2 comments about In Camp and Battle With the Washington Artillery of New Orleans.

1. I was given the original hard back by my father Richard W. Walton Sr. (Great Grandson of Col. J.B. Walton, Commander in Chief of the Washington Artillery). Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down, finished it in the same afternoon. I would have enjoyed reading it over and over through the years, but could not due to the age and condition of the original (copyright, 1885) I have read everything that I could get my hands on involving the American Civil War. After reading this book, I feel that I owe thanks to William Miller Owen for taking me back in time. I felt the experience as if I were there. As I came to know the men of the Battalion from day one upon their depature from New Orleans enroute to Richmond VA., I felt remorse in reading of the death of so many of them.



2. Very well written account of the Washington Artllery's engagements during the Civil War. Describes all major actions from the First Battle of Bull Run to the final surrender at Appomatox. You feel so close to the lives of the troops; makes you marvel at all the struggles and hardships that were endured. A must read for all Civil War buffs. First published in 1885 by Ticknor and Company of Boston. Reissued in a limited edition that is an exact reproduction of the original, with a few additions (an Introduction by Kenneth Urquhart, three additional illustrations, and the list of present-day officers) by The Pelican Publishing Company of New Orleans, June 1964.

1 comments about Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography in Postcards.

1. A look at one of the most celebrated figures in American history - in the form of postcards. "Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography in Postcards" covers this great man's life, illustrated with nearly three hundred postcards from various eras. Depicting a conflicted, brooding man who led America through the Civil War and was struck down in his prime for it, "Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography in Postcards" is a top pick for American History and Biography collections and for anyone interested in history from a fresh perspective.

No comments about Lincoln's Journalist: John Hay's Anonymous Writings for the Press, 1860 - 1864.

No comments about The Twenty-fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion.

1 comments about Lincoln Seen and Heard.

1. With its reproduction of over 50 rare prints from the 19th century, Harold Holzer's LINCOLN SEEN & HEARD is a rare treasure trove of Lincoln images. Holzer, author of several studies on Abraham Lincoln, offers rich biographical and historical details during his visual and textual analysis.

   Holzer's study of Lincoln's public image in iconography and language is logically divided into thematic chapters. In his study of the comtemporary visual iconography of Abraham Lincoln, Holzer examines images of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator and as the Commander in Chief. He also analyses images of Lincoln's assissination and compares prints of Lincoln and the Confederacy's Jefferson Davis. In his discussion of Lincoln's language. Holzer addresses Lincoln's impromtu oratory as well as his two most famous texts, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. Holzer's book is well-balanced and richly documented. Very readable, this book should interest both historical scholars and general readers.

2 comments about Gray Cavalier: The Life and Wars of General William H. F. "Rooney" Lee.

1. This is a well-written biography of a reliable and capable cavalry officer. Rooney Lee was often over-shadowed by the flashier officers of the Army of Northern Virginia cavalry, including his cousin Fitzhugh Lee. However, as becomes evident from the facts of Rooney's career, he was probably a more consistent performer than Fitzhugh and was probably comparable in skill and courage under fire to Wade Hampton. His personal life is one of stoic handling of numerous tragedies. The book is pleasantly written and makes use of contemporary sources and letters, although few of those written by Rooney actually survive. Rooney Lee did not take advantage of his father's position and made his mark on the Confederacy by his ability and personality.



2. This is an excellent biography, carefully researched and documented, of a man of great character. This interesting book thoroughly explores the life of the favorite son of the South's most famous general, admired by all-- both North and South. Must reading by those interested in Southern History and American Cavalry.

3 comments about A Stranger And a Sojourner: Peter Caulder, Free Black Frontiersman in Antebellum Arkansas.

1. Before reviewing, in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I am Peter Caulder's great-great-grandson.
   
   This came as something of a shock to me, as I'd been told all my life that I was half Dutch and half Cherokee-Choctaw. Nothing about my features, save for a tan that lasts in some degree all year and a high resistance to sunburn, give much of a clue, and I generally think of myself as half white and half Amerind.
   
   Yes, I'm certain of this; I have fond memories of my grandfather - who also had no immediately obvious african features - Henry Elbert Caulder, who is on the last line of the Caulder geneaology in the book. He had three fingers on one hand, having lost them in a combine accident, and died quite some time ago...early 1990's I believe.
   
   So I have a bias.
   
   That said, I really enjoyed the book. For one thing, it gives an insight into a totally different kind of black man in the early 19th century than we are generally led to believe existed - a free sharecropper who joined the army and served for 14 years, helped establish a small colony of free blacks in north-central Arkansas, helped build Ft. Hood...I am generally of empirical mind, but I didn't find enough lacking in the documentation to detract from the value of the information presented or the way it was presented.
   
   I'll concede that much of it is second-hand and speculation, but the basic facts - that Caulder was a free black man born in South Carolina who joined the US Armed Forces with several other colored men (and family members) in his area as 'seconds,' a fairly common practice at that time (and long before the Tuskeegee Airmen, not to detract from their noble accomplishments!) There's no question that he was well-regarded by his fellow soldiers and superior officers, and he seems to have served well, if not in remarkable enough fashion to earn notable commendations.
   
   Regrettably, he also deserted after 14 years, by all indications to be with a woman he loved and help start the aforementioned colony.
   
   There is also no question that when Arkansas made free blacks illegal, a substantial percentage of the commune, including Caulder, moved to south-central Missouri and put down roots there. He still has descendants living there, including at least one of Henry Elbert Caulder's sisters, I *think*. I'd have to ask my mom.
   
   Beyond my obvious personal interest though, I appreciate this book for exposing me to a new way of thinking about what life was like for black people in the years before the Civil War really started building. There is further indication in the book that Peter's father, Moses, was married to a white woman and they lived as husband and wife. Prior to Moses, there seems to be no information, so I can't say if any of my ancestors were slaves or not, and I hope I can say without offending anyone that I don't much care.
   
   It's a fascinating, well-written story that will give you pause to challenge your own notions about the history of race in America, and I think it's well worth reading, regardless of my personal relation to the book.
   
   I *would* like to thank Billy D. Higgins - with whom I've never spoken, nor has anyone in my family that I know of, he seems to have worked exclusively from publicly available information - for putting this book together, both from the personal point of view and from that of a reader.



2. The book lacks any proper documentation, and it is full of speculation, in other words, a work of fiction. Higgins portrays the entire population, of Free Persons of Color in Marion County Arkansas as black, this is not the case, most of these families living on white River during that time frame that Higgins talks about in his book, were indeed Native Americans, some of these Indians were of mixed heritage, but I doubt if there were any full Blacks as Higgins tries to make you believe. If Higgins would have done any real research he would have known that there can be a difference between a Free Black Person and a Free Person of Color, anyone atempting to write a book, that covers the issue of race, should make an attemp to do proper research on the subject, before they put pen to paper .
   Anyone wishing to use Higgins book for genealogical research is wasting thier time,it is full of errors in most of the ancestrial lines he quotes, but if you have time to spare and like fiction, you might enjoy it, that is if you can work your way around all of the ifs, maybes and probably so's.



3. Billy D Higgins presents information in this book that broadens our understanding of US history. He tells the life story of Peter Caulder, a man of color, who grew up in an integrated rural community in Marion County, South Carolina where free black and white yeomen lived and cooperated in apparent harmony. Peter, his father, and several friends were recruited into the local milita unit as substitutes for more affluent neighbors and then into the US Rifle Regiment. These people of color served in an integrated army unit during the War of 1812 and, in Caulder's case, long after.
   
   Caulder remained in the army for fourteen years, spending most of his time at frontier posts in northwestern Arkansas Territory. After leaving the army, he became a landowner and taxpayer in a free black enclave on the White River in Arkansas.
   
   Unfortunately Higgins as created his book out of very limited documentation by padding fact with speculation, repitition, and extraneous information. Peter Caulder,like most of the people around him, was illiterate. The written record of his life is scantily recorded in census counts, army records and reports, sutlers' accounts, tax rolls, and the accounts of the few literate people with whom he came in contact. The book is awash in "may have", "might have", "perhaps", and "probably". The factual material is sufficient for a scholarly article, but not a book.
   
   I still recommend it. In addition to telling Caulder's story, the book describes military life on the southeastern frontier and supplies interesting glimpses of US-Indian interaction in the wake of the Louisiana Purchase. Like NEGRO COWBOYS by Durham & Everett, A STRANGER AND A SOJOURNER compels the reader to rearrange the furniture in his attic of preconceptions.

5 comments about From Ashby To Andersonville: The Civil War Diary And Reminiscences Of Private George A. Hitchcock, 21st Massachusetts Infantry.

1. I wish there were more diaries from soldiers written as well as this one. Hitchcock had a flair for writing and describing his events as a soldier very well. Hitchcock diary takes the reader on a long journey from enlisting in summer of 1862 to his final discharge in December of 1864. Throughout the journey Hitchcock brings to life the daily soldier grind, picket duty, camp life, fighting, being captured and the tough life of being a prisoner at Andersonville. I found the several chapters on Andersonville to be the most interesting in the book as it acts as a great resource of information for daily life at the prison. Hitchcock's daily diary writing is usually quite short and he doesn't write long narratives as compared to other soldier accounts. Sometimes I had wished he had written more details on the fighting, although his explanations of the fighting during the battle of Cold Harbor were very descriptive and I could easily vision the horrors. In other situations, Hitchcock was brief about his experiences at Fredericksburg in 1862 although he didn't see much fighting there. His best work on that subject came about from descriptions of the city and the hardships endured there. Overall, this book is an excellent source of information for those seeking insight about soldier life in the Civil War and books like this are priceless.



2. I found "From Ashby to Andersonville" a particulary moving and interesting book. The experiences of the civil war private who wrote the original diary encompass a remarkable amount of the war, both East and West. The tale told is rich in the real human drama of that life in all its day to day trials and tribulations and occasional joys. Editor Ron Watson keeps the reader oriented by insightful forwards to each chapter establishing the context of the place and time. From it I have a much better sense of the ebb and flow of that great war. Few books do I plan to re-read, but this is one of those.



3. Few books have captured my interest and emotion as this one...a young man tells his personal tale of the Civil War ~ revealing his code of ethics, bravery, love of country, and the horrors of war. The editor provides an excellent backdrop with well-researched, newly-revealed historical data about the war. A MUST read!



4. Insightful account of one young soldier's Civil War experience. His experiences as a prisoner were riveting and heartbreaking....you believed you were alongside of him. Editor did a wonderful job of including historical context. It was terrific!



5. George Hitchcock had a talent for describing the country side and people. His journal is a fascinating, personal account of bravery and adventure of a soldier during the Civil War: a descriptive story of suffering, courage and endurance - sometimes in situations of mismanagement and confusion.

2 comments about Ploughshares into Swords: Josiah Gorgas and Confederate Ordnance (Texas a & M University Military History Series, No 36).

1. When the Confederacy began to arm, weapons were in such short supply that serious consideration was given to arming the troops with pikes. When Lee surrendered at Appomattox, four years later, the South was in ruins, and his men lacked shoes, uniforms, and food, but they had guns and ammunition. This book is the story of the man responsible for this miracle, Josiah Gorgas. It is a tale of invincible determination, boundless energy, and endless ingenuity, and is well worth reading regardless of your feelings about the war.



2. This is a classic of Civil War history, superbly researched and well-crafted by an author who has complete command of this crucial aspect of the Southern war effort. Not only is it well-written, the excellent research is immediately available to the reader due to the footnotes being located at the bottom of the page, rather than the inferior lay-out method of placing footnotes at the end of the book. In order for anyone to gain a full understand the Confederate war effort, Vandiver's PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS is a must.

4 comments about The Civil War Papers Of George B. Mcclellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Series).

1. Stephen W. Sears has edited and annotated this remarkable selection of the wartime papers of Major General George W. McClellan.
   
   As the caption says, this book offers a look into McClellan's mind and the picture that emerges is myriad.
   On the one hand this was a man who possessed great charm and charisma and enormous ability as a professional soldier. But his soldierly qualities were those of the desk general, the organizer. He was the perfect man to build an army and to make it ready to fight. He created the Army of the Pototmac, and did so superbly. He should get the credit for that, more than he usually does, for it was an impressive achiement.
   On the other hand, McClellan was definitely not the right man to lead the army he made into battle. His record as a general in the field is abysmally bad.
   
   McClellan had it all when he came to washington in september 1861. He was eagerly awaited as the man who would save the Union and lead its armies to triumph over the rebel forces. He had the confidence, the friendship, the trust and goodwill of the Lincoln administration, of Congress, of the army and of the people and he lost it all.
   
   He lost it because of his arrogance and boastfulness, his meanness and vindictiveness, his manias of persecution and paranoia, his fear of failure, his constant and overestimating of his adversary's strength, his overblown self-importance, his penchant for naming generals who were as slow and cautious as himself (Sumner, Heintzelmann, Fitz-John Porter, William Franklin).... It is all there in his own words.
   His failure, as this book shows, stems from a lack of moral courage, wariness of his reputation, a paralyzing sense of responsability and a genuine reluctance of exposing his men to the possibility of death and wounds. Again: it is all there in his own words.
   
   He could have ended the war on at least two occasions: he could have hurled his army at Richmond in june 1862, by smashing his mighty army through Johnston's defenses and he could have ended the rebellion by destroying Lee's army at Antietam, if he had used his entire army against the Confederates instead of hesitatingly feeding is piece-meal into the fight, and leaving half of them in reserve.
   
   McClellan came out of the war as he came in to it: with a great reputation, admired and revered by many Americans. His ultimate failure as a general, nor his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in 1864, did much to change that. He went on to become Governor of New Jersey and in the year of his death, 1885, he was the guest of honour and the main speaker at the anniversary reunion on the battlefield of Antietam.
   The old soldiers gathered there, both from the North and from the South, saluted and cheered him. I find this hard to understand. They should have hanged him on the spot. Had I been there, I would have cursed him and pelted him with rotten fruit, at the very least. The former Union soldiers had reason enough to hang him because of his shockingly bad generalship, which resulted in prolonging the war and getting so many of their comrades maimed or killed. McClellan's cautiousness cost the South daerly too: his timid and slow campaigns ruined any chance of ending the rebellion soon, which resulted in the war going on till the South was ruined, gutted and utterly defeated. McClellan's way of war, in the end, necessitated Sherman's way of war.
   
   "McClellan is to me............one of the greates mysteries of the war", U. S. Grant noted in his Personal Memoirs. How could a man of such ability prove such a failure? Read it for yourself. It is all there, in his own words.



2. Stephen Sears's biography of George McClellan is probably the best ever written about the Civil War general. This collection of his writings during the Civil War, collected by Sears makes a wonderful companion to that biography.

   This collection of papers is facinating on so many levels. We read not only his official letters to the likes of Lincoln and Halleck but also his personal letters to his wife. It's in these personel letter that we see glimpses into the man's mind and sadly his paranoia. His letter home, especially during the pennisula campaign show a man suffering from a real psychological problem, made worse by the increasingly stressful situation he's in. As the campaign goes on you see his paranoia slowly begin to increase to the point that he feels he can trust nobody. He becomes a man who in his mind is surrounded by enemies.

   One word of warning. This isn't a light read. The collection is a whopping 600+ pages. Sears is holding nothing back here. If you are new to the Civil War and McClellan I strongly suggest first reading Sears's biography of McClellan. His books on the the Pennisula campaign and Antietam I would also recommend reading. They're great books and will help you understand what was going on around McClellan as he wrote all these correspondence.




3. This may be one of the most exceptional pieces of writing of his time as well as of today. You can't find this anywhere I know except here, so snatch it up as quickly as you came



4. I feel that Mr. Sears book is just another example of what historians can do with selected facts. In brief, to write, in his comments between chapters, such rubish, shows whatkind of a historian he is. The bottom line is that either McClellan was right,(the only General R.E. Lee's daughter said he ever feared, and R.E. Lee when asked who was the greatest Union General, he said McClellan by a longshot,) and he could have ended the Civil War in its first year (with some well deserved help from Lincoln) or else Lincoln the subject of so many myths was right. But then, how many remember that he did the same to the General who won at Gettysburgh, fired him. Yet Gettysburgh is part of our heritage. I am hoping to write a book to set the record straight, not depending on todays' revisionist historiaans but original texts, books articles written by those who survived to tell it as it was.