No comments about Norton Parker Chipman: A Biography of the Andersonville War Crimes Prosecutor.

No comments about Confederate Pathway to the Pacific: Major Sherod Hunter and Arizona Territory, C.S.A.

No comments about The Campaigns of Walker's Texas Division.

No comments about Medical Histories of Union Generals.

2 comments about John Brown and His Men, Vol. 1.

1. To a casual student of the Cival War, this book tells how John Brown's obsession stimulated abolition's latent fervor in the North. The reaction to John Brown by the slave owners in Virginia revealed how the evil of slavery had warped the humanity of the slavers. Also revealed in this story is the vicious precursor to the Cival War which was the Kansas-Missour border fight. The writer, a friend and confidant, fills this account with a step by step progression building up to a historic climax. The many inclusions of letters, first hand accounts, and biographies makes this tragic epic come alive.

   This is a must read for those wish to understand more about these fateful times.




2. I was searching for my ancestors through the Keagy line and found this book. In it, I discovered that John Henry Kagi, an earlier form of the spelling "Keagy", was one of John Brown's men. Later I found another book about John Henry Kagi entitled, "John Henry Kagi and His Old Log Cabin Home." I am interested in learning more about Keagy Family Line and especially John Henry Kagi. My wife and I traveled to Harper's Ferry, VA to visit the site of John Brown's raid. Unfortunately, the papers and photographs of John Henry Kagi were damaged in the Spring flood. It was a great disappointment to us. The only records that we have are the information that I gained through those books, "John Brown and His Men," and "John Henry Kagi and His Old Log Cabin Home." Both of these books covered the raid on Harper's Ferry and gave me a wealth of new facts about John Henry Kagi. It brought history to life and presented a hero to my family.

2 comments about The Military Memoirs of General John Pope (Civil War America).

1. Peter Cozzens and Robert Girardi provided an excellent service to Civil War scholars by assembling the collected newspaper essays that General John Pope wrote in way of reflecting on his Civil War career. Best known for his stunning defeat at Second Bull Run and his bravado, a very different Pope emerges here. Often witty, Pope left excellent sketches of President Lincoln (an old friend of the family), Edwin Stanton, as well as numerous commanders of both the North and the South. Pope is excellent in capturing the chaos and incompetence of John Fremont's command in Missouri in the first days of the war. His scathing attack on Henry Halleck's torturously slow move towards Corinth reveals the extent of this wasted opportunity. But Pope is best known for two battles: Island Number 10 and Second Bull Run. His account of Island Number 10 is a bit rushed though certainly through. While Pope does an excellent job of describing the layout of his forces at the start of the Bull Run campaign, he relies on official records a bit too much and seems willing to let the matter slide. That is understandable, after all Pope was humiliated by Lee at Second Bull Run. The problem is that the Second Bull Run campaign was Pope's moment in the sun and he has little to say on it. With the large exceptions of George McClellan and Fitz John Porter, who Pope believed deliberately undermined his command, there is little bitterness. Even Nathaniel Banks, who picked a fight at Cedar Mountain against Pope's orders and was mauled by Stonewall Jackson, comes off relatively unscathed. It seems as if all of Pope's fire was being saved for McClellan and Porter, as can be seen in the memoirs as well as in a correspondence with the Comte de Paris which is included in an appendix. The memoirs reveal Pope to be much more intelligent and witty than his traditional blowhard persona would indicate though the bile is still there certainly in the cases of Porter and McClellan. One can see from these memoirs why so many men, including Grant and Sherman, seemed to like and respect Pope and while others had no use for the man. All in all, an interesting and revealing memoir to some long neglected parts of the war though be warned the main course, Second Bull Run, remains a bit bland.



2. Peter Cozzens rightly compares General John Pope's memoires with those of U.S. Grant and W.T. Sherman. This is a highly readable account from one of the participants in some of the least-understood episodes of the Civil War.

   Of course, Pope's writings are not "new." As Cozzens relates, the entries which make up this book appeared in the National Tribune and other Reconstruction-era publications. However, they have spent the last century forgotten by the general public. Cozzens and his colleague, Gerardi, have done a great service both to Civil War scholars and to the casual Civil War buff by bringing Pope's reminiscences and analyses to life.

   What is most surprising is the humor, candor and generosity of a man who has gone down in history as a narrow, bitter mediocrity. For example, devotees of General Lee, whose comments largely consigned Pope to history almost as a barbarian, will be surprised to read Pope's poetic evocation of the beauty of Virginia and the nobility of its citizens.

   In a similar vein, readers will benefit from a "fresh" take on a wide range of issues -- such as the relationships between Lincoln, Stanton, Halleck and McClellan -- from a player very much in the know, but whose views have gone largely unremarked.

   My only cautionary note would be that an appreciation of this volume depends upon a basic understanding of the events of the war, and perhaps also upon an introductory familiarity with the post-war debates on those events.

No comments about The Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon: Growing Up in New Orleans, 1861-1862.

1 comments about Fighting Them Over: How the Veterans Remembered Gettysburg in the Pages of the National Tribune.

1. The National Tribune was a post-war newspaper that catered to Civil War veterans. Former soldiers were encouraged to submit articles describing their wartime experiences and thousands of these personal accounts were published. Contributors, primarily Union veterans, ranged in rank from privates to generals, and their material covered a wide array of topics. Gettysburg was an especially popular theme. Scores of men who saw action in that epic battle used the National Tribune as a forum to explain their parts in the battle or the roles of their regiments. These writings were often detailed accounts and included material not found elsewhere. Frequently, debates erupted that ran their course through several issues of the paper. Included in this compilation are 142 of the best articles that appeared in the National Tribune. They encompass the entire campaign, from Ewell's success at Winchester to Lee's recrossing of the Potomac. This book presents the battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the men who were there. From the accounts of these participants, today's readers can more fully appreciate and understand the men who fought and the events that transpired during those three, crucial, deadly days in July 1863.

No comments about Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil W (The American Civil War).

1 comments about Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison.

1. I thought that this book was wonderful, it's content was direct and to the point while still telling a wonderful story of this woman's struggles of keeping secrect among the Union soldiers. I love this story and I would recomend it to anyone that has an inerest in the Civil War.