Florida Leading the Historiography Charge!

   There have been tens of thousands of books written about the war. Even with that seemingly gluttonous number, there are huge gaps in that historiography. For the longest time, Florida seemed to be lagging behind in that quest to document that history. There were just a handful of books – Dickison and His Men (1890), Civil War in Florida  (1899), Florida During the Civil War (1975), Confederate Florida; The Road to Olustee (1990),  Blockaders, Refugees, and Contraband: Civil War on Florida’s Gulf Coast, 1861-1865 (1993), or the volumes that Lewis G. Schmidt wrote in the late 1980 and early 1990s.

   However, in the twenty-first century, the sunshine state has really been making up for lost time. Now there are numerous forays into the history of Florida and the war, as evidenced by the list below. This list is not conclusive. It only looks at books published in the last two decades or so. And, there are several books not included. Claude Kenneson has several books looking at Civil War Veterans buried in various Florida cemeteries. But, is there a state that has done a better job? These books are from both academic presses and public presses, with a few self-published as well. I do not have all of these, nor have I read them all. I think other states need to catch up!

 

Thunder on the River: the Civil War in Northeast Florida (University Press of Florida, 2010) Daniel L. Schafer

The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida: The Confederate Defense of Tallahassee (Dale Cox, 2010) Dale Cox

A Small but Spartan Band: the Florida Brigade in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia (University of Alabama Press, 2010) Zach C. Waters and James C. Edmonds

The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Dale Cox, 2011) Dale Cox

Florida’s Civil War (Keith Kohl, 2011) Keith Kohl

Florida Civil War Blockades: Battling for the Coast (History Press, 2011) Nick Wynee and Joe Crankshaw

Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide (Pineapple Press, 2012) Paul Taylor

By the Noble Daring of her Sons: The Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee (The University of Alabama Press, 2012) Jonathan C. Sheppard

Civil War Memories: A Compilation of Remembrance from the Families of Boca Grande Residents (Friends of Boca Grande, 2013)  Sandy Ross Jacobs

Recalling Deeds Immortal: Florida Momunemts to the Civil War (University press of Florida, 2014) William B. Lees and Frederick P. Gaske

Central Florida’s Civil War Veterans (Arcadia, 2014) Bob Grenier

St. Augustine and the Civil War (History Press, 2014) Robert Redd

The Yacht America in Florida’s Civil War (Old Book Shop Publications, 2015) Jack Owen

On this Day in Florida Civil War History (History Press, 2015) Nick Wynee and Joe Knetsch

Civil War Correspondence of Florida’s Governor John Milton (CreateSpace, 2015) M. Edward Hughes

Governor John Milton & the War for Southern Independence (FriesenPress, 2015) M. Edward Hughes

Florida’s Civil War: Terrible Sacrifices (Mercer University Press, 2016) Tracy J. Revels

The 1^st Florida Union Cavalry in the Civil War (Sharon D. Marsh, 2017) Sharon D. Marsh

A Forgotten Front: Florida During the Civil War Era (University of Alabama Press, 2018) Seth A. Weitz and Jonathan C. Sheppard

Florida Postal History During the Civil War (Confederate Stamp Alliance, 2018) Deane R. Briggs

Storm Over Key West: the Civil War and the Call of Freedom (Pineapple Press, 2020) Mike Pride

Fort Clinch, Fernandina and the Civil War (History press, 2020) Frank A. Ofeldt

Florida Thunder: The Marion Light Artillery, 1861-1865 (Fulton Books, 2022), Michael Evans.

Key West’s Civil War: “Rather Unsafe for a Southern man to Live here.” (Shotwell Publishing, 2022) John B. Thuersam

Hidden History of Civil War Florida (History Press, 2022) Robert Redd

Changing Sides

 

“There are very few unexplored topics concerning the history of the American Civil War,” is how Patrick H. Garrow starts Changing Sides: Union Prisoners of War Who Joined the Confederate Army (2020). Yet Garrow has found and explored one of those topics. Garrow makes a conservative estimate of 4,000 Federal soldiers who joined the Confederate ranks. These men were mostly, but not entirely, foreign-born - Irish and German immigrants. While confessing that it is difficult to trace the service of men who filtered into various regiments, Garrow concentrates on four: Brook’s Battalion, Tucker’s Regiment/1^st Foreign Battalion, 2^nd Foreign Battalion/8^th Confederate Infantry; and the 10^th Tennessee Infantry. The first three were recruited as organizations entirely made up of former Federal soldiers. The latter was an early war Confederate regiment whose ranks were depleted and received an influx of these recruits. Garrow examines the war-record of these late war regiments. Brook’s Battalion, while stationed near Savannah, had several members arrested and executed for mutiny. The 8^th Confederate Infantry fought amazingly well at Salisbury in April 1865. Many members of the 10^th Tennessee Infantry were captured at Egypt Station, Mississippi, and instead of being executed as deserters, were given the chance to re-enlist in the Federal army, surviving in the 5^th United States Volunteers. Garrow then follows by tracing the lives of a few of the former Federal/Confederate soldiers into the post-war years, showing how many of these men (but not all) disappear from the pages of history. This is followed by an examination of some of the Confederate officers who commanded the members of the various battalions and regiments listed above. Garrow has accomplished what he set out to do: tell the story of an unexplored aspect of not just the war, but American history. This book is highly recommended!

Is my library complete?

    Many decades ago, in an old Dixie Gun Works catalog, I gained a bit of wisdom. The editor was writing about building a library. A library was more than a large group of books, he claimed. A library was a group of books that permitted a person to answer the questions that he or she had. To be honest, I write books (and blog posts) because I can’t find the answers to the questions I have. Having a good library at my fingertips allows me to access what information is available.

   Over the past forty years, I have sought to build a collection that permits me access to much of the information out there. I have my own set of the Official Records, Confederate Veteran, Battles and Leaders, Rebellion Record, and the Southern Historical Society Papers. Yes, many of these sets are online, but I really prefer turning papers. My library is Confederate specific. Yes, there are biographies on Federal generals, like Grant, Sherman, McClellan, and Burnside, and politicians, like Lincoln, Seward, and Stanton. And there are some Federal regimentals; I think Beatie’s first three volumes on the Army of Potomac a masterful work, and I wish he had lived to do more. But the vast majority of the library is Confederate in nature with numerous biographies on Lee, Jackson, Davis (along with Davis’s papers). While some people have more books on the battle of Gettysburg, my forty or fifty volumes suffice for the questions I have. There are biographies on other Southern politicians, like Stephens, Cobb, Benjamin, Yancey, and Vance. There are numerous regimentals, published letters, diaries, and reminiscences.

   Earlier this week, I picked up a set I had always wanted. In 1993, Simon and Schuster released the four volume Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. The price in 1993 was about $450 for the set, well beyond my means. I had not really thought much about the set over the years, but I found this set for $50 on an online site and added it to my collection. These volumes cover generals, politicians, battles, the roles of various church denominations, just a host of events and people. It is wealth of information right at the fingertips. It will look perfect right beside Long’s The Civil War Day by Way, Boatner’s The Civil War Dictionary, Eicher and Eicher’s Civil War High Commands, and The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference.

   Is my library complete? Well, not really. But I am comfortable in my collection, and it is much closer than in the past. Thanks to the work of Savas Beatie, I have been able to add the Bachelder Papers, the Carman manuscript, and will soon add Bearss’s three volumes on the Vicksburg campaign. I’d like to add biographies on each of the war-time Southern governors (I think I only have the biographies on Vance, but there are a lot of them). Of course, some of these men do not have biographies. But by and large, I have a good, solid, Confederate library. If a question can be answered by turning to a book, I might just have that book. Honestly, much of my collecting these days has turned to 18^th and 19^th century Southern politicians and jurists. That is the topic for another post.

Books on Richmond and the War.

Often, people ask me about books. And that’s ok. I’ve read a few over the past three decades. At times, it is really hard to answer those questions in a general sense. But, when it comes to more specific questions, like best book on a battle, or a certain topic, that can be easier to answer. Over the past year, I have read, or re-read, several volumes about Richmond, the Confederate capital. There are other volumes about the Confederate capital, but I find these the most helpful. (These are in order of date published.)

Rebel Richmond: Life and Death in the Confederate Capital (Stephen Ash, 2019) – The dust jacket states that Ashe “guides readers from the city’s alleys, homes, and shops to its churches, factories, and halls of power, uncovering the intimate daily drama of a city transformed and ultimately destroyed by war.” The various chapters examine housing, food, work, crime, and other aspects of the city during the war. I struggled somewhat with the chapter entitled “White Supremacy and Black Resistance.” That implies that only white people, most upper society white people, were racist. Everyone was racist in that period of time. Many people did not like the Irish, or the Catholic. In reading Jones’s famous A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, he never really mentions the enslaved, but he sure detested the Jews. Ash gives some space to overlooked areas of war-time Richmond, such as the “Soldier’s Home” on Cary Street. Soldiers passing through the Capital and required to wait on connecting trains could stay at the Soldier’s Home, instead of having to wander the streets throughout the night, looking for a place to bed down. (51) Overall, Rebel Richmond is a good read.

The Confederate State of Richmond: A Biography of the Capital (Emory M. Thomas, 1971, 1998) This is probably the first book I ever read on the Confederate capital. The edition I now have is the second, with the new introduction. Emory writes in the introduction that as a boy, growing up in Richmond, the War in general and the Confederacy in particular, was a lot of “sad stories told principally by people in flowered dresses, floppy straw hats, and white gloves.” Later, Thomas admits that “the Confederate experience possessed genuine intellectual viability.” (vii) While Thomas should have admitted a debt of gratitude to those ladies in white gloves for saving multitudes of letters and diaries and oral traditions, I still like his book. He uses footnotes so it easy to track down sources (instead of flipping back and forth). Thomas broaches several important subjects, such as the relationship of weather to crop production, the meat panic in January 1864, and the CS Commissary borrowing food from the city to feed Lee’s army in March 1865. There are some who criticize Thomas, especially his biography of Lee. Overall, I still think The Confederate State of Richmond a good read and important contribution (probably the first scholarly) to the study of the Confederate capital.

Ashes of Glory: Richmond at War (Ernest B. Furgurson, 1996)--At almost 400 pages, Ashes of Glory is probably the most detailed history of the Confederate capital to date. Furgurson introduces us to a wide range of characters. Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Mayor Joseph Mayo, Capt. Sally Tompkins, Rev. Moses Hoge, spy Elizabeth Van Lew, and a host of others make their appearances through the text. There are good descriptions of the relationship (or lack thereof) between Robert E. Lee and Lucius Northorp, of Northorp’s sacking, of the spy network, the escape of Federal prisoners from Libby Prison, the work of such industries as Tredegar Iron Works… Overall, it is a pretty comprehensive look at the Confederate capital. “In this work of great verisimilitude and potency, Furgurson resurrects a city in crisis and dramatically personalizes the conflict that was our nation’s coming-of-age,” the book’s jacket tells us.

There are, of course, many other volumes. Moore’s Complete Civil War Guide to Richmond (1978) contains a lot of useful information for those who like to explore the city. Kimball’s Starve or Fall: Richmond and its People, 1861-1865 (1976) is somewhat dated and probably replaced by Ash. Parker’s Richmond’s Civil War Prisons (1990). Manarin’s Richmond at War: The Minutes of the City Council, 1861-1865 (1966) is essential primary source reading. Burns’ Curiosities of the Confederate Capital: Untold Richmond Stories of the Spectacular, Tragic, and Bizarre (2013) is a fun read. There are two medical- related books: Calcutt’s Richmond’s Wartime Hospitals (2005) and Green’s Chimborazo: The Confederacy’s Largest Hospital (2004) are both important reads, as is Dew’s Ironmaker to the Confederacy: Joseph R. Anderson and the Tredegar Iron Works (1966).

Parker’s Richmond’s Civil War Prisons (1990) looks interesting, but this is one I have never read nor own, as is Casstevens’ George W. Alexander and Castle Thunder: A Confederate Prison and its Commandant (2004). There are, of course, other books that have been written over the years, but these three, Ash, Thomas, and Furgurson are my go-to books about the Confederate capital. (Or course, I might be remiss to not mention my own Capitals of the Confederacy [2015] that has two chapters on Richmond.) This list leaves out first-person accounts, like DeLeon, Jones, McGuire, Putnam, Pember, and Kean.

So, what are your favorite books on Richmond and the War?

Building a Civil War Medical Library

    When I wrote the chapter on brigade medical care for General Lee’s Immortals, I relied upon five  books (secondary sources) to provide the background for that chapter. Those five were Cunningham’s Doctors in Gray (1958); Humphrey’s Marrow of Tragedy (2013): Schroeder-Lein’s The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine (2008); Calcutt’s Richmond’s Wartime Hospitals (2005); and, Green’s Chimborazo: The Confederacy’s Largest Hospital (2004). That’s not to say there are not other texts that I have that were influential. There are others, like biographies on Kate Cummings, Dr. Mary Walker, and Doctors in Blue. But those five, along with the primary sources gleaned from the writings of members of the Branch-Lane brigade, allowed me to craft a really good chapter that has gotten some attention.

   In the upcoming Feeding the Army of Northern Virginia project, I set out to have a chapter on foodstuff connected to the hospitals that served Robert E. Lee’s army. As I did with the chapter on brigade medical care in General Lee’s Immortals, I want to push our understanding of this aspect of Confederate military history. So it is time to grow my library once again, both with primary sources and secondary literature.

   I started with Frank Freemon’s Microbes and Minie Balls: An Annotated Bibliography of Civil War Medicine (1993). This book is divided into two sections. The first covers articles and books written by people (mostly) connected to the medical department. Of course, since I write primarily Confederate history, I took note of several Confederate texts that bear further exploration. At the same time, there were several secondary texts that I would also like to examine. These include: Alfred Bollet “Scurvy, Spruce, and Starvation: Major Nutritional Deficiency Syndromes During the Civil War” Medical Times (November 1989); Frank Freemon  “Administration of the Medical Department of the Confederate States Army, 1861 to 1865.” Southern Medical Journal (1987); Harris Riley, Jr., “General Robert E. Lee: His Medical Profile.” Virginia Medical Monthly (1987); and John Stevens “Hostages to Hunger: Nutritional Night Blindness in Confederate Armies.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly (1989).

   Three other books I have recently added to my ever-growing library include Frank Freemon’s Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care during the American Civil War (1998); Ira Rutkow’s Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine (2005); and Shauna Devine’s Learning from the Wounded: The Civil War and the Rise of American Medical Science (2014). I’m not sure any of these will lead to information on my narrow topic, but, overall, I hope to gain an even greater understanding of medical practices during the war.

   Coming next, we’ll look at primary sources dealing with the Army of Northern Virginia and Confederate hospitals.

   Do you have a favorite medical resource? Care to share?

(PS. I also have Confederate Hospitals on the Move, Two Confederate Hospitals and Their Patients: Atlanta to Opelika, and Civil War Pharmacy.)

War Stuff, Scott's Military Dictionary, and the Articles of War.

   Recently, I acquired a copy of Joan Cashin's War Stuff: The Struggle for Human and Environmental Resources in the American Civil War. (Cambridge, 2018). Overall, it is a good read, a short introduction to the environmental aspects of the war. I guess my biggest objection was the overemphasis on the surrender of the Lee's army. Lee's surrender did not bring about the end of the war. While Lee's capitulation had much symbolic meaning, the Army of Northern Virginia was trapped and disintegrating.  Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee, three times the size of Lee's forces, was sitting on a wealth of supplies and had plenty of opportunities for escape. But, I digress. Cashin's tome has chapters on how the war affected people, timber, habitat, and the subject I'm most interested in at the present: sustenance.

   In the chapter on sustenance, Cashin compares three period books to the letters and reminisces of soldiers and civilians, both Blue and Gray, regarding provisions. Those three tomes are The Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861, Henry Lee Scott's Military Dictionary, and the Regulations for the Army of the Confederate States. The latter was published in 1863. Scott's Military Dictionary was published in 1861 (I have an 1864 reprint of this book). Cashin uses Scott's to define terms found in the Articles of War, terms like foraging, allowances, supplies, and the responsibilities of the quartermaster's department. Scott's is a great help in increasing our understanding of the way people in 1861 perceived certain terms or roles. However, since Scott's was not published until 1861, how many copies of this work made it into the hands of Federal officers during the course of the war? Furthermore, did any of those volumes ever make it into Southern hands?

New York Times April 1861

   The first reference I can find to Scott's Military Dictionary comes in April 1861, when the New York Times makes mention of the book in a list of military manuals being published by D. Van Nostrand. It simply lists the book as being "in press..." By June, Nostrand is advertising the book as being available in a few days. The Buffalo Commercial advertises it as available on July 18, at a cost of $5, while it is available for purchase at a book shop in Cleveland, Ohio, by the end of the month. (Cleveland Daily Leader July 21, 1861). Of course, it is not an issued manual, like The Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861. Scott's does not appear in any advertisements in Southern towns during the war, save Nashville and Port Royal (SC), after they have come under Union control.

   Since Scott's Military Dictionary might not be a viable option for defining terms found in the Articles of War for Southern officers, were could they turn? Of course, there is the regular dictionary. Webster's Dictionary (1828) defines foraging as "Collecting provisions for horse and cattle, or wandering in search of food; ravaging; stripping." Allowance: "to restrain or limit to a certain quantity of provision or drink." Supply: "to fill up, as any deficiency happens; to furnish what is wanted."

   A glance at a few advertisements in 1861 in Southern newspapers does not show any military dictionaries for sale. Beard's Book-Store, advertising in the The Yorkville Enquirer (SC) on January 3, 1861, had Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics; McMomb's Militia Tactics; Cavalry Tactics, LaSal's School of Guides; Infantry Camp Duty; and The Rifle, and How to use it. J. W. Randolph, bookseller, advertising in the Richmond Dispatch on July 15, 1861, had available Science of War; Cavalry Out Post Duty; Volunteer's Manual; Volunteer's Handbook; Hardee's Tactics; and Mahan's Out-Post Duty. No military dictionaries.   There were other military dictionaries out there. Simes Military Dictionary (1776); Duane's A Military Dictionary (1810); Rose's Military Dictionary (1815); and possibly a few others. But just how many people would have had a military dictionary lying about at home on the mantel of the fireplace? Probably very few.  

   Cashin targets Articles 52 and 54. Article 52 states that "Any officer or soldier who shall misbehave himself before the enemy... or who shall quit his post or colors to plunder and pillage... being duly convicted thereof, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a general court-martial." (493) Article 54: "  All officers and soldiers are to behave themselves orderly in quarters and on their march; and whoever shall commit any waste or spoil, either in walks or trees, parks, warrens, fish-ponds, houses or gardens, corn-fields, inclosures of meadows, or shall maliciously destroy any property belonging to the inhabitants of the United States unless by order of the then command-in-chief of the armies of the said States, shall (besides such penalties as they are liable to by law) be punished according to the nature and degree of their offense, by the judgement of a regimental or general court martial." (493-494, The Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861.) Of course, when the Confederate States printed its own versions of the Articles of War beginning in 1861, these were translated verbatim, save for the substitution of "Confederate States" for "United States."

 Cashin goes on to state that when the Confederate regulations were published in 1863, they were verbatim, except the "volume added the statement that the rebel army's 'wanton destruction' of private property was 'disgraceful' and on par with the enemy's behavior." (75) I wish Dr. Cashin had provided a better source for this, except Confederate Regulations pages 407-420. I cannot seem to find this phrase in my 1863 reprint. Also, one other little gripe: she writes on page 76: "They resurrected old ways of cooking, making molasses from maple trees as their grandmothers did." Um, we make maple syrup from maple trees. Molasses is made from sugar cane.

   In War Stuff, Cashin subdivides the chapter into sections looking at the Food Environment; New Things to Eat; New Foodways, Especially Meat; Civilians and their Provender; General Pope's orders of 1862; Confederate Regulation; Impressment; and Hungry People. Overall, it is an interesting read.

Review: Flora and Fauna of the Civil War.

    One thing is for certain when dealing with literature of the 1860s: it's as deep as it is broad. Ever since the war ended, veterans, historians, amateurs, and academics have been exploring every angle of the times. (That's especially true during the past thirty or so years, the "Golden Age of Civil War publishing, as my publisher Ted Savas calls it.) Yet writers and scholars continue to find new ways to investigate the time period.

   A year ago, I ordered Kelby Ouchley's Flora and Fauna of the Civil War: An Environmental Reference Guide (LSU, 2010). Many of you know of our interest in native plants here in Southern Appalachia. While our interest has centered on the late 18th century, we're hopeful that one day we will get to expand into the mid-19th century with living history and interpretive programs. So there was that angle for our interest in the book. At the same time, I've been working on the Feeding the Army of Northern Virginia project, so there is another angle.

   Ouchley's guide is a part of the emerging field of examining the environment and the War. How did the environment affect combat operations? How about the transportation of supplies? How did the war affect the environment the soldiers passed through? (Think of the unexploded ordnance at Gettysburg or the trenches that cut through the farmers’ fields below Petersburg.) After an introductory chapter  and a chapter placing the subject in the "Civil War" setting, Ochley tackles flora first. He examines trees, like Ash, Dogwood, Elm, and Willow, providing some scientific background on the way that people used them during the war. For example: "A tonic made from shredded ash bark was used as an astringent, diuretic, and to treat arthritis, fever sores, and constipation." (19) Besides trees, Ouchley also looks at herbs, blackberries, grapes, and Mulberry. The next section focuses on fauna: alligators, bats, fish, honeybees, turtles, etc. After each entry, there are several excerpts from the letters or diaries of soldiers who reference the plants and animals Ouchley is referring to.

     My only real complaint are these references. There are plenty of Federal examples, but most of his Confederate sources come from the Army of Tennessee, or from soldiers stationed along the Mississippi River. There are plenty of Army of Northern Virginia accounts out there. It would have been nice to see a few more of those included. (Ouchley did cite from the Stilwell Letters [53rd GA], and from Col. William H. A. Speer [28th NC], two excellent sources.) In Ouchley's defense, his editor might have curtailed some of his examples. Publishers are known to do that.

   Overall, Ouchley's Flora and Fauna of the Civil War is an interesting read that adds just one title to a interesting and developing sub-genre in Civil War literature.

We Ride A Whirlwind - REVIEW

   I am always on the lookout for books about North Carolina and the War. The vast majority of the tomes I have written are on the subject, and I'm always looking for others to help increase awareness of what took place in the Old North State. Recently, I had a chance to pick up a copy of Eric Wittenberg's We Ride A Whirlwind: Sherman and Johnson at Bennett Place (Fox Run Publishing, 2017).

   Everyone who has studied the War is familiar with the surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox in April 1865. It is the subject of several books and the site of a National Park. The surrender of Joseph E. Johnson to William T. Sherman in North Carolina often seems to be a mere footnote, although Johnson surrendered more Confederate troops and a huge swath of territory. The literature of Johnson's surrender continues to grow, and might actually surpass that of the more famous episode in Virginia.

   We Ride A Whirlwind picks up the story following the battle of Bentonville. Following the March 1865 battle, Johnston moved his army back toward Raleigh, and eventually toward Greensboro. The victorious Federals moved on to Goldsboro for a brief rest and refitting. On April 13, 1865, Sherman's armies entered Raleigh. Jefferson Davis and the Confederate cabinet officers evacuated Richmond on the night of April 2, 1865, and moved to Danville, and then on to Greensboro, arriving on April 11, 1865. Davis and some of the cabinet met with Johnston and Beauregard in Greensboro and agreed to send a letter to Sherman, asking for a cease-fire so surrender terms could be worked out. Johnson and Sherman met at the Bennett Farm, outside Durham, on April 17 and 18, working out a set of terms that surrendered not only Johnson his army, but Davis and other civil officers as well. Copies of these terms were signed and sent to President Andrew Johnson in Washington, D.C., and to Jefferson Davis in Charlotte. Davis accepted the terms. However, Johnson rejected the terms, and Grant was sent to Raleigh to take over the negations. Sherman, thanks to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, was belittled by the press, a slight for which Sherman never forgave Stanton. Soon thereafter, Johnson and Sherman worked out new terms, based upon those Grant had given Lee at Appomattox. Despite the directives of Jefferson Davis, Johnson surrendered to Sherman at the Bennett Place on April 26, 1865.

   Unlike other volumes about the Confederate surrender at the Bennett Place, Wittenburg's goes into great detail about the Sherman-Stanton feud, outlining the missives that passed between Sherman, Grant, Stanton, and Union General Henry Halleck. He reprints letters and portions of memoirs completely, allowing readers to see for themselves the back and forth between top Federal commanders and their civilian handlers. Those letters are the book's greatest strengths, laying out the frustrations felt by Sherman as the capitulation of the entire Confederacy hung in the balance. But Andrew Johnston and Edwin Stanton were not interested in receiving the surrender of Jefferson Davis, believing to do so would have acknowledged the legitimacy of the Confederacy.

   My only real complaint would be the maps. There are four, three of which are really hard to read (maybe my eyes are getting old). There are numerous illustrations spread through the 292 pages. The book includes copious footnotes, a bibliography, and index. Overall, Eric Wittenburg's We Ride A Whirlwind is a fine, detailed edition to the literature surrounding the negotiations that led to the largest surrender of Confederate soldiers during the War. The events that transpired at the Bennett Place are just as important as those at Appomattox.  

Following along with McNeill's Rangers

   As many of you know, I've been reading a great deal about Confederate cavalry in the east in preparation for my own history of the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Recently, I picked up Steve French's Phantoms of the South Fork. French's work covers the partisan war in the lower Shenandoah Valley and in Hardy County, and surrounding counties in West Virginia. McNeill's Rangers were originally under the command of John H. McNeill, until his mortal wounding in November 1864. Command then passed to his son, Jesse McNeill, who held sway until the end of the war.

   McNeill's Rangers was only one of two partisan bands to escape the purge by the Confederate government in February 1864. Mosby's Rangers was the other group that survived. The authorities believed that partisan groups caused more damage than good and rolled many of them into regular regiments, much to their chagrin. In many cases, the partisan war was personal: soldiers were literally fighting in and around their own homes, and at times, were fighting their own neighbors. Their most effective work was to ambush supply trains destined for far-flung Federal outposts, depriving Federal soldiers of supplies. At other times, they waylaid small detachments of cavalry soldiers and, later in the war, trains. Often, the partisan groups would rob civilians as well. The comparisons to some of my own work with the partisan war in the mountains of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee are uncanny, although the Federal and Confederate actions were more organized in the area where McNeill's men were fighting.

   Quite possibly, the most famous episode for McNeill's Rangers was the night in February 1865 when the Rangers stole into Cumberland, Maryland, and captured Maj. Gen. George Cook and Brig. Gen. Benjamin Kelly.

   Overall, the book is a good read, although at times I had trouble keeping up with names. The FPhantoms of the South Fork is a good addition to your library.

ederal forces in the area trying to combat McNeill and other partisan groups changed frequently. It could also use better maps. French's research is impressive. If you are interested in books about fringe Confederate units,

Wade Hampton's Iron Scouts

A week or so ago, I picked up a copy of D. Michael Thomas's Wade Hampton's Iron Scouts: Confederate Special Forces, released by The History Press on March 5, 2018. Thomas's tome follows a group of Confederate cavalry, made up of men from other regiments, detailed to gather information on the movements of the Army of the Potomac in late 1862 through 1865. The group, unofficially known as Hampton's Iron Scouts, raided Federal picket posts and clashed with Federal cavalry patrols, earning praise from Confederate leaders and the enmity of Federal officers. Probably their most famous role came in the September 1864 Beefsteak Raid. The scouts were the ones who found the cattle, notified Hampton, and guided his cavalry force toward their prize.

While I have read deeply into the Army of Northern Virginia's history, the role of scouts is something I have not read much about (probably because, outside of Mosby, there is not a lot of information on the subject). Thomas has done a superb job of scouring various sources to put together a history of a neglected branch of the Confederate army. He not only details their exploits, but provides brief biographical pieces on many of the scouts. Hampton's Iron Scouts were largely men from South Carolina regiments, but there were a few from other commands. Thomas identified these Tar Heels: William M. Waterbury, 3rd NCC; James M. Sloan, 1st NCC; Julius S. Harris, 1st NCC; and George J. Hanley, 1st NCC.

If you are interested in the fringe elements of the Army of Northern Virginia, then Thomas's Wade Hampton's Scout's is recommended. 

New reference material from Savas Beatie

From time to time, I've made posts on growing a good library. If you have unlimited funds, then you can order away and stock you shelves with good books. I don't have unlimited funds, but I am always looking for good books that allow me to be better at what I do. Recently, Savas Beatie, LLC, released Richard A. Sauers' The National Tribune Civil War Index: A Guide to the Weekly Newspapers Dedicated to Civil War Veterans, 1877-1943. It is in three volumes.

A little background: The National Tribune was a newspaper that began publication in 1877 as a monthly newspaper "to help influence Congress" to help the Federal veterans with their quest in regards to a better pension for former soldiers. In August 1881, the newspaper became a weekly sheet, and began publishing articles by veterans. "We shall be glad at all times to hear from any of our soldiers or sailor friends who have matters of historical interest, incidents, or amusing anecdotes of the war to relate," the editor wrote in August 1881. By 1884, there were over 77,000 subscribers. Articles continued to appear in the National Tribune until 1943.

So, what does this have to do with Southern soldiers? While the majority of the articles that appeared with the pages of the National Tribune were written by former Union soldiers, articles were written from time to time by former Confederate soldiers. For example, volume 3 has a listing of articles pertaining to North Carolina soldiers. The one entry for the 28th North Carolina references an article that appeared on July 23, 1891. Using volume 1, I was able to see that this article pertained to the battle of Cold Harbor. Next, I went to newspapers.com (the articles are not contained in the three volumes - It is only an index), found the National Tribune for July 23, 1891, and searched "Cold Harbor." You can see the article I found here.

The majority of the articles are from Federal soldiers. The Southerners had Confederate Veteran and the Southern Historical Society Papers for their post-war writings. Yet, there are truly some gems to be found with the index. Richard Sauers' work is a fantastic addition to the libraries of those of us who spend our days poring through original sources looking for the smallest details to enhance our scholarship.

The three volumes are only available through Savas Beatie, and the first printing is limited to 100 sets (There were only 30 or set sets left when I ordered). I'm glad I ordered mine. They are a great addition to my library. 

Books on North Carolina and Reconstruction

A few days ago, I saw a poll on facebook, asking people what areas still need coverage regarding the war. Well in front of the pack was the subject of Reconstruction. It had always been my conclusion that the subject, at least dealing with North Carolina, was pretty well covered. Of course, there is always room for a new book or two. I personally would like to see a book on the role of North Carolina's courts and/or the General Assembly during the time period.


There have been (to my knowledge), three books published on Reconstruction in North Carolina, and another that covered the era (think general history). The first was J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton's Reconstruction in North Carolina (1914). This was followed by Richard L. Zuber's North Carolina during Reconstruction (1969). Then came Paul D. Escott's Many Excellent People: Power and Privilege in North Carolina, 1850-1900 (1985). Finally, Mark Bradley's Bluecoats and Tar Heels: Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina (2009). The last book is a superb treatment of the time following the war.


There are also several biographies of various people involved. Richard Zuber's Jonathan Worth: A Biography of a Southern Unionist (1965) is a good read, as is William C. Harris's William Woods Holden: Firebrand of North Carolina Politics (1987). Gordon McKinney's Zeb Vance: North Carolina Governor and Gilded Age Political Leader (2004), is, in my opinion, the best biography on Vance published to date.


Biographies I must confess that I have yet to read, but that might hold promise, are Donald Connelly's John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship (2006) and Otto H. Olsen's Carpetbagger's Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourge (1965).


Also in the line up are Roberta Sue Alexander's North Carolina Faces the Freeman: Race Relations during Presidential Reconstruction, 1865-1867 (1985), and Richard Reid's Freedom for Themselves: North Carolina's Black Soldiers in the Civil War Era (2008).


So, what have I missed? What would like add to this list? Is the coverage of North Carolina during Reconstruction adequate?

Best book I've read this year - The Yankee Plague.

It should not come as any surprise, but I read lots of books every year. They are for research, for reviews, even for fun. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up Lorien Foote's The Yankee Plague: Escaped Union Prisoners and the Collapse of the Confederacy. This is the best book I have read in 2016.

The Yankee Plague focuses on the last few months of the war - from September 1864 until the end - and documents how escaped Federal prisoners of war, largely from South Carolina, changed the war in both of the Carolinas. No longer was there a home front. The escaped Union POWs, along with those who helped them and hunted them, collectively made the area a new front of a multi-faceted war. Thanks to a bevy of writers, some publishing  their accounts while events were still fresh in their minds, Foote examines men who managed to escape Confederate prisoner camps. Some made their way toward Georgia, trying to link up with elements of Sherman'a army. Others tried to make for the coast, while others still thought the best course was to walk toward the mountains, heading to Knoxville and Federal lines. Foote bounces between different accounts as the men moved in parties, seeking freedom. She also chronicles the people they ran into: slaves wanting to aid the prisoners' plight toward freedom and that third group of people - those who were using the war for their own unjust gains. Toward the end of the tome, she describes how the remaining prisoners from South Carolina held up not only the evacuation of Wilmington and the retreat of Robert F. Hoke's Confederates, but also delayed supplies in reaching Sherman's army as it entered the Tar Heel state.

Foote's narrative is compelling and her prose is clean and fresh. There are numerous primary sources, largely the prisoners' own accounts, coupled with statements from the rarely cited Record Groups 249 and 393 (National Archives).

To me the only draw back is the lack of a mention of Brig. Gen. John W. McElroy, in charge of home guard battalions in western North Carolina. It was his job to coordinate the home guard attempting to coral the prisoners, draft dodgers, and deserters. It might have also been nice to have a little more on the guides these POWs sought out to help them in their quest for freedom.

Overall, this is a fantastic read that greatly increases our understanding of the war in its final months, especially in western North Carolina. 

Reading about North Carolina in the Civil War: Getting Started.

The new issue of J19 arrived yesterday, and I was reading an essay by Jillian Spivey Caddell entitled "Words of War." The author writes: "This new wave of scholarship suggests that the Civil War has not been so much unwritten as unread." That is an interesting thought. There have been, conservatively, 65,000 books about the war (I'm not sure who has counted, but that's the number passed around). So, if I wanted to read all of them, I would need to plough through about 710 books a year, for 92 years.

Is that what keeps people from digging more into the scholarship of the era? With 65.000+ books, is it too daunting a project to undertake? I don't really feel that is the problem (instead, how about a society that no longer places an importance on its own past. That however, is another post.)

Frequently, I get asked about books - what to read, what I am reading (Sutherland's A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War), etc. So, here is my simple, North Carolina focused list.

1. Bruce Catton - The Civil War (1960)

There are many general histories about the war - Eaton, McPherson, Foote. A lots of people want to start with Shelby Foote's three-volume series, and three years later, they're still reading Foote, or they have given up and gone back to watching Golf TV. While Catton’s history is 55 years old, it is a great introduction to the war (and he could write). This book has been reprinted several times.

2. Bell Wiley - The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (1943)

Back in my early days of interest in the time period (and in re-enacting), I used to read this book once a year. I would consider this volume a foundational cornerstone. The chapters walk you through the enlistment, battle, food, weapons, camp life, religion, etc. There is also a companion volume, The Life of Billy Yank. Both volumes have been reprinted several times.

3. John G. Barrett - The Civil War in North Carolina (1963)

It is hard to believe that the standard, or go-to book about North Carolina and the War was released 53 years ago. But no one has come close to beating it. It is a stout book, but it walks the reader from the secession crisis through the surrender of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. It has also been reprinted many times.

4. Michael C. Hardy - North Carolina in the Civil War (2011)

Is it wrong to have included one of my own books? Maybe. I did not set out to rewrite Barrett's work. What I wanted to do was to write an introduction to the War in North Carolina, for those intimidated by the almost 500 pages in Barrett. My tome is only 158 pages. The two important things about this work, and why it made it on the list, are the chapters about the post-war remembrance movement in North Carolina (veterans groups, monument dedications, etc), and the bibliography. Barrett ends his story in 1865. North Carolina in the Civil War goes beyond, with short chapters on reconstruction and remembrance. Plus, the updated bibliography will allow readers to dig more deeply into the literature regarding the time period.

5. Mark L. Bradley - Blue Coats and Tar Heels: Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina (2009)

The Reconstruction time period has never held the sway for me as the War years, probably because the South had lost the War, and the North was attempting to remake the South (or something like that). I had tried to read other books on Reconstruction, like Forter's work, but could never really get into it. Bradley's work is well researched and well written, and is very fair in its accounting of the Reconstruction years.

6. Gordon B. McKinney - Zeb Vance: North Carolina's Civil War Governor and Gilded Age Political Leader (2004)

There have been a bevy of books about North Carolina's War-time governor, Zebulon Baird Vance. I have Dowd, Tucker, and several more, but I believe that McKinney's work is the best out there. Since Vance was an up and coming politician in North Carolina, served for about a year in the Confederate army, then was our "War-governor" from 1862 until his arrest in May 1865, he was probably more deeply involved in the time period than anyone else.

So there is my short list, a list that does not include any battle histories, nor place histories, nor regimental/brigade histories. Just a list that I believe is a great place to start building a greater knowledge about North Carolina and the Civil War.

Thinking about books.

As I near the completion of the Branch-Lane manuscript, I think back about some of the secondary sources that have come out since I finished my first foray into the world of the Army of Northern Virginia in 2005. There have been some fantastic books released in the past 11 years, books that tremendously helped with the pursuit of writing a brigade history. Here are a few of them, not in order of importance, but in the order that I used them.

Probably the first outstanding book would be David S. Hartwig's To Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign of 1862 (2012). Hartwig's tome only covers the actions prior to the battle of Sharpsburg, all in 808 pages of detail-rich prose.

Tom Clemens has worked wonders on an old manuscript, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 (2010-2016). There will be three volumes total. They were originally written by Army veteran Ezra Carman. The level of detail is great! Carman corresponded with both his fellow Union veterans, and Confederate veterans as well.

In the Gettysburg world, Kent Masterson Brown's Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania is an incredible read. Brown's tome provides us with the most complete (to date) look into the way that Lee's army worked (or maybe at times, did not work), as it traveled to Gettysburg, and then worked its way back across the Potomac River.

Along those same lines, but with a different take, is Eric Wittenberg, Michael Nugent, and J. D. Petruzzi's One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army (2011). This book is detail rich, and combined with Brown's books above, along with Coddington, and the works of Pfanz, really complete the Gettysburg story.

The second and greatly expanded edition of Richard J. Sommer's Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg, the Battles of Chaffin's Bluff and Poplar Springs, September 29-October 2, 1864 (2014) is fantastic. Almost 700 pages are devoted to four days, a part of the Petersburg Campaign that often gets lost in Grant's various attempts to take the Cockade City or capture Richmond.

Also a second edition is A. Wilson Greene's Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion: The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign (2008). The original edition was really good. The level of detail added to the last two weeks or so of the Petersburg campaign is fantastic.

Falling on the heels of the breakthrough on April 2, 1865, was the battle of Battery Gregg. John Fox's Confederate Alamo: the Bloodbath at Petersburg's Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865, (2010) covers the afternoon of fighting on April 2. It is surprising that no one had ever looked at this battle in detail.

There you have it - thousands of pages of some of the best releases on campaigns in the eastern theater of the war, published since 2005. 

Guilford County now the most written-about North Carolina County and the War.

Most of you know that I collect books. One of the cornerstones of that collection is any book that deals with North Carolina and the War. There are scores of those that line the shelves : Troops books, biographies, regimental histories, etc. Having these resources at hand helps me tremendously in the work that I do.

   A couple of new books just coming out have propelled Guilford County and Greensboro into the lead as far as being the most written-about area of the Old North State and the War. Just being released is C. Michael Brigg's Guilford under the Stars and Bars. Briggs is a Greensboro native and collector. This book (hardback, 296 pages, color and black and white photos, maps), is rich in detail, especially when it comes to the various arms manufacturing facilities around Guilford County and Stoneman's Raid in April 1865.

On the heels of the release of Briggs's new book is Carol Moore's new Guilford County and the Civil War. This is one of the History Press's latest Civil War Series books and will be released in late April 2015. In looking over what is available on Google books, Moore's account looks well written and will be useful for future generations.

Moore is the author of an additional book on Greensboro, a part of Arcadia's Images of America series. This tome is entitled Greensboro's Confederate Soldiers and was released in 2008.

There are three books that deal with the end of the war in Greensboro/Guilford County. The first book released on Greensboro and the war was Ethel Arnett's Confederate Guns Were Stacked in Greensboro (1965). This was followed in 2008 by Bradley Foley and Adrian Whicker's The Civil War Ends, Greensboro April 1865 and in 2013, Robert M. Dunkerly's The Confederate Surrender at Greensboro- The Final Days of the Army of Tennessee, April 1865.

Also touching Greensboro and the War in significant ways are Chris Hartley's Stoneman's Raid 1865 and William T. Auman's Civil War in the North Carolina Quaker Belt, released in 2014.

For the foreseeable future, I believe that the events in Greensboro during the war have been adequately covered. 

Details or just the facts?

I am extremely blessed that I get to spend my days with some great writers and historians. Recently, ITo Antietam Creek. It is a fantastic examination of the days leading up to the battle of Sharpsburg, including Harper's Ferry and South Mountain. Likewise is Tom Clemens's editing of the Erza Carman manuscript. Carman was a Federal soldier who fought at Antietam, and later in life, compiled a 1,800 page manuscript on the battle. He went to great lengths to talk to his fellow veterans, and his final work, along with his collection of correspondence, is quite possibly the most definitive collection of information on any Civil War battle. I finished out my work this week by reading Thomas McGrath's Shepherdstown: Last Clash of the Antietam Campaign, September 19-20, 1862.I also liked this book a lot. I would have liked it even more had there been more about the Confederate side of the battle, but, that information may not exist. Added to this are books by Mike Priest, Joseph Harsh, and Stephen Sears.  While there are more books on Gettysburg, the quality of the tomes on Antietam are, in my opinion, unbeatable.

finished reading Scott Hartwig's

All of this leads to my real reason for posting. I have noticed in the past few months quite a few "book reviewers," especially on Amazon, disliking various books because they are so detail-oriented. I've seen this with my own books, and with fellow authors, like Eric Wittenburg. What gives? I dislike books because they  are not rich in details. If I am reading a battle history, or a regimental or brigade history, I want those details. Have we descended to a mediocrity in intelligence where the educated reader simply wants to get by with just the big facts? Would you, the reader, prefer me to write "that there was hand-to-hand fighting around the farm house," or, would you prefer to hear it from a survivor of the battle? For example, during a portion of the battle of Hanover Court House, a member of the 25th New York  chronicled that Sgt. Harry Clark, a New York City Fireman, “was wounded, and the rebels thought to take him a prisoner; he resisted, as it is supposed, for he was found lifeless over the dead body of a rebel, having put his bowie knife through the rebel's throat.” ?

What I like about Hartwig, Harsh, Carman, and many others, is the level of details that put the reader there. I guess that not everyone is up to that level of history. 

Fear in North Carolina

Recently, I finished reading Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journals and Letters of the Henry Family, edited by Karen Clinard and Richard Russell (2008). It is overall a great read, and fairly uncluttered by editorial remarks, which I really like.

The diary follows the life of William and Cornelia Henry, an upper-class, slave-owning  family living in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Cornelia started keeping her diary on January 1, 1860, and diligently kept pen to paper throughout the war years. The post-war entries are sporadic, and finally come to an end October 18, 1868.

Even though the Henrys were upper class, the diary provides and incredible look at life in the mountains of western North Carolina during the war years. The diary is concerned with everyday life - trying to raise children, managing a household with increasing shortages,  and from mid-1863 on, constant worry about the encroachment of both Yankees from Tennessee and home rogues up to no good. In the final days of the war, William Henry, who had served for a time in the home guard, during the "Laurel Wars," was forced into hiding and the farm was raided several times.  Equally important are the entries right after the war, in the beginning days of Reconstruction, as the family tried to adjust to what would become the new normal.

Overall, Fear is North Carolina is a great addition to the historiography of the War in North Carolina, and especially in the western part of our fair state.  

New North Carolina Civil War books

I was rooting around this evening, and noticed that McFarland has several upcoming books relating to North Carolina and the War, scheduled for release in the near future. Some folks do not like McFarland, but they are leading the way in publishing books about North Carolina and the Civil War. You can check out McFarland's web page here. These include:

North Carolina Civil War Monuments

by Douglas J. Butler

from the publisher:

Through much of recorded history, monuments of stone and metal have honored victorious armies and successful leaders. Following the American Civil War this commemorative tradition expanded to include soldiers of the defeated Confederacy. By the early twentieth century, memorials to the Southern dead and surviving veterans were regional icons, and men of the Confederate army ranked among history’s most commemorated troops. This illustrated history details one state’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 are quoted, highlighting 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 in which these North Carolina monuments were raised.

 

The Confederate Surrender at Greensboro

by Robert M. Dunkerly

from the publisher:

Drawing upon more than 200 eyewitness accounts, this work chronicles the largest troop surrender of the Civil War, at Greensboro--one of the most confusing, frustrating and tension-filled events of the war. Long overshadowed by Appomattox, this event was equally important in ending the war, and is much more representative of how most Americans in 1865 experienced the conflict’s end. The book includes a timeline, organizational charts, an order of battle, maps, and illustrations. It also uses many unpublished accounts and provides information on Confederate campsites that have been lost to development and neglect.

Theophilus Hunter Holmes

by Walter C. Hilderman III

from the publisher:

The son of a North Carolina governor, Holmes graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1829 and served on the frontier during the "Trail of Tears." He fought in the Second Seminole War and the War with Mexico and, in 1859 , became the U.S. Army’s chief recruiting officer and was assigned to Governors Island at New York City. Only days before resigning from the U.S. Army, he helped organize the naval expedition sent to relieve Fort Sumter from the Confederacy’s blockade.

But then casting his lot with his native state, Holmes led a Confederate brigade at First Manassas and a division during the Peninsular Campaign, commanded armies in the Trans-Mississippi, and organized North Carolina’s young boys and old men into the Confederate Reserves. Holmes served with some of America’s most notable historic figures: Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. In modern times, however, he is virtually unknown. The man and the soldier possessed traits of both triumph and tragedy.

The Rowan Artillery

This makes the third time that I have started a review of this book. I guess it is time to finish it.

Recently, I took an interest in the Rowan Artillery (Co. D, 1st North Carolina Artillery [10th North Carolina State Troops]). I recently found a great primary source of the roll of the battery at the battle of Gettysburg. This led me to look at the roster of the battery, and to look for other primary sources, which led to a book that was recently released on the subject.

I’ll start off by saying that I really don’t like criticizing someone’s book – having written a few myself, I understand how difficult the process can be. That being said, Men of God, Angels of Death: History of the Rowan Artillery by Jack Travis (2008) needs some help.

The Rowan Artillery might be considered a bedrock artillery unit of the Army of Northern Virginia. The company was organized on May 18, 1858, and was called into service for twelve months on May 3,
1861. Soon thereafter, the battery was reorganized and placed under the command of James Reilly, the
former “keeper” of Fort Johnson. Lacking cannon, the battery was temporarily assigned as infantry to
the 4th NCST. By July 27, 1861, the men were in Manassas Junction, where they received two of the
captured Federal cannons from the late battle. The Rowan Artillery was placed in W. H. C. Whiting’s
Brigade, and wintered near Dumfries, Virginia. The battery was involved in the actions during the
Confederate retreat from Yorktown, and, as a member of Law’s brigade, the Seven Days battles.

Following the battle, Whiting was transferred, and the battery, now in B. W. Frobel’s Artillery Battalion, became a part of Hood’s division. The battery took prominent parts in battles like Second Manassas, South Mountain, and Fredericksburg. The year 1863 found the battery back in North Carolina, where it was engaged in the attack on Washington in April, and the siege of Suffolk. The battery rejoined the ANV in June 1863, and continued with the army to Gettysburg. Other battles followed, including Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor. The battery was then involved in the siege of Petersburg, and then retreated with the remnants of the ANV. Much of the battery was captured during the final days of the war in Virginia.

Travis’s work would have been better had it simply been a biography of battery commanders James
Reilly or John A. Ramsey. Had we just followed their lives, then we would have a good book. But Travis tries to interpose a history of the Rowan Artillery along the way. Travis claims to be a re-enactor and states in the introduction that this book is “written from a re-enactor’s point of view” (10). However, there is a fundamental lack of information on how a piece of artillery or a battery of artillery worked. There is no diagram of the positions of the different gunners, and no description of what jobs those different gunners performed. And hardly anyone on the battery, save Reilly or Ramsey, is ever mentioned. On page 65 is a description of some of the illnesses that plagued the army, like chronic diarrhea and dysentery, yet Travis never actually provides us with any examples of these illnesses among the members of the group. It only took a matter a minutes for me to discover that eighteen men of the Rowan Artillery died of disease during the war. Do you need to mention everyone? No. But a couple of examples like Pvt. William H. Black, who died of typhoid fever on October 10, 1861, or Pvt. Thomas H. Hardister who died of erysipelas on June 21, 1862, might have been nice. The next paragraph on that page deals with soldiers who paid social calls to “fallen doves” and contracted venereal diseases. However, I could not find any reference to any soldiers in the Rowan Artillery contracting such a disease.

There are a couple of places where the information is just in error. Travis writes on page 15 that Henry J. Hunt was teaching artillery tactics to Robert E. Lee at Fort Washita in present-day Oklahoma in 1853. Hunt might have been teaching artillery tactics at Fort Washita, but Robert E. Lee, in 1853, was serving as superintendent at the United States Military Academy at West Point. I could find nothing about him making trips to Oklahoma that year. On page 69, we have that Maj. John B. Barry was in command of the 18th North Carolina Troops when Jackson was shot on the evening of May 2. Well, Col. Thomas J. Purdie was in command of the 18th North Carolina Troops on the evening of May 2. Purdie was killed the following day and Barry then assumed command.

While Men of God, Angels of Death has a bibliography and a index, there are no notes. There is also no roster. Though I believe that you do not need a detailed roster in such a book, at least a list of names with those who died during the war is essential.
Well, there you have it. A book that I would not recommend to anyone. If the author ever attempts to write another book, instead of writing from a re-enactor’s point of view, how about a historian’s point of view?