2 comments about Memoirs of a Dutch Mudsill: The "War Memories" of John Henry Otto, Captain, Company D, 21st Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.

1. Memoirs of a Dutch Mudsill: The "War Memories" of John Henry Otto, Captain, Company D, 21st Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, edited by David Gould and James B. Kennedy (Kent, Ohio, 2004).
   
   This is my favorite Civil War book. It provides the reader with as vivid a sense a book could afford of what it was like to live the daily life of a foot-soldier during the Civil War, except of course for the absolute horror that attended the battles of that conflict. We experience through the eyes of a seasoned and insightful soldier some of the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of his world. While John Henry Otto was a well-trained former Prussian soldier, he was above all a civilized and thoughtful man of good-will and humanity. He approached faults and weakness in others with humor , kindness, and realism, and he clearly saw himself as one of the many, rather than as one deserving aggrandisement.
   
   The 21st Wisconsin was a regiment which suffered a high number of casualties during the war. It received a harsh initiation into battle, when, just one month after the regiment was formed, it was thrown into a key position at the battle of Perryville. The regiment lost heavily in that conflict, with the serious wounding of its colonel, Benjamin J. Sweet, and the deaths of many officers and men. Battle was not the only thing with which these soldiers had to contend as part of their introduction to war: they were late in receiving essential equipment such as tents and waterproof blankets, as a result of which many suffered and died from exposure, as well as from the diarrhea and foot ailments which plagued most troops. Many of the regiment, including Surgeon Samuel J. Carolin, died from the impact of these deprivations upon their health in the month following Perryville.
   
   The battles of Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Resaca, Atlanta, Savannah, and Bentonville are also depicted and the narrative concludes with the grand parade in Washington which celebrated the end of the war. Otto's memoirs are one the only detailed first-hand accounts of some aspects of these battles and they provide much needed insight into their atmospheres -- how people reacted under crisis, how they interacted, how they sustained one another.
   
   The felicitous collaboration of David Gould, John Henry Otto's great-grandson, and James B. Kennedy, a scholar of the 21st Wisconsin Regiment, has resulted in a readable, personalized classic. They wisely avoid over-editing some of Otto's spelling, grammar, and punctuation idiosyncrasies save where understanding might be compromised, and they permit the intelligent and eloquent soldier to speak for himself. That he was eminently capable of doing so is evident from the following passage in which John Henry Otto describes camping on Lookout Mountain: "We lived now so to speak in another Climate. At such an elevation the air was allways pure and keen and nearly allways, especially at night time, a lively wind blowing." (P. 215.)
   
   This is a unique book, one deserving of several readings and one to share with family.



2. This is the best Civil War account of a midwestern (Wisconsin) soldier and the day to day activities that a common soldier had to endure that I have read. It chronicles the day to day life, as well every battle from Murfreesboro, to Atlanta, to the Savannah. Written from the perspective of a common soldier rather than from the perspective of a General. It reads like a novel. Excellent!

No comments about The Papers of Henry Clay. Volume 6: Secretary of State, 1827 (Papers of Henry Clay, Vol 6).

No comments about The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston: 1839-1845 (Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston).

3 comments about Confederate Raider: Raphael Semmes of the Alabama.

1. This is an easy and enjoyable read, chronicling the life of Raphael Semmes, the South's preeminent commerce raider.

   Rising from the obscurity of Washington, D.C.'s bureaucracy, Raphael Semmes's goes to sea the age 54 and never returns home until his ship, the CSS Alabama is sunk by the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France toward the end of the Civil War. Along the way he assembles a list of victories that would make any successful naval commander blush.

   But is that good enough for Semmes? After his defeat, he returns from France to the Confederacy. Avoiding the Union blockade by entering Matamoros, Mexico, he makes his way overland to Richmond where he not only is in charge of the Confederate Navy presence during the fall of Richmond, but he also subsequently is responsible for protecting the Confederacy's Treasury during the Presidential escape from Richmond.

   Raphael Semmes is a true Confederate hero who again out foxes his Union counterparts in the final days of the war.




2. The Rebel Raider is an interesting read which details the life of Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes of the Confederate Navy, and his captaincy aboard the CSS Alabama. The book gives a description of the building of the ship, and it's commissioning. It details a number of raides in which the Alabam partook, and the many victories it achieved during its commission. All in all the Alabam destroyed 61 ships - 60 merchant and one Union ship during its tenure. The book goes on to explain how the Alabama's life came to an abrupt end, and takes the reader through the rest of Admiral Semmes life. "Rebel Raider" is a very interesting book, and is extremely easy to follow.



3. In contrast to many Civil War army generals, little has been written about Admiral Raphael Semmes. John M. Taylor corrects this with his excellent biography of Raphael Semmes. The book opens narrating Semmes running the blockade from New Orleans with the C.S.S. Sumter, followed by three chapters on his pre-Civil War life. His first command, the C.S.S. Sumter is covered next. Overshadowed by the Alabama, history often overlooks the Sumter. However, the Sumter was important! John Kell, Semmes' First Lieutenant, is quoted after the war "I have always felt that the little Sumter never had full justice done her. . . .No ship of her size, her frailness, and her armament ever played such havoc on a powerful foe". It was on the Sumter that Semmes developed the commerce raiding strategies/ tactics he used so successfully on the Alabama.

   Leaving the Sumter at Gibraltar, Semmes and his officers traveled to Britain. Taylor's account of the Confederate agent in Britain, James Bulloch contracting for, equipping and arming the Alabama is fascinating and reads like a Cold War espionage novel including a mole in the Prime Minister's office. Semmes commissioned and took command of the Alabama in the Azores then set sail and captured the whaling ship, Ocmulgee, on 5 Sept. 1862. By the end of October 1862 the Alabama had ravaged the New England whaling fleet plus dealt a blow to the grain trade between New York and Britain.

   The author notes that at this time, Semmes conceived a bold plan to take the Alabama into New York harbor and fire the ships there. It is interesting to speculate on possible responses to a raid on New York harbor as 9 months later the city experienced draft riots which had ethnic, racial overtones in a northern city with some southern sympathies. The plan was canceled after the hurricane of October 16,1862.

   The book narrates in chronological order the capture of each ship by the Alabama and narrates her activities including a cruise to Asian waters. However, after 22 months at sea, the Alabama badly needed shipyard maintenance and refitting. Semmes put into the French port of Cherbourg . While France hesitated to allow the critical shipyard work, the U.S.S. Kearsarge arrived and took station in international water off Cherbourg. Semmes formally challenged the Kearsarge to battle and in an engagement on Sunday morning June 19, 1864 the Alabama was sunk. Semmes escaped to Britain aboard an English yacht. The book has an excellent discussion of the possible reasons for Semmes' decision to fight noting that by 1864 Confederate commerce raiding was no longer profitable. A chance for a positive international reaction to defeating a Federal warship was one consideration for making it worth putting the Alabama at risk in fighting the Kearsarge because the Alabama's days were numbered without an overhaul.

   After losing his ship Semmes returned to Richmond, was promoted to rear admiral and given command of the James River Squadron. With the fall of Richmond and the James River Squadron scuttled, Semmes became a brigadier general commanding an army brigade. This interesting period in Semmes life is well covered by the text. The final chapters narrate his post war life including imprisonment, release and futile attempts to gain the right to hold the public office of probate judge to which he had been elected. Semmes was always the unreconstructed rebel and Taylor describes Semmes' memoirs as "the last shot in a war already lost".

   The author notes "Part of Semmes' value to the Confederacy lay in his versatility. He was cruiser captain, diplomat, and propagandist in one." He writes that Semmes was thoroughly versed in maritime law which he used to direct his activities and further his cause. For example, the text states "Semmes might have burned Brown's ship out of contrariness, but his legal training would not permit it." On another occasion, the text notes "Once again, Semmes's seamanship and knowledge of international law stood him in good stead". The author noted Semmes would always take pride in his treatment of those whom he captured and quotes Semmes saying "We were making war upon the enemy's commerce . . . . not upon his unarmed seamen." What a contrast to W.W.II where 30,000 unarmed merchant seamen lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic.

   Admiral Semmes importance goes beyond the Civil War and his place in naval history is ensured. Taylor wrote that Raphael Semmes was well remembered by naval strategists in Europe and quoting from volume 38 of the Southern Historical Society, he narrates how Kaiser Wilhem II upon meeting a diplomat from the state of Alabama said "I reverence the name of Semmes. In my opinion, he was the greatest admiral of the nineteenth century. At every conference with my admirals I counsel them to read and study Semmes's Memoirs of Service Afloat." In WW I the Germans emulated his disguising his ships and supporting a cruiser with a tender. In the early days of WW II Admiral Semmes's tactics/strategy were used by the German warship Graf Spee in the South Atlantic. In like manner, early in the WW II other German warships such as the Hipper and the Sharnhorst conducted surface attacks on British merchant shipping . Also, during WW II, German U-boats used his tactics and strategy and copied Semmes's tender usage using submarines as tenders to supply and provision U-boats at sea.

   Semmes accounted for 71 of some two-hundred-odd Northern merchant ships destroyed plus bonded and released 12 other captured Northern ships. As commander of the Alabama he sailed some 75,000 miles without touching a Confederate port. He was the only commander on either side to fight two battles at sea and the only Confederate captain to sink an enemy warship. His record as a sea raider would not be approached until the era of the submarine. As John Taylor wrote "Semmes was not the first commerce raider of the nineteenth century; he was simply the best."

2 comments about The Heavens Are Weeping: The Diaries of George Richard Browder, 1852-1886.

1. WOW! This is an incredible book. Anyone would enjoy this book. It will appeal to anyone interested in a daily chronicle of life in the mid 19th century, the struggles, the hardships, the joys and the wonder.
   
   George Browder, an elder of the local church, responsible for a six county area in middle/western Kentucky registers a daily diary of his life from approx. 1840-1880.
   
   George was a neighbor of my ancestors, Nelson Hadley Waters. I couldn't have possibly gained so much insight as to life in Kentucky at that time. What an incredible insight!
   
   George also chronicles tidbits about life from the early 1800's in Kentucky when he talks about his father coming over from VA and MD.
   
   I especially enjoyed the insights into the terrible civil war. Kentucky was torn between North and South. Neighbors livestock stolen, houses burned, neighbors going into hiding. Even after the war neighbors were not safe. It was incredible to read about how quickly news traveled during the civil war, primarily due to the telegraph. Once was installed at Volney, which gave this small community access to daily events of the war and George provides many details of daily updates in his diary.
   
   I also enjoyed reading about George taking his family to the World's Fair and their trip to Niagra Falls, etc. This is quite the fete on a paron's salary!
   
   I also learned more about the importance of the railroads in the last half of the 1800's and how it changed their lives in gaining more mobility and access to distant places they otherwise wouldn't have had a chance to reach in such short time.
   
   This is great reading for genealogists, history buffs and general public interested in life through the 19th century.



2. This book is a miracle. No doubt about it. For years and years the diaries of Rev. George R. Browder lay tucked away passed down and read by the family.
   
   One day, in 1974, the manuscripts were introduced by my wife's best friend (a Browder Family descendant) to Dr. Richard L. Troutman, a professor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. He fell in love with the remarkably rich and compelling writing style detailing not only major events (the Civil War, etc.), but ordinary every day events like working in tobacco, visiting the sick, and my favorite, the descriptions of Christmas Day.
   
   I love this book and highly recommend it to any student of the history of middle 1800's life on south-central Kentucky.

1 comments about The Capture of Atlanta and the March to the Sea: From Sherman's Memoirs (Dover Books on Americana).

1. The story of the March in the words of the Commanding General himself. Doing reading on the subject for around four months I decided to pick up a book by him about his own March. His side of the story does often go along with what Historians have to say about him. Unlike any major Historian (that I've found) will do, he actually tells you why he made some of his major decisions.
   
   It does take some getting used to, because it's written in the era's form of English and writting.. and you will pick up on the differences very quickly, but you get used to it. For "old and ancient" writing.. I found it to be a very well written and put together book, despite the fact that the March to the Sea is the last chapter of the book (and also the last 70ish pages).

No comments about Jubal Early's Raid on Washington: 1864.

2 comments about Dr. Henry R. Porter: The Surgeon Who Survived Little Bighorn.

1. This is an excellent history of a personality that survived Custer's ego at work at the Little Big Horn. I can see this history of Dr Porter as a basis for a documentary. Dr Walker's book proves there is life before and after Custer. He shows Dr Porter a man of his time, warts and all.



2. I did not care to much for this book, me being a big Custer reader. The book was not worth the money for a paper back. He talks to much about his travels over seas & about the banking business in Bismark, North Dakota. He tells a lot about the early history of Bismark, which is interesting. At times a slow read.

5 comments about Balkan Odyssey (Harvest Book).

1. David Owen gives a very personal account of his experiences as a mediator, including his frustrations with the attitude of the international community (in particular the US). His views are very useful to understand the mechanisms of international diplomacy in a highly mediatised conflict. It is rather simplistic, in my view, to depict Owen as someone who tried to favorise one one the parties in the conflict.



2. This is by far one of the worst books about war in Bosnia.
   It's a complete waste of time.



3. Lord Owen is clearly getting brickbats for being "pro Serb" (he has said as a witness to Milosevic's "trial" that he was the only leader who consistently supported peace & that any form of racism was "anathema" to him). On the other hand nobody points out any factual errors. One reviewer refers to Fikret Abdic as a smuggler when, as a matter of fact, he was the most popular moslem politician & Bosnia who had clearly beaten Izetbegovic in a straight election.
   
   If the facts prove that the Croatian & Moslem Nazis were genocidal nazis, as they do, it would be wrong to say otherwise. On the other hand Lord Owen would hardly have been criticised had he lied to uphold the cover story of the genocidal western leaders who supported them.



4. Horrible book from the person who has no right to even talk about the war in Bosnia, since he himself was indirectly responsible for prolonging it. I would strongly recommend a book by Brendan Simms "Unfinest Hour - Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia" that clarifies Owen's role during the war in Bosnia.



5. Lord Owen's recounting of his efforts to help resolve the Bosnian war is really little more than a list of meetings and conferences. To this dry unending litany he adds a few cursory and, in some cases, inaccurate descriptions of players associated with the conflict. If you are hoping to get insight from a seemingly well placed person who spent hours and days locked in discussion with some of the 20th Century's most reviled figures you will not find it here. His descriptions are little more than ambiguous diplomatic niceties. During the course of this confusing peace process, Owen only occasionally pens restrained displeasure about the continued obstructionism of American administrations and the blatant deception of Balkan leaders. Just as the international community feared backlash against any form of decisive action, it seems Lord Owen had similar reservations about libel - neither approach is conducive to establishing lasting peace nor fruitful discourse. Owen's isolation in conference rooms and hotels quickly becomes apparent as his detached, incomplete descriptions of realities on the ground appear more like secondhand gossip than any useful form of analysis.

   In this book, Lord Owen missed a glorious opportunity to expose the countess agendas and duplicities he faced from all sides. He could have spoken his mind but instead chose to remain a politician. In the end, this book is really just another apology for the shameful failure of Western collective security.

1 comments about Chickasaw, A Mississippi Scout for the Union: The Civil War Memoir of Levi H. Naron, As Recounted by R. W. Surby.

1. Chickasaw the Scout is a relative of my wife and the story is family legend. It describes in detail how a Southerner is conflicted about the WBTS and how important preservation of the Union was to Levi Naron. Chickasaw was Chief of Union Scouts (spies) for the Southern Campaign and served Sherman, Grant, and others in the TN, MS, AL, GA theaters of operation. Needless to say, he could not return to Chickasaw County, Mississippi after the war because of retaliation from his neighbors so he relocated to Kansas on government land grants where his family still resides.