1 comments about Basil Wilson Duke, CSA: The Right Man in the Right Place.

1. This is not so much a personal biography of the Kentucky general as an account of his influence on John Hunt Morgan. Civil War buffs will appreciate the details that fill in previous blanks in other accounts of Morgan's Raiders and the role of Kentuckians in the War Between the States.

No comments about Jefferson's Adoptive Son: The Life of William Short, 1759-1848.

3 comments about General Leonidas Polk C.S.A.: The Fighting Bishop (Southern Biography Series).

1. That's a tough question, and I don't suppose there is a logical answer. My friends [and enemies] know me as an unreconstructed Confederate whose two biggest heroes are the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk and Secretary Judah P. Benjamin. This fine book gives an excellent portrait of a most unusual man...note that I gave Polk's title as "Right Reverend", not "Lieutenant General", though both are true....
   
   In Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18 we read of Christ and the Rich Young Ruler...a young man who turned away sad, rather than follow The Master. Now, what would have happened had he made a different choice? Naturally, that would have been up to God's superintending Grace, but the story of Leonidas Polk is one possible answer...
   
   Polk was born in Raleigh, NC, in 1806, of a family that had used the Revolutionary War land grants to full advantage...Having the choice to be educated anywhere he wanted, he followed the family tradition of military service and attended West Point. There he did quite well in his studies, formed a friendship with Jefferson Davis, and came under the influence of Chaplain Charles McIlvaine. Converted to Christ, he was the first man ever baptized in the West Point Chapel. Feeling a call to the Ministry, he resigned from the Army after graduation [this was allowed in an Army overstocked with officers], went to Seminary in Alexandria, VA, then was called to be Associate Rector of Monumental Church in Richmond. {The Church still stands, and has a memorial plaque for Bishop Polk, though it hasn't been used as a Church since 1965}.
   
   Bishop Polk soon embarked on a dual career as priest of small Churches, and as an increasingly rich Tennessee planter. Yes, he owned slaves, about 500 of them. Remember, in that time and place , no one saw a conflict...he made sure the slave's Spiritual welfare was taken care of {Episcopal and Baptist services were available on the plantation}, kept a doctor in residence, kept families together, and in general provided as well for his slaves as well as anybody, anywhere. Consecrated a Missionary Bishop in 1838, he grew in the job, starting numerous Churches, spreading the Gospel, and eventually becoming presiding Bishop of Louisiana.
   
   The Bishop had long seen a need for a distinctively Southern Episcopal university....thus, The University of the South, in Sewanee, TN was born. The author gives much space to this story, as well he should. When war came, The Bishop was offered General's stars by President Davis. After much soul-searching, he accepted, and served as a Corps commander in the Army of Tennessee until he was killed at Pine Mountain, GA in June 1864. It wasn't all roses...[almost] everybody had problems with Braxton Bragg, and Polk was no exception...there were conflicts in Kentucky, at Murfreesboro, and, finally, at Chickamauga. Polk was blamed for an incomplete victory, and, in truth, there is enough blame to go around. For all his problems as a General, Polk remains the only man to beat US Grant on the field of battle [at Belmont, MO].
   
   Not long before he was killed, The Bishop baptized Generals Hood and Joe Johnston...a fitting final chapter for a man who was both Bishop and General. BUT, there is not yet a final chapter...numerous Churches consecrated by the Bishop still preach the Gospel, and Sewanee still educates young people for Christ.
   
   This is a fine study of a very great man. Well written, well organized...until last fall, it was the best available...then, Glenn Robins wrote "The Bishop of the Old South", one of the very finest books I've ever read [see my review]. Still, this book is worth reading, if you can find it at a decent price [not easy; I was lucky]. Robins' book is superior, and is easy to find...still, the serious student should read both.



2. Ordained a deacon in the Episcopal church three years after graduating from West Point, Polk was offered a commission by his West Point classmate Jefferson Davis shortly after the war began. After some hesitation, Polk accepted, was made a Major General, and began serving by helping fortify and defend Mississippi defenses. He later defeated Grant at Belmont, MO, and fought gallantly at Shiloh. He was second-in-command at Perryville, KY, and saw action at Stones River, TN. He failed to attack when ordered by Bragg to do so at Chickamauga and was removed from command (Bragg wanted him court-martialed but Davis refused). He was killed at Pine Mountain, GA, in June 1864. Davis lamented the loss greatly, though he was not considered by most as being a superior military commander.
   
   Parks's book, first published in 1962 and reissued 30 years later, is a workmanlike account of Polk's life and career. His approach is scholarly (there are lots of footnotes), but not numbingly academic. He writes with authority and has studied his subject well. The book definitely has the feel of being definitive.



3. Parks has written a solid bio of "The Fighting Bishop" in this work first published in the 1960s. This book delves into Polk's family history, his days at West Point, how he got into the priesthood, his days as a bishop, his friendship with Jefferson Davis & Albert Sidney Johnston, and his feud with Braxton Bragg, among others. One sore point of the book, however, is that Parks has a great deal of respect for Polk and therefore hardly ever criticizes any moves made by Polk even though Polk is widely known as a below-average corps commander. Still, this a good bio (one of the few on Polk) and very much worth reading if you are interested in Polk.

1 comments about A Reporter's Lincoln (Bison Book).

1. This edition is a modern update and expansion of memories and tales about Lincoln gathered starting in 1886 by Walter B. Smith then chief of the Washington bureau of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Even at that time the legends about Lincoln had begun to grow. Understandably what people remembered, or were willing to present, probably portrayed themselves in a favorble light and presented themselves as closer to Lincoln than they may actually have been. The author himself was not above presenting material from other sources as interviews he had personaly conducted. Keeping that in mind the book offers glimpses of an elusive historical figure from a variety of points of view from people who knew him. Editor Michael Burlingame does an admirable job of informing the reader of the limitations inherent in this kind of gahering oral history. There is a fascination to reading about Lincoln as known by political friends and opponents, relatives and fellow attorneys, merchants and those who knew him when they were children.

4 comments about Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.

1. Be careful what edition of this book you get. The original edition was a large, useful collection of primary sources. However, another edition was put out which, while still a collection of primary documents, was much shorter and could not be considered definitive at all. The latter was the one I wound up with, and I didn't get much use out of it.



2. This compendium of battle studies and reports was written by commanders of all levels: Grant, Sherman, Lee and Longstreet down to lieutenants commanding companies for points of clarification on minor skirmishes or segments of the battlefield.The accounts were set down when the war was still fresh in their memories, yet when enough time had passed for reflection.

   The fact that several viewpoints, some conflicting, are given for each major battle and campaign adds immeasurably to the value of this work. Of course recent "scholarship" has eclipsed and corrected many of these accounts. However, you get the immediacy and vigor of the post-war controversies and the finger-pointing --- the first early exposition of the rift between Longstreet and the Jubal Early faction for example.

   Battles and Leaders was for a long time THE source for the early critical historians of the war such as John Codman Ropes, W. Henderson (the pre-eminent biographer of Stonewall Jackson) as well as the generals themselves who wanted to cross-check their accounts. This was the case until well after the release of the Offical Records some ten years later.

   There were inevitable lapses of style and critical ability in the original multi-volume edition; these for the most part have been weeded out from this accessible one-volume version.

   The great part about this book for me is that one can get the flavor of the passions still raging, even though the writers attempted a detached and clinical tone for credibility's sake.

   Johnson and Buell made a concerted effort to elicit a well-rounded picture for battles and episodes which were the subject of intense debate.

   If you have any interest in the Civil War, and lack the time to sift through the voluminous post-war memoirs of the commanders, you'll want to keep Battles and Leaders handy.




3. This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!



4. This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!

No comments about Quotations of John F. Kennedy.

No comments about Oh, What a Loansome Time I Had: The Civil war Letters of Major William Morel Moxley, Eighteenth Alabama Infantry, and Emily Beck Moxley.

No comments about Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom 1822-1832.

No comments about Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy: 1833-1845 (Andrew Jackson & the Course of American Democracy 1833-1845).

1 comments about Field of Battle: The Civil War Letters of Major Thomas J. Halsey.

1. It's difficult to figure out what this book wants to be. Its title suggests that it's a compilation of the Civil War letters of one Thomas J. Halsey, major in a New Jersey infantry unit. As one interested in experiences of soldiers on the ground during the Civil War, this is why I bought a copy. Big mistake. In fact, the book has but a few snippets of Halsey's letter, offered up in box-size bites, and not very interesting or illuminating ones at that. So regardless of the book's title, it most definitely isn't in the Civil War letters genre.
   
   In actuality, the book is quick and easy history of the Civil War that loosely (Halsey served in the eastern theater, and the book's text touches on east and west) parallels the dates and locations of Halsey's letters. The history is competent, but introductory. Anyone who knows much of anything about the Civil War won't find it at all instructive.
   
   So: the book isn't what it wants, or at least claims, to be, and what it does is nothing much to write home about. Why two stars? For two reasons. First, the photographs in the book, both contemporary and historical, are beautiful, as one would expect from a National Geographic publication. Second, the book comes with a marvelous detached military map of the eastern and western theaters--again, something one expects from National Geographic--that illustrates campaign and battle sites. It's one of the best I've seen, and I actually had my copy laminated.