclear, but MacKinnon notes that it is not unreasonable to suppose that bad memories of decisive federal action in Utah informed a more passive approach to southern secession. MacKinnon also remarks upon the research of Jane Flaherty, whose work enumerating the considerable cost of the Utah War found that the abysmal condition of the federal treasury at the time of the 1860 election undoubtedly constrained Lincoln's options early on. Different from Etcheson, Belohlavek, and MacKinnon, Michael Morrison takes a more general look at Buchanan's presidential leadership. Along with the Freehling and Holt interview, his contribution makes the case that Democratic Party corruption was a significant campaign issue in 1860, a factor still underappreciated in the literature. Michael Holt mentions in the interview section that historian Michael Burlingame remains adamant that Republican use of the corruption issue was vital to Lincoln's electoral victory. If that be the case, or something close to it, one wishes that an essay more specifically devoted to corruption was solicited for this compilation.

Finally, readers are taken back to the secession crisis with articles by William Shade and Daniel Crofts. Shade summarizes the response to secession above the Mason-Dixon Line, emphasizing the fragmented nature of northern political opinion. Daniel Crofts takes the novel approach of viewing the crisis through the lens of Buchanan's relationship with Secretary of War Joseph Holt, a rare Lincoln administration figure who continued to view his first presidential boss with warm respect. Predictably, opinions of Buchanan's handling of the secession crisis vary among the contributors. Crofts formulates his own perspective especially well, and there does seem to be a wider willingness among the writers to at least consider a more respectful appreciation of Buchanan's actions (and inaction) in the face of an unprecedented political catastrophe. Paramount to Buchanan during his last few months in office was the avoidance of a shooting war, the maintenance of Border and Upper South states within the Union, and the buying of time for compromise to exert itself as it had always done in the past. All of this was achieved, although at the cost of allowing federal arsenals and other Deep South government properties to be confiscated without opposition or stern warning. Buchanan could not have known that compromise or reassurance was impossible with a silent president-elect and immoveable Republican legislators. What could or should have been done to prevent further federal humiliations in the form of installation seizures in the southern states remains controversial, but the preponderance of evidence supports wider secession and an immediate outbreak of general war rather than some kind of fantasy that would involve southern hotheads backing down. Unmentioned in the book is the immense difficulties bloodshed of several month's duration would have conferred upon the nuts and bolts transfer of power to Lincoln, a situation made even more difficult given the drastic change from a Democratic establishment to a brand new political organization of untested unity. Really, if one compares the actions of Buchanan to those of Lincoln between his inauguration and the firing on Fort Sumter there is little to choose between the two.

James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War is not a rehabilitation of the current image of the 15th president of the United States, nor was it intended to be, but what it is is a much needed, and satisfyingly comprehensive, reassessment of the Buchanan presidency from a variety of informed perspectives. This is one of the must-read political history books of the year. While the hefty price tag will likely preclude its addition to most home libraries, it is sincerely hoped that most academic institutions and many public libraries will add this exceptional compilation to their collection.


More CWBA reviews of UPF titles:
* A Civil War Gunboat in Pacific Waters: Life on Board USS Saginaw
* Thunder on the River: The Civil War in Northeast Florida
* The Southern Mind Under Union Rule: The Diary of James Rumley, Beaufort, North Carolina, 1862-1865
* A Brief Guide to Florida's Monuments and Memorials
* Huts and History: The Historical Archaeology of Military Encampment During the American Civil War
* Archaeological Perspectives on the American Civil War