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.

1 comments about The Journal of a Civil War Surgeon.

1. A great read for anyone interested in the innerworkings of the Army of the Potomac. Dyer served closely with Gens. Hancock, Gibbon, Hooker, and Howard, giving pesonal insight to these men. He also goes into the lives to the fighing soldier in great detail. Being a top-notch surgeon, the men are always on the forefront of his mind. Dyer works tirelessly for the care and well being of the men. He is especially interested in making sure the men get vegetables, as Dyer is recognized as the first to realize that scurvy is a major problem in the Army. Perfect for anyone interested in how the medical corp oppereated from battlefield care, to the ambulence corp, to division hospitals up to to the large hospitals of the north. Tactfully edited by Chesson.

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.

3 comments about Unlikely Warriors: General Benjamin H. Grierson and His Family.

1. This is the story of Union General Benjamin Grierson's military life. If the author had stuck to his military accomplishments this would have been a much more focused, and more interesting work. Instead the reader is treated to entire discussions of the General's extended family, spouse, children, brothers, sisters, etc. This detracts from the central theme.
   
   However, the sections covering his Civil War experiences and Grierson's western frontier service after the war are really quite well done. You will like Ben Grierson. He is a committed friend, loving father and spouse, loyal subordinate and concerned about the welfare of his troops. His Mississippi raid in support of U.S. Grant's Vicksburg victory is an amazing accomplishment and his service with the U.S. Tenth Cavalry, the black troopers commonly referred to as "buffalo soldiers" sets an example hard to emulate. Organizing this regiment after the war, it sees extended service successively in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The Tenth's accomplishments are the things of legend and one wishes the author had spent more, much more time on this amazing portion of Grierson's life.
   
   Altogether this is a fair read, one that will not disappoint.



2. 
   Benjamin Grierson's life was filled with major accomplishments and terrible tragedy. A failed merchant with a wife and two children when the Civil War broke out, he joined an Illinois cavalry unit, despite being fearful of horses. Rising through the ranks, he became a hero after leading a large force of Union cavalry on a 16-day raid through Mississippi in 1863, causing much damage to Confederate stores and property and contributing significantly to Grant's success in the siege of Vicksburg. After the war he was put in command of the Tenth Cavalry, made up of black enlisted men (often referred to as Buffalo Soldiers), and posted to the frontier west. It was here that his career languished, due mainly to senior army general Phil Sheridan's refusal to give Grierson promotions, rewarding men who had served under him during the war instead.
   
   Grierson was an honorable man and fair, and these qualities also seemed to attract enemies. He defended his black soldiers fiercely and fought the discrimination that was constantly leveled against them. He also spoke up for the Indians and favored negotiating with them rather than slaughtering them. It wasn't until 1890, the year he retired from the army, that he was promoted to brigadier general. Tragedy also befell his family: three of his children died before reaching adulthood, and two others suffered mental breakdowns as adults. Grierson often had to support various members of his family during tough times, and the financial strain was great. Living the life of a frontier army officer, often being transferred, was also difficult for him and his family. But the Leckies make it clear that the Griersons braved it all and were a loving couple. This biography tells a very moving story, and tells it well and in detail. Fortunately the Griersons were a letter-writing (and saving) family, and the Leckies were able to substantiate much of their biography with information (and emotions) garnered from these letters. It's a fascinating and poignant story. Highly recommended.



3. Benjamin Grierson, a former musician with no prior military experience, is perhaps most famous for "Grierson's Raid", which served as a diversion during General Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign in the Spring of 1863. As the result of the famous raid and other service during the war, Grierson rose in rank from major to major general of volunteers. Unlike many other citizen-soldiers of the Civil War, however, he did not return to civilian life after the war. Instead, Grierson accepted a commission as a Regular Army colonel and was given command of the newly-formed 10th Cavalry Regiment. The 10th Cavalry was one of the four, along with the 9th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments newly formed "Colored" regiments of the U.S. Army, which had white officers and black soldiers. Grierson welcomed the opportunity to command a regiment which many other white officers would have regarded as potentially damaging to their careers. Not only did he command the regiment for a quarter of a century, but he continually defended his soldiers against the prejudice that was prevalent throughout American society at the time. Grierson's rather progressive thinking also extended to his dealing with American Indians. Though he and his men participated in many of the Indian wars of the Southwest, Grierson continually sought a more intelligent and humane solution to the Indian "problem". Much of what we now see as Grierson's virtues, however, came with a price to his career and to his family. For instance, Grierson's continual defense of his men certainly played a role in his not being promoted to brigadier general until three months before his retirement in 1890. Likewise, his family would suffer greatly during the frequent moves from one gruelingly inhospitable frontier Army post to another. At least partly as a result of his career choices, Grierson's relationship with his wife was frequently stormy and the military dynasty which he had predicted ultimately failed to appear. Though his wife bore him seven children, only four sons survived into adulthood. Of these surviving sons, three remained life-long bachelors, while only one married and produced any offspring. All of Grierson's children appear to have suffered, in varying degrees, from the manic-depression that was prevalent among his wife's family, and two of his sons would have to be institutionalized.

   Benjamin Grierson, himself, emerges from this work as a tragic figure. He was a man who was ahead of his time on issues of racial tolerance and was punished, directly or indirectly, for his beliefs. Likewise, he witnessed financial catastrophe, disease, and mental illness destroy his family. In the end, the reader is left wondering if the old adage is really true, that "no good deed goes unpunished."

No comments about Who Was Who in the Confederacy.

1 comments about Who Was Who in the Union.

1. This incredible book lists all the principle players for the Union in the Civil War. From government members to generals to spies to soldiers. All of the people I could think of have a several paragraph capsule of their lives and contributions to the Union cause. If you ever wanted to know an extended history of some one you read about, this is the place to look. over 1500 biographical sketches are presented.I find myself referencing this information frequently.

No comments about Stephen A. Douglas and the Dilemmas of Democratic Equality (American Profiles).

No comments about Andrew Foote: Civil War Admiral on Western Waters (Library of Naval Biography).

5 comments about Comrades: Tales of a Brigadista in the Spanish Civil War.

1. Fisher was a star in Studs Turkel's "documentary" on the Lincoln Brigade.
   He finished out his professional career working for the Soviet Tass Agency.
   Those of us who experienced life on the dark side of the Iron Curtain know what really happens when the utopia of the Lincolns is put into operation. Perks for high party functionaries like Fisher and grinding, humiliating poverty for the rest.
   Fisher was not the last commissar. They continue to this day albeit with different job titles.
   And wherever they commit bloody aggression, whether it be in Spain, Cambodia, Ukraine, Angola, Jenin or Qana, they make it sound like it was done for the good of mankind rather than for its subjugation.



2. Harry Fisher writes movingly about those men who were among my personal heroes, the 3200 Americans who served in the 15th (Abraham Lincoln) International Brigade that fought Hitlerism as "Pre-Mature Anti-Fascists" in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
   
   Nearly all were Communists or Socialists, almost half were Jews, and half of them gave their lives. Another 400 or so lost their lives as members of the United States Armed Forces during World War II.
   
   Harry Fisher tells of his motivation in going to Spain - fighting poverty on the lower East Side of New York, joining the Young Communist League, concerns about Hitler and Fascism. He writes poignantly of friends who never came home, like Butch Entin, whose ambulance was blown up by Fascist airplanes; or of the Stone Brothers - two of whom lost their lives within days of each other. He writes of little human interest stories too - of finding a genuine Jewish restaurant - complete with Gefilte Fish, Chicken Soup, Roast Chicken, in a little apartment on a side street in Barcelona and how good the food was, even though the owners were rumored to be "Trotskyites".
   
   Unfortunately, this is where Fisher loses his moral compass. For Harry Fisher came home and went to work for TASS, the Soviet bureau of Lies and Propaganda. He learned very little from the Hitler-Stalin Pact, or even from the Khruschev revelations of how murderous Uncle Joe Stalin was - or how he hated Jews as much as his friend Schicklgruber. He apparently either remained a Communist (Stalinist) Party member to the end of his days - or at any rate, remained close to the Party.
   
   Fisher also, unfortunately, chose to put one Oliver Law on a pedestal, even though Law, a Black American Communist was regarded by many Lincoln veterans as the most incompetent of the Comintern-chosen American commanders in Spain. Fisher claimed that Law was killed gallantly facing the Fascists; other former Lincoln vets, including William Herrick, whose "Jumping the Line" is the most honest account of an anti-Fascist Lincoln vet ever written, claim that Law was possibly shot by his own men after leading the Lincolns into ambush after ambush.
   
   The literature - and the first hand accounts of Americans who fought Hitlerism in Spain are few and far-between, and Fisher's book, like Herrick's is a valuable resource. Unfortunately for Fisher, while his decision to go and fight Fascism is to be admired, his affiliation with TASS not only leaves much to be desired - but also is an advisement to the reader to take much of the idelogy lurking in the background with a grain of salt.
   
   Read "Jumping The Line". Herrick may not have served in Spain as long as Fisher did, but it is a far more solid - and honest - work.



3. Harry Fisher, a young, idealistic labor activist, relates a very personal tale of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. This period of history ignored by most Americans, was a crucial moment in the history of Western Civilization. Fisher, recognizing the battle between Democracy and the Fascist powers, ignored the wishes of his family and volunteered to fight in Spain, supporting the democratically elected government there against the Nazi supported military rebellion of Franco.

   War is hell, but getting to the battlefield was no easy matter. Not only did the United States refuse to aid the Spanish government, it actively sought to block American citizens from opposing the fascists and Hitler's nascent military machine. (this at a time when Henry Ford and Prescott Bush (our "president's" grandpa) were raking money in supplying the Nazis). Fisher finally made it to Spain.

   The book relates comradeship, sudden death, misery, deprivation, and the courage that can only come from putting your life on the line for a cause you desperately believe in. Fisher relates anecdotes in a soft, gentle, personable manner.

   This book can be compared with Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. Orwell spends more time with political analysis and historical background. His style is less personal, and somewhat harsher. Fisher brings in his family, his hopes, his fears, but leaves the greater political context largely unexplored. Both books are five-star-must-reads.

   After reading Comrades, I again had to wonder, "What might have happened if America had acted as a Democracy instead of a Capitalist Oligarchy and officially backed the legitimate Spanish government? Even weapons sales might have enabled the forces of Democracy to prevail ... and taught Hitler and Mussolini that the Democracies would not stand idly by while they attempted to subdue the world.

   (If you'd like to discuss this book or review in more detail, click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)




4. The solidarity the members of the International Brigades showed in their battle against fascism in Spain is outstanding. I am so thankful and respectful that these people even gave their lives trying to ban the fascist danger. The Brigadistas didn't get the honor they deserved when they got back to their country: During the McCarthy area they where denunciated as "prematured Antifascists" and suffered under the treatment of the FBI. Keep the rembemberance alive - never forget their heroic battle! I can also recommend the book of James Yates "Mississippi to Madrid - Memoir of a Black American in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade"



5. I lived in Spain from 1959 - 1988 and dodged Franco's secret police for eleven years before what I was involved in became legal there. The author speaks with total authority. His account of a return to Spain at the age of 85 brought tears to my eyes. I recommend this book most highly!

2 comments about Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War (Da Capo Paperback).

1. General Johnston does not receive the attention he should from historians of the civil war, partly because Jefferson Davis attempted to slander his entire career from losing supplies at Mannassas, to not breaking the seige at Vicksburg, and even questioned his willingness to fight at Atlanta. Where he was relieved of command by Davis who appointed Hood who virtually deystroyed the army of Tennessee in fruitless attacks on superior union forces that bordered on suicide. Johnston defends himself againt these charges thru the entire book, he lays out several battle plans which where never carried out, such as his plan for the Penninsula campaign vs McClellan in 1862, he also goes into detail about his Atlanta campaign againt Sherman where perhaps one of the greatest defensive movements ever was witnessed, using his 40,000 or so poorly armed,and clothed men slowed a army of 110,000 men for well over a month while inflicting roughly 40,000 casulties, after reading about this it seems that if left in command at Atlanta he would have worn Sherman down when he tried to assualt the works built around Atlanta and then Johnston would have attacked and perhaps deystroyed his army since it was over 100 miles from its base and would have had great difficulty returning if defeated. Then perhaps he could have turned North and united with Lee in defense of Richmond of course that can never be known for sure but history could have been very different at least for 1865. Napoleon said "The logical conclusion to defensive warfare is defeat" but after listening to some of Johnston's logic and ideas I'm not so sure, worthy of any civil war library.



2. I enjoyed the reading so much, I purchased a copy of the original