No comments about Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland (Civil War Centennial Series).

3 comments about Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon.

1. Christopher Phillips provides the reader with a fascinting insight into the character of Nathaniel Lyon. Rarely in reading a biography has the reader come away with such a clear and precise understanding as to what the central character's personality was really like.
   By providing this insight into Lyon's character the reader can clearly understand what motivated Lyon to take the actions he took in the troubled 1860's in Missouri. Lyon was a not very likable individual, He brought a zealot's zeal to virtually everything he believed in or did regardless of the conseqences. In the end this zeal brought about his own death. A great read...two thumbs up.



2. Damned Yankee provides a surprisingly detailed study of the life of U.S. Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. Author Chistopher Phillips probes deeply into Lyon's background, family, and military career. The product is a fascinating portrait of a determined and disturbing figure.
   
   Nathaniel Lyon seized the initiative in Missouri, never allowing the determined secessionist governor an opportunity to guide the state out of the Union. While Missourians overall desired neutrality and elected secession convention delegates who soundly rejected secession, the elected state government leaned far more Southern than strictly neutral. From the moment of his entry onto the scene in St. Louis, Lyon worked tirelessly to frustrate Southern ambitions on the Federal arsenal. He butted heads with his more passive superiors in St. Louis; and he successfully conspired with various political figures to usurp and replace these impediments to his perceived mission.
   
   Lyon is a unique personage with an intensely individual interpretation of right and wrong. The author's central theme is that Lyon sought to punish those who strayed from what Lyon perceived to be the right path; and the author is effective in presenting his case. Lyon's disagreements with superiors and fellow officers were frequently intense, often to the point of insufferable insubordination. His punishment of subordinates for infractions was also extreme to the point he was successfully court-martialed for excessive punishment.
   
   The events in Lyon's career I found most disturbing related to his sanctioned and authorized reprisal massacres of Native Americans in California. This certainly makes his declaration of war in Missouri far more threatening: "Better, sir, far better, that the blood of every man, woman and child within the limits of the State should flow, than that she should defy the federal government."
   
   As a military commander and organizer, Lyon proved incredibly capable. Here was a commander with the bold aggressiveness of Grant, the self-assured intensity of Forrest, and the discipline of Stonewall Jackson. However, he also possessed huge flaws such as an inability to get along, political inflexibility, and subversive intrigue that likely would have undone him had he not perished at Wilson's Creek. His eccentric and caustic beliefs were likely to produce outrages.
   
   The author does a fine job of presenting the various viewpoints and back and forth of central characters. When he does present his own conclusions though they are not always convincing. The argument that Lyon was the irritant that leading to much of the eventual conflict in Missouri falls particularly flat, as does the pronouncement that without strong Federal action Missouri's pro-Southern governor and government would still have been unsuccessful in their aims.
   
   I'm also highly skeptical of the author's characterization of Lyon's reasoning for fighting at Wilson's Creek as being a punitive crusade. Lyon was right that he must use his force or lose it. He was also correct that if he retreated without a fight he would give the secessionists control of southwest Missouri. I can't fault the logic of forcing an engagement before determining whether or not to retire in such a circumstance.
   
   There are a few errors in the descriptions of events in Lyon's Civil War campaign, but overall they are well presented. I will note that I was disappointed the author did not point out Lyon's quartermaster Justus McKinstry was later successfully court-martialed for his activities in disrupting Union supply. No doubt that would have detracted from the author's case against Lyon's circumventing of a clearly broken supply system in St. Louis.
   
   Despite the above observations about the author overselling points of his case I agree with his central theme. This is a well-researched book and provides a complete profile of Nathaniel Lyon as a soldier and a man.



3. This paperback* is useful as a cheap (book can be purchased at a deep discount) means to get an idea of what occurred in Missouri during the first part of the Civil War. Phillip's attempt to psychologically profile General Lyon with today's sensitivities provides the reader with comic relief in this account of some of the darkest days in our history.
   
   *note: one needs to be able to read between the lines of Phillip's politically correct revisionist slant on history.

2 comments about The Humorous Mr Lincoln: A Profile in Wit, Courage, and Compassion.

1. I read this book nearly 7 years ago and still remember a few of the anecdotes with fondness. At the time I was 13 and could appreciate the simple logic of Mr. Lincoln and his sparkling wit. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a nostalgic read that won't confront you with questions about Lincoln's political ambitions or racial attitudes. It is simply about a man, famous though he may have been, he was also smart and funny. In an age when humor is all about hurtful, shock-value jokes, this reminds us that it takes far more to make someone laugh and be able to do so more than 100 years after you are gone.



2. At fourteen, I have to read many biographies about famous presidents, since I'm homeschooled and my dad is big on history. He gave me this book to read, and to my surprise, it was the only biography of Lincoln that I have ever read in which I found myself grieving that he was murdered. With every other biography, I was always glad when he finally got shot, just so the book would end already.

3 comments about M. Jeff Thompson: Missouri's Swamp Fox of the Confederacy (Missouri Heritage Readers Series) (Missouri Heritage Readers Series).

1. A rare and exciting glimpse of the involvement of so many committed soldiers that served in the military who were from Missouri. This should be required reading for high school students. The heritage of our past family members who were caught up in the turmoil cannot be told often enough and this book enhances and develops our understanding of those times.



2. Teacher Doris Land Mueller presents M. Jeff Thompson: Missouri's Swamp Fox of the Confederacy, an accessible and engaging biography of southeastern Missouri's Meriwether Jeff Thompson, who waged a guerilla war materializing out of the countryside to attack Union forces and evading traps set for them by Northern commanders. Dubbed "Swamp Fox" by General Ulysses S. Grant himself, Thompson had courage and skill despite leading poorly equipped and loosely trained soldiers, yet he was not invincible; captured in August 1863, and released twelve months later in a prisoner exchange, he participated in Sterling Price's ill-fated raid into Missouri. Yet after the war, he was one of the first Southern leaders to seek reinstatement as a U.S. citizen, and strived to allay hostilities among fellow Southerners. Thompson was also known as "Poet Laureate of the Marshes"; M. Jeff Thompson: Missouri's Swamp Fox of the Confederacy includes numerous excerpts of his writings to supplement the straightforward biography and occasional black-and-white photographs and illustrations. A welcome addition to Civil War biography and reference shelves.



3. As someone who is originally from the Show Me state, it took Doris Land Mueller's M.Jeff Thompson: Missouri's Swamp Fox of the Confederacy to show me that my home state could produce a genuine swashbuckling hero of the Civil War. Thompson, a charismatic leader and resourceful guerrilla tactician, caused the Union forces some considerable trouble before they caught and imprisoned him. Wherever your Civil War sympathies lie, you have to be fascinated by the daring Thompson as he is brought alive by Mueller's very able pen and meticulous scholarship. His story would make a great movie, and one that you will want to see after you read this book.

No comments about The Papers of Joseph Henry, Vol. 8: January 1850-December 1853: The Smithsonian Years.

3 comments about Did Lincoln Own Slaves?: And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln.

1. This is a great book to browse through and pick up fascinating facts about Lincoln. The format is enjoyable, and the author uses clever humor throughout. In addition to facts about Lincoln's life, he gives opinions on the best and worst books and movies about Abe. Highly readable and educational!



2. Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln,Gerald J. Prokopowicz, Pantheon Books, 311 pp., illustrations, photographs, bibliographic and reference notes, index, 2008, $24.95
   
   Well, when Civil War Librarian received a first notice of the book, a stereotype was placed in a mental pidgeon hole. Probably a slim book published for the middle school-high school library. Probably lots of often published photographs. Maybe a 'Dummy's Guide to Abraham Lincoln'. But, there was the author's name: Gerald J. Prokopowicz. Civil War Librarian is a listener and fan of Civil War Talk Radio and its host and faculty member of East Carolina University. Hmmmm.
   
   Prokopowicz doesn't write/talk down to the reader of Did Lincoln Own Slaves; it is as if the reader is in a seminar on Lincoln and the author is the the discussion leader and instructor. Aristotle and Socrates would be pleased; Prokopowicz employs questions to bring the reader through the implications of the simplest question. What are the assumptions implied in the questions? How has this question been answered previously? What is the current scholarship on the question?
   
   As scholar-in-residence at the Lincoln Museum of Fort Wayne, Indiana for nine years, Prokopowicz probably had to handle this questions. The book is organized somewhat chronologically but also topically. In the sections 'Boy Lincoln,' 'Rail Splitter,' 'Springfield,' 'Politician,' 'Speaker' and seven other chapters, the author organizes the material in chronological fashion but also explores the implications of the questions and stretches outside the confines of the immediate dates.
   
   In the section 'Speaker' an articulate essay on Stephen Douglas brings the reader into the historical context of competitive politics. The answers to such questions as 'What was his greatest speech?' four pages long and contains a note and portions of Lincoln's remarks. Wonderfully, Prokopowicz conditions his answer with the remark "You already know about his presidential speeches, like the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address . . ." and then presents 11 paragraphs of cogent description and discussion of the October 16, 1854 Peoria, Illinois speech addressing the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
   
   Chapter Six, 'President,' Prokopowicz begins with 'How old was Lincoln when he became president?' He deals with the answer in one declarative sentence and then a remark that Lincoln was the third youngest president up to that time. The chapter builds to longer answers in the middle then wind downs to shorter answers. The author leads the reader into an in depth discussion and out again. At the end of the each chapter, a section 'For Further Reading' not only suggests books in the field but also offers a brief historiographical discussion of the resources.
   
   From first to last, the author is not a sage-on-a-stage but a guide-by-the-side. A clear writing style and a concise delivery of the facts presents the reader with an enjoyable experience. A foundation of facts with citations offers the reader a thoughtful and scholarly return on the time invested. Each of the chapters leads the reader to the next; Civil War Librarian at times could not put it down missed several hours of sleep. Of the many satisfying chapters, 'Legacy' is the most appreciated; Prokopowicz's discussion of the variety of interpretations and the climate of the times in which each interpretation was written, capped 'Did Lincoln Own Slaves?'
   
   With Andrew Ferguson's Land of Lincoln in 2007 and Prokopowicz's 'Did Lincoln Own Slaves?, both the general reader of biography and the dedicated reader of Lincoln books will have a Lincoln book in both their hands.



3. This work is practically an encyclopedia in scope. Propowicz synthesizes, assesses and summarizes, in a well-divided, Q&A format, the latest scholarship and views on Lincoln issues and shows how, when you blend all that we factually know, Lincoln was a true pragmatist; ahead of many in thought but practical in deed, and commited to no idealogue's camp.
   Thanks to the book's division of life and time subjects, it can almost be read like a life sketch. There is also a section that dicusses Lincoln museums, newly-found Lincoln artifacts, and even "fun" stuff, like Lincoln impersonators, movies, etc.
   The book is generously illustrated with a good selection of relevant photos.
   OK, why would I minus half a star? C'mon, LINCOLN OWN A SLAVE? Who ever seriously considered that? A better title should have been chosen so the book isn't mistaken for one of these recent "Lost Cause" racism defenders.

No comments about From That Terrible Field: The Civil War Letters of James M. Williams, 21st Alabama Infantry Volunteers.

No comments about Banners South: A Northern Community at War (Civil War in the North).

5 comments about The Stone Wall.

1. A very interesting and factual account of the life of a rank and file soldier, including his personal life. Fiction fills in the gaps. Could not wait to turn the next page. I hated to finish the book. I wanted to read more of this family.



2. This is a very interesting book for those who like to read about the Civil War. This is not a book about grand stratagies or personalities of the leaders but instead brings to the reader a strong sense of individual involvement by the average soldier. More than any other book that I have read about the Civil War, this was the most personal. Mr. Smiley does an outstanding job in taking the reader on a journey to rural Virginia in the early 1860's. A very enjoyable and touching saga.



3. The author wrote this book based on some letters written by an ancestor of his. It's unclear to me whether the letters quoted in the text are those letters, or not; the language in them seems a little modern. In any case, Smiley clearly then went and read a large number of first-person accounts of the war in order to recreate the story of this ancestor. And that's the problem. Almost everything in this book is taken from a recognizable source: Hardtack and Coffee, Detailed Minutiae, Casler's book, etc. etc. If I drew a line next to every scene or line borrowed, with little if any change, from someone else, almost the whole book would be marked up. But writing fiction is about originality, not just research work. Another problem I have with this book is the generally pedestrian nature of the writing and the appalling editing -- major spelling and grammar errors persist throughout the work, and I'm not referring to dialogue. To the extent that this is a true story, it retains some emotional effect, and it's hard not to respect the amount of work that Smiley, neither a writer nor a historian, did; but in the final analysis this is not a successful novel.



4. I have had the pleasure and privlege to meet Brad Smiley. His book is one that comes from the heart,and is a labor of love.
   I read this book prior to a trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield.
   to truly appreciate "The Stone Wall" one must stand at the wall and feel the presence of the fallen soldiers.

   Mr Smileys book is a heartwarming story of lives lost and others found.

   I recommend this book to family and friends.




5. I read this book to my 4th grade son. Daniel Knight became important to both of us! Brad Smiley did an excellent job of helping us to imagine the daily life of a Confederate soldier and it fueled our interest in knowing more about the Civil War. We laughed and we cried. It's a book for the young, the old and everyone in between.

1 comments about The Hanging Rock Rebel: Lt. John Blue's War in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.

1. This book is an engaging first person account of the exploits of a rather daring Confederate foot soldier. The book is lifted from a series of newspaper articles John Blue wrote over 30 years after the War for Southern Independence ended. Blue does not get into the political and social issues of the day, but recounts in a straigtforward and interesting style the struggles of a soldier, including his experience as a prisoner of war and escapee. This book is particularly interesting to those familiar with the geography of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the corridor through Brocks Gap into West Virginia where Blue grew up in site of what is still known as Hanging Rock.