No comments about The Civil War 1861-1865: A Collection of U.S. Commemorative Stamps.

5 comments about Lincoln's Unknown Private Life: An Oral History by His Housekeeper Mariah Vance 1850-1860.

1. I found this a very colorful and informative work and I agree that this is probably the most improtant work published on Lincoln in the last twenty years. You can see what Lincoln delt with in his relationship with his wife; her habits and emotional problems and what working for the Lincoln's was really like. You also get a rare picture of young Robert Lincoln who has been very misunderstood and maligned by history. I've read this book twice so far and picked up something new each time. It's well worth the price and is a valuable addition to any Lincoln collection.



2. When I came across this book I thought: surely its a hoax! But no, the recollections of Mariah Vance are well attested. I suppose one should have to urge caution because: (1)The memories are filtered through the person to whom Mariah gave her recollections. (2) They are reminiscences from many years after Lincoln had been well and truly canonised not only as the saviour of the Union, but among blacks he was doubly revered as the Liberator of the slaves. Hence most of the marriage troubles are blamed on Mrs Lincoln who comes across as somewhat of a termagant, saved only by occasional tendernesses to husband and to Mariah herself. To me the reproduction of Mariah's speech as 1900-style black idiom grated a little - when will authors realise that this type of writing can pall quickly, when grammatical english almost always sounds fresh and immediate? Despite all those slight negatives, this book was immensely refreshing - it clears up a lot of mysteries about the Lincoln's relationship, about Lincoln's love for Ann Ruttledge who died tragically, and about Lincoln's life-long search for religious truth. It re-habilitates Robert Lincoln as a worthy son of a great father, and answers some of the criticism he took from historians about the later treatment of his mother. Lincoln has often been accused of 'racism', and was once forced into an election statement against racial equality, which may have been sincere, but he had no qualms about his eldest son being best friend of the son of his black housekeeper, and having regular visits between the two households. Even with the warnings given at the start of this review, its a 'must read' for Lincoln scholars and collectors, and an interesting further study for those who have read the Sandburg and David H. Donald biographies.



3. When I came across this book I thought: surely its a hoax! But no, the recollections of Mariah Vance are well attested. I suppose one should have to urge caution because: (1)The memories are filtered through the person to whom Mariah gave her recollections. (2) They are reminiscences from many years after Lincoln had been well and truly canonised not only as the saviour of the Union, but among blacks he was doubly revered as the Liberator of the slaves. Hence most of the marriage troubles are blamed on Mrs Lincoln who comes across as somewhat of a termagant, saved only by occasional tendernesses to husband and to Mariah herself. To me the reproduction of Mariah's speech as 1900-style black idiom grated a little - when will authors realise that this type of writing can pall quickly, when grammatical english almost always sounds fresh and immediate? Despite all those slight negatives, this book was immensely refreshing - it clears up a lot of mysteries about the Lincoln's relationship, about Lincoln's love for Ann Ruttledge who died tragically, and about Lincoln's life-long search for religious truth. It re-habilitates Robert Lincoln as a worthy son of a great father, and answers some of the criticism he took from historians about the later treatment of his mother. Lincoln has often been accused of 'racism', and was once forced into an election statement against racial equality, which may have been sincere, but he had no qualms about his eldest son being best friend of the son of his black housekeeper, and having regular visits between the two households. Even with the warnings given at the start of this review, its a 'must read' for Lincoln scholars and collectors, and an interesting further study for those who have read the Sandburg and David H. Donald biographies.



4. I could hardly credit that there existed a detailed portrait of the Lincoln family by an African-American domestic during the family's Springfield years. Yet here it is and, as Lloyd Ostendorf's prefatory material demonstrates, it is undeniably authentic, though unendorsed by much of the academic community.
   This is a fascinating book.Its vivid portrayal of the daily life of the Lincoln household is by turns perplexing, funny, moving, and sad. Mariah Vance was first employed by the Lincolns as a laundress in 1850 after Mary Todd had run off every other working woman in Springfield. Henry Vance actually extracted extra wages--the equivalent of combat pay--from Abraham Lincoln for his wife�s work. Over the next decade, Mrs. Vance became increasingly involved in the household and enjoyed a substantial measure of intimacy with the Lincolns.
   The Lincoln who emerges from these pages is startlingly vivid. He is by turns deep, playful, philosophical, earthy, boyish, magisterial, romantic, distant, intimate--and always present. He partakes in absolutely no measure of the modern trait of numbness or non-feeling. His sadness, laughter, thoughtfulness are all immediate and resilient.
   He is different in important ways from the man portrayed by much academic scholarship. He is not only more religious, he is much more Biblically grounded than has been supposed. In fact, Mrs. Vance insists that Lincoln was baptised by full immersion into the Church of the Brethren in 1860, just after his election to the Presidency. Conventional academics are skeptical of the story, but it makes sense, when juxtaposed against the language of the Second Inaugural.
   Lincoln was also clearly not a racist. The book describes incidents in his early life when he came into close contact with African Americans, worked with them, socialized with them and in one case vigorously defended them to his own detriment.
   He is punctilious about calling Mariah "Mrs. Vance" and her husband, Henry, "Mr. Vance," until he knows them well enough to call them by their first names without compromising respect. He has no compunction about socializing with them visibly and unselfconsciously. And he is vocal and definitive about providing cash remuneration for labor at a time when the bestowing of hand-me-downs on domestics was considered an act generosity. He is, in short, entirely unpatronizing. On the other hand, as a husband, Abraham Lincoln had what we now call "problems with intimacy." Whether justifiably or not, he was constantly away from home, riding the circuit or politicking. Thus, he laid the burden of coping with his wife�s problems on the shoulders of his young son Robert. That the latter grew up to become a distinguished citizen in his own right is a tribute to his character.
   For Mary Todd Lincoln was much more than any husband and child could handle. Some have called Mariah's portrait of her sympathetic. Good God! What would be unsympathetic? In these pages, Mrs. Lincoln is portrayed as a grandiose, manic-depressive, narcissistic, drug-addict. It's true that Mariah Vance felt tremendous compassion for Mary Todd Lincoln--in fact for all the Lincolns--but it's hard for the reader to sympathize with Mrs. Lincoln, particularly when it's revealed that she administered paregoric, the mixture of alcohol and opium to which she was addicted, to her babies.
   The spirit of Ann Rutledge hovers over the domestic life of the Lincolns like a cloud. A quarter century after the young woman's death, Lincoln was still preoccupied with her. At one point, he finds in a shop and purchases a tintype portrait of a girl who he says is Ann's twin. In a colossal error in judgment, he shows this portrait to his wife and begins talking about his feelings for Ann, eliciting from his wife an entirely predictable, and not unjustified, eruption of violence, invective, and self-pity.
   And yet the book is often very funny. Mariah Vance was an acute observer, who loved the Lincoln family deeply but without illusions. Her quick wit and refusal to be intimidated by her "betters" clearly delighted Lincoln himself, who described himself with neither self-pity nor resentment as "white trash." Her love and support for Robert Lincoln were clearly essential to the boy's psychological survival.
   This is in every sense a domestic drama. The imminent earthquake of civil war is evident just offstage, but never dominates the action. The story also has something of the arc of a novel, as Abraham and Mary Lincoln learn to resolve the wounds of the past and reforge their marriage.
   My only objection has to do with the Lincolns' language. This book was transcribed in short hand by a young woman named Ada Sutton in the first decade of the twentieth century. Decades later, the mature Ms. Sutton wrote out the memoirs, retaining Mariah Vance's Black English, which she had taken down phonetically.
   The conversation of the Lincolns, however, she translated into a formal English of her own devising that completely lacks the vigor and suppleness of colloquial speech. This rings false because the Lincolns did not speak in such a stilted manner. At one point, Mrs. Vance notes that the Harvard-educated Robert Lincoln spoke correct English and tried to get his parents to emulate him, but to no avail. "They talked like old Kaintuck folks, what they was," Mariah observes.
   This is an absolutely irreplaceable book, so full of pleasures and riches that when I finished it I turned around and started reading it all over again.



5. Terrific book. Even though these are the recorded remembrances of a servant which are being recalled from many years in the past, this is the best book I have found to get an all-around look inside the Lincoln family. OK, so maybe all of the particulars are slightly colored by time passing, the impressions which they left still count. While everyone knows that Mary Lincoln had emotional problems, it says something that most biographies leave out--that is, emotional and medical problems which, since medicine is not very advanced, caused Mary to self-medicate.
   
   While I knew women took laudenum, I forgot about paregoric which was only removed from pharmacies about 20 years ago. Both are derived from opiates and she may well have taken them together. Add to these two drugs the wine from the wine cabinet (the Lincolns liked to entertain and Mary knew all about sherry and good wines) and you have a recipe for disaster. Certainly something people in the 20th and 21st centuries know all about. The book states that the servant once told Mrs. Lincoln that she had collected all the empty wine bottles and that Mary drank her paregoric straight from a rather large bottle. In an attempt to gain self-control, Mary falls apart and so does the household. Also, a good picture of Robert who has fallen into disgrace in history but who is seen as a victim of the situation. His brother dies, his father is gone a good deal and his mother has panic attacks, over medicates and collapses.
   
   The servant portrays Mary in an honest manner--as a lady who has little self-confidence, falls back on her aristocratic upbringing when she is in trouble, self-medicates and then cries afterward because she knows she has caused everyone pain. She is also portrayed as generous, kind and pretty when she is feeling well.
   
   Overall, a good portrait of the three Lincolns. For what it is worth, another book helps this book along when it states that the autopsy on Mrs. Lincoln showed a large brain tumor. What this family needed was modern medicine and a good doctor.

4 comments about Uncommon Valor: A Story of Race, Patriotism, and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War.

1. This book shows why Melvin Claxton is the finest investigative reporter working today. He does two things in this book. First, he tells a bigger and far more important story than "Glory" when he tells how 14 black soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their extraordinary valor in the Battle of New Market Heights. This obscure battle, during the last days of the Civil War, forever laid to rest the then-popular notion that black soldiers were cowards; that they would cut and run in the heat of combat.
   Almost 900 black soldiers died at New Market Heights. And they died charging wave after wave into Confederate gunfire. It would be almost 100 years before President Truman desegregated the U.S. military. But black Americans soldiered on because of their legacy from this battle.
   Black troops at New Market Heights won respect and honor, not only for themselves, but for black troops who later would die charging Japanese positions in the Pacific or German strongholds in Europe. They won honor for black troops who fought in the frozen hell of Korea or in the steamy jungles of Vietnam.
   This is more than a military book. It is a book about how when America was tearing itself apart, a few valiant black soldiers were putting the country together.



2. "`Uncommon Valor' is a good introduction to the black warriors of the war...Claxton and Puls do an excellent job following Fleetwood through battles in North Carolina and Virginia, allowing him to speak through his diary and letters." Linda Wheeler, Washington Post, 2-12-2006
   
   "The book debunks the notion that freedom from slavery was somehow handed to black Americans. Out of one battle at New Market Heights...came 14 medals of honor for black soldiers -- more than black soldiers ever received on any one day, in any war."
   Shaun A. Pennington, St. Thomas Source, 2-10-2006
   
   "At last we're getting the real story of how black soldiers helped the Union win the Civil War." William Steif, The State, 2-05-2006



3. Uncommon Valor provides a unique perspective for the reader that truly brings history alive. The flow of the book allows the reader to accompany Christian Fleetwood through his individual Civil War experience while being supplemented with interesting and relevant historical fact. Uncommon valor prompts the reader to develop a profound appreciation for the courageous contributions of African American Civil War soldiers in the face of extreme prejudice. This book is a goldmine of information for the student of African American and Civil War history.



4. Melvin Claxton and Mark Puls have written an uncommonly fascinating book about the uncommon valor of African-American soldiers during the Civil War. In the battle of New Market Heights fourteen Medals of Honor were awarded to the incredibly brave "colored " troops " who fought it. They demonstrated that the notion that black troops would not fight was a racist slander. Claxton and Puls tell a compelling and important tale of a battle even more significant than the more celebrated effort of the 54th Massachusetts before Fort Wagner portrayed in the film " Glory ".They provide new insight into an important topic and will keep you turning the pages until the early hours. This book is a must for not only Civil War buffs, but all those interested in American history - especially those untold chapters of the black contribution to the making of this nation.

No comments about One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry: His Experience and What He Saw During the War, 1861-1865 (Collector's Library of the Civil War).

3 comments about A Stranger and a Sojourner: Peter Caulder, Free Black Frontiersman in Antebellum Arkansas.

1. Billy D Higgins presents information in this book that broadens our understanding of US history. He tells the life story of Peter Caulder, a man of color, who grew up in an integrated rural community in Marion County, South Carolina where free black and white yeomen lived and cooperated in apparent harmony. Peter, his father, and several friends were recruited into the local milita unit as substitutes for more affluent neighbors and then into the US Rifle Regiment. These people of color served in an integrated army unit during the War of 1812 and, in Caulder's case, long after.
   
   Caulder remained in the army for fourteen years, spending most of his time at frontier posts in northwestern Arkansas Territory. After leaving the army, he became a landowner and taxpayer in a free black enclave on the White River in Arkansas.
   
   Unfortunately Higgins as created his book out of very limited documentation by padding fact with speculation, repitition, and extraneous information. Peter Caulder,like most of the people around him, was illiterate. The written record of his life is scantily recorded in census counts, army records and reports, sutlers' accounts, tax rolls, and the accounts of the few literate people with whom he came in contact. The book is awash in "may have", "might have", "perhaps", and "probably". The factual material is sufficient for a scholarly article, but not a book.
   
   I still recommend it. In addition to telling Caulder's story, the book describes military life on the southeastern frontier and supplies interesting glimpses of US-Indian interaction in the wake of the Louisiana Purchase. Like NEGRO COWBOYS by Durham & Everett, A STRANGER AND A SOJOURNER compels the reader to rearrange the furniture in his attic of preconceptions.



2. The book lacks any proper documentation, and it is full of speculation, in other words, a work of fiction. Higgins portrays the entire population, of Free Persons of Color in Marion County Arkansas as black, this is not the case, most of these families living on white River during that time frame that Higgins talks about in his book, were indeed Native Americans, some of these Indians were of mixed heritage, but I doubt if there were any full Blacks as Higgins tries to make you believe. If Higgins would have done any real research he would have known that there can be a difference between a Free Black Person and a Free Person of Color, anyone atempting to write a book, that covers the issue of race, should make an attemp to do proper research on the subject, before they put pen to paper .
   Anyone wishing to use Higgins book for genealogical research is wasting thier time,it is full of errors in most of the ancestrial lines he quotes, but if you have time to spare and like fiction, you might enjoy it, that is if you can work your way around all of the ifs, maybes and probably so's.



3. Before reviewing, in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I am Peter Caulder's great-great-grandson.
   
   This came as something of a shock to me, as I'd been told all my life that I was half Dutch and half Cherokee-Choctaw. Nothing about my features, save for a tan that lasts in some degree all year and a high resistance to sunburn, give much of a clue, and I generally think of myself as half white and half Amerind.
   
   Yes, I'm certain of this; I have fond memories of my grandfather - who also had no immediately obvious african features - Henry Elbert Caulder, who is on the last line of the Caulder geneaology in the book. He had three fingers on one hand, having lost them in a combine accident, and died quite some time ago...early 1990's I believe.
   
   So I have a bias.
   
   That said, I really enjoyed the book. For one thing, it gives an insight into a totally different kind of black man in the early 19th century than we are generally led to believe existed - a free sharecropper who joined the army and served for 14 years, helped establish a small colony of free blacks in north-central Arkansas, helped build Ft. Hood...I am generally of empirical mind, but I didn't find enough lacking in the documentation to detract from the value of the information presented or the way it was presented.
   
   I'll concede that much of it is second-hand and speculation, but the basic facts - that Caulder was a free black man born in South Carolina who joined the US Armed Forces with several other colored men (and family members) in his area as 'seconds,' a fairly common practice at that time (and long before the Tuskeegee Airmen, not to detract from their noble accomplishments!) There's no question that he was well-regarded by his fellow soldiers and superior officers, and he seems to have served well, if not in remarkable enough fashion to earn notable commendations.
   
   Regrettably, he also deserted after 14 years, by all indications to be with a woman he loved and help start the aforementioned colony.
   
   There is also no question that when Arkansas made free blacks illegal, a substantial percentage of the commune, including Caulder, moved to south-central Missouri and put down roots there. He still has descendants living there, including at least one of Henry Elbert Caulder's sisters, I *think*. I'd have to ask my mom.
   
   Beyond my obvious personal interest though, I appreciate this book for exposing me to a new way of thinking about what life was like for black people in the years before the Civil War really started building. There is further indication in the book that Peter's father, Moses, was married to a white woman and they lived as husband and wife. Prior to Moses, there seems to be no information, so I can't say if any of my ancestors were slaves or not, and I hope I can say without offending anyone that I don't much care.
   
   It's a fascinating, well-written story that will give you pause to challenge your own notions about the history of race in America, and I think it's well worth reading, regardless of my personal relation to the book.
   
   I *would* like to thank Billy D. Higgins - with whom I've never spoken, nor has anyone in my family that I know of, he seems to have worked exclusively from publicly available information - for putting this book together, both from the personal point of view and from that of a reader.

No comments about The Civil War Story of Bloody Bill Anderson.

5 comments about Reluctant Witnesses: Children's Voices from the Civil War.

1. This book, as I understood it, was to have provided new insight to the horrors of The War Between the States as seen through the eyes of children, both North and South. In my humble opinion it is only a poorly researched work based on readily available letters written by Federal soldiers and classic Southern diaries. Small passages from well known sources are intermingled with the authors' personal views that seem to twist the story into glorification of the Federal army and not necessarily what was witnessed by children. There is nothing to really educate or even entertain the average reader of WBTS history. In a nut shell it is old news with a Northern slant.



2. Usually I would think that anything that has to do with the civil war can be boring, but Reluctant Witnesses was very interesting because it was in totally different eyes. The U.S. civil war effected everyone in the U.S., but these kids that lived on the battlefield had a different experience then most people. It helped me relate to the topic of the civil war because they were in kids views. Since we think the same, I think of the civil war in a totally different way now. It gave me a break from the regular hate and bloody conflicts. These children spoke their thoughts and all they wanted was peace and the war to end. Normally people don't think about the kids and what they have to go through when war is going on. It is amazing that even children ranging from ages four to sixteen basically think have the same views on the war. The fact that young kids were even forced to fight amazed me and I felt bad for them. This book is intriguing and will open your mind to new thoughts.



3. This book, about kids in the Civil War, was fascinating! I loved every word of it. When I was instructed at school to read a book about the Civil War, I was prepared to read some long, boring, historical novel. Instead, I picked up this book and couldn't put it down.
   This book describes the life of children in the Civil War. It goes into detail about times of sadness and times of joy. Some of the quotes are just heart wrenching to hear what these kids went through and others make you happy. This book really made me feel like I was living back then, living through the troubles of the Civil War.
   This book is not exactly a story but tells of different children chronologically with the war. Some of the children are mentioned throughout the whole book and others just appear once. Its so amazing what the kids went though back then. I hope you will read this book, not only for educational purposes but also for pure enjoyment.
   All in all, Reluctant Witnesses is a moving description of the life of kids on the battlefield, in the homes, and stranded in the middle of nowhere during the Civil War. This book is captivating and great to read. I would recommend it in a heartbeat.



4. While it is true that there is little "new" written here, and that the materials can be obtained, one must also commend Dr. Werner for actually doing the work, and publishing it.
   
   There are few photographic images of children from the wartime, and any insights into the drummer boys North and South, some who upon reaching the appropriate age became soldiers, is testament to the unfortunate appeal of war throughout the centuries, how quickly the glamour fades, and how tenacious even a very young person can become once committed to a cause. Thus, the lessons of 1861-1865 are as much modern lessons as windows to the thoughts and predicaments of children and adolescents in that unfortunate conflagration. Thankfull, there is little psychobabble to explain why a boy would seek to participate, or a young girl seek to honor her elders who participated and suffered.
   
   One of the youngest drummer-boys, John Clem, ultimately became a General and lived to 1937. I would like to have seen more about his life, and perhaps a biography is in order.
   
   The book also speaks to the raised hopes, ultimately dashed, of freed children in slavery--for example, Mattie Jackson, of Missouri, wrote an autobiography in 1866 prefaced with the statement "I ask you to buy my little book to aid me in obtaining my education that I may be enabled to do some good on behalf of the elevation of my emacipated brothers and sisters." Her "book" was written down by a friend who was literate, and who edited it.
   
   As we know, the last know Confederate widow, Ms. Alberta Martin, recently passed on. The heritage of this crucial defining time in American history is still important, as witnessed by Gen. Colin Powell's 1996 dedication of a monument to the 185,000 black soldiers who fought for the Federal army. What we need is a monument to all who fell, suffered disease and deprivation, loved ones who spent the rest of their lives permanently changed by the conflict--a truly integrated monument and dedication to the Irish, Blacks, Jews, Germans, immigrants from near and far, who fought "Pro Aris et Pro Focis"--for hearth and home (Cicero), a theme found on Federal and Confederate battle flags.
   
   "With malice toward none, and charity for all" to paraphrase Mr. Lincoln, is a promise yet to be fulfilled. All who seek to preserve their heritage and acknowledge the blessings of living in the America we cherish and which so many seek to reach, is the legacy of the children who witnessed and participated in the American Civil War. We owe them all, drummer boys and girls on the home front struggling to survive, no less. However, we cannot call them all "reluctant," can we?



5. It's difficult to know what to make of Emmy Werner's Reluctant Witnesses. On the one hand, her head and heart are in the right place. She wants to move away from a guns-'n'-glory approach to the American Civil War and rediscover the voices of its most vulnerable victims: the children. As a developmental psychologist who apparently has studied the effects of 20th century civil wars on children, she knows too well the trauma endured by kids when their worlds get blown apart.
   
   On the other hand, Werner's book leaves the reader (or at least this reader) dissatisfied. There's almost no reflection on the psychology of wartime trauma or wider normative analysis about it. What little there is gets quickly mentioned in the prologue and epilogue. Sandwiched in between are chapters that focus on battlefield experiences of boy soldiers, kids as refugees, kids in Vicksburg, Atlanta, and Gettysburg, slave kids, kids in prison camps such as Andersonville, etc. All these are interesting and worthy of examination. But in the absence of an analysis that draws together all the snippets from letters, diaries, and memoirs appealed to by Werner, the chapters become smorgasbordish. It doesn't help that Werner fails to footnote any of the passages she quotes (a rather unthinkable omission; what was her editor thinking?!), although she does supply a full bibliography.
   
   Perhaps Werner thought that the children's voices were enough, and I think she's to be commended for drawing so many of them together in one volume. So let's allow three of them to have the final word here.
   
   "My Dear Dear Father: I do want to see you so much. I do miss you so much in the evening when I come in and no one is in, and I am so lonesome by myself and if you were here you would tell me stories and so I would not be lonesome." Loulie Gilmer, 10 years old, to her father Confederate Major Jeremy Gilmer (p. 20)
   
   "[Our] house was full of the wounded. They had taken our sitting room as an operating room, and our piano served as an amputating table...Upstairs they were bringing in the wounded, and we could hear their screams of pain." Sue Chancellor, 14 years old, writing about the battle of Chancellorsville (p. 56)
   
   "I's so 'fraid God's killed too!" Lida Lord, 4 years old, during the siege and bombardment of Vicksburg, in response to her mother's assurance that God would protect the family (p. 80)

4 comments about Fighting Joe Hooker.

1. This book did a excelent job explaning how fighting joe rose to the head of the army. This book take you through joes childhood and laterlife.



2. Concentrates well on Hooker's role within the Federal Army. There are detailed accounts of his relationships with superiors and subordinates alike. Well researched and descriptive accounts of his role and the role of his units in key battles. The author fails to use direct quotations enough and tells the reader what was said rather than allowing the speaker's own words to be used. Very helpful in researching the early movements and battles of the III Corps, 2nd Div.



3. History tends to remember Joe Hooker for one thing; the disaster at Chancellorsville. It was at that battle that Hooker for once, "lost confidence in Hooker." Unfortunately, Hooker held his highest military position at Chancellorsville and that one low point overshadows the rest of a rather illustrious career.

   Walter Hebert published this book in 1944 and while new heights in civil war scholarship have been attained since then, this is in my opinion the definitive work on Joe Hooker. Hebert does an outstanding job of bringing General Hooker to life. The General has many virtues and Hebert points those out as well as Hooker's faults. One of Hookers greatest virtues as well as one of his greatest faults was his confidence in himself. This vast confidence made him willing to actually fight while many around him were timid in the extreme. On the other hand this confidence is what caused his loud impatience with his superiors and led to his downfall. Hooker also had a keen military mind and his plan for the Chancellorsville campaign was an excellent plan if only he had had the nerve to put his plan into action. Amazingly, after Chancellorsville as Lee began his movement north, Hooker predicted the action at Gettysburg.

   Hooker had made an enemy of Henry Halleck and that, more than Chancellorsville led to his leaving the Army of the Potomac. Still, Hooker had friends in Washington and was given a Corps to take to the relief of Rosecrans in Chattanooga. Again Hooker distinguished himself but here too he had an enemy in William T. Sherman. As the Federals started out for Atlanta it was usually Hooker's men who bore the brunt of the fighting but because of Sherman's enmity, got little of the credit. Sherman finally managed to rid himself of Hooker by getting him to resign and then slandered Fighting Joe in his memoirs. Others who were involved like Henry Slocum, who was no friend of Hooker, later discredited Sherman's narratives of some events. Of course, Hooker had brought all of this on himself but it was still a sad situation.

   Hebert does such a fine job of writing that one feels he has come to know Joe Hooker. One in fact, really begins to like the man. On occasion I found myself rooting for him to succeed, until I remembered he was a Yankee and came to my senses. I have often said that a biography is a true success if when the subject dies the reader feels a sense of loss. I felt that when Hooker died because in the pages of Hebert's book I felt I had come to know Joe Hooker personally. In a world overrun with civil war biographies, this has to be one of the best.




4. This is a fine biography of the Union General, "Fighting" Joe Hooker. The book is somewhat dated (originally published in 1944), but it holds up pretty well.
   
   The book starts with a little about Hooker's early life. But we then move ahead quickly to his Civil War record. His first real command was as brigade commander after First Bull Run (Manassas). The story of his Civil War involvement begins then. At some point, early on, he became known as "Fighting Joe Hooker," a nickname that he despised. The book straightforwardly notes that the origin of the nickname is unclear.
   
   One thing that set Hooker apart from many other early generals was that he, indeed, was a fighter. There were poor generals (Franz Sigel comes to mind), there were generals who found it difficult to fight hard and commit themselves totally to battle (George McClellan exemplifies this), some were good at brigade or division command and poor when promoted to corps command. Hooker was a fine general at division and corps command. The one question: Could he have been successful in independent command? His one opportunity was when he headed the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville. Between injury and possible loss of confidence and nerve, he threw away a winnable battle after some excellent maneuvering on Hooker's part. He remained in command briefly after that, but was gone by the time of Gettysburg.
   
   Up to Chancellorsville, as this book points out, he was a good solid general. Afterwards, when two corps of the Army of the Potomac were transported to Chattanooga, he found himself in charge of the 11th and 12th Corps. He generally led these troops creditably until he resigned after General James McPherson's death (Hooker felt he should have had that command). The book then chronicles his career thereafter and follows him until his death.
   
   The book portrays well his sometimes foolish attacks on others. He could be an intriguer. The author shows well why Lincoln had some reservations about making him commander of the Army of the Potomac. At the same time, he showed considerable administrative ability after taking the Army over from the hapless Ambrose Burnside.
   
   This is a fair portrayal of a complex person, who had more good days than bad during the Civil War, but who also had questions dogging him throughout his career. A well done biography.

1 comments about Collett Leventhorpe, the English Confederate: The Life of a Civil War General 1815-1889.

1. In this fascinating study, authors J. Timothy Cole and Bradley R. Foley present a vivid account on the life on Englishman and Confederate general, Collett Leventhorpe. Through meticulous research, the authors are able to track Leventhorpe from his youth in England, to his arrival in Charleston in 1843 as a young man, and through his settling down in North Carolina. This well-written biography develops a full sense of Leventhorpe's personality and character.
   
   Not only have the authors succeeded in producing the first full-length scholarly biography of Leventhorpe, from the ample use of rich primary sources, Cole and Foley illustrate the love and respect Leventhorpe garnered from his men. This loyalty aided Leventhorpe's command to a great victory at Whitehall (NC) against superior numbers and to victory on the first day of Gettysburg, where he fell severely wounded and was subsequently captured during the Confederate retreat days later. Following his release from Federal prison in March 1864, and the resignation of his command to recuperate from his injuries, Leventhorpe's men contacted Gov. Zeb Vance seeking assistance in procuring a fine saddle for their beloved leader.
   
   Fine research in obscure sources are apparent throughout the narrative and in the many copious footnotes. Photographs, maps, and primary source material in the appendices enliven the book. This book is a must for anyone interested in North Carolina history and especially Civil War history. Scholars interested in the history of gold mining in the Southeast would also find this book useful.

3 comments about Ironclad Captain: Seth Ledyard Phelps & the U.S. Navy, 1841-1864.

1. I believe that Mr. Slagle is to be commended for the very detailed accurate research that went into this fine histoical account of naval history on inland waters during the War Between The States. After reading this book you will have a better understanding of the use of naval forces to short- en this conflict.



2. Jay Slagle has produced a book that offers so much. It gives the reader a real feel of what life was like for a young officer in the pre-Civil War Navy and how the development of the sectional conflict was perceived. This book is also one of the best accounts of the Western Flotilla/Mississippi Squadron that I have read. I couldn't put it down for two weeks. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the naval events of the Civil War or life in 19th-century America..



3. Jay Slagle has done an excellent job of detailing S. Ledyard Phelps' career in the Navy and on the Mississippi. Unfortunately, the work appears to be biased in favor of the author's family connection with the subject. Notably, Phelps's relations with the rest of the officers of the Western Gunboat Flotilla are obviously skewed in favor of Phelps... Henry Walke of the Carondelet is portrayed in a decidedly poor light, while the highly controversial William D. "Dirty Bill" Porter is seen to be almost heroic. A potentially fine biography is partially sabotaged by the author's obvious sympathy for his ancestor.