1 comments about The Papers of Jefferson Davis: 1849-1852 (Papers of Jefferson Davis).

1. The Papers of Jefferson Davis is a project out of Rice University in Houston, Texas. The entire series is well-edited, nicely produced and the format of the series is reader-friendly. The books reproduce all of the letters Davis wrote, as well as his speeches, telegrams and the responses to his letters. The responses appear in the footnotes and the appendix of the books.

   For anyone with an interest in the American Civil War, Jefferson, or the politics of the Confederacy, these are welcome volumes. Most surprising to me is that Davis comes across privately as an intelligent, sometimes witty man. His letters to hiw wife, Varina, are especially intriguing. Highly recommended.

No comments about A Confederate Chronicle: The Life of a Civil War Survivor (Shades of Blue and Gray).

1 comments about 16th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry: Sergeant William H. Relyea.

1. John Priest calls the 16th Connecticut an "Average" Federal infantry regiment. I would rather call it an "unfortunate" Federal infantry regiment. Raised in Hartford County in August 1862, the 16th Connecticut was assigned to the Ninth Army Corps and found itself on the extreme left flank of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Antietam in a cornfield facing A.P. Hill's Confederate division just up from Harpers Ferry, perhaps carrying US flags from the surrendered garrison. The 16th had been mustered in less than a month previously and the soldiers had never been taught even to load their muskets. Hill's men just walked up and opened fire and by the time the 16th's survivors ran to the rear, the unit had suffered about 200 casualties. Twenty years ago I was a museum director in West Hartford and we had a file of letters from a soldier in the 16th and he certainly never got over the trauma of this disaster. The 16th went on to fight well at Fredericksburg, and later in the Suffolk Campaign. However, its bad luck followed as nine companies were forced to surrender at Plymouth, North Carolina in April 1864 when that garrison was captured by the Confederates. The enlisted men ended up in Andersonville where half of them died (including my letter writer). William Relyea was on detached service at the time of Plymouth, so he missed the surrender. His regimental history continues into January 1865 when it simply stops. But, as a result, this is a fuller history than Blakeslee's small history published just after the end of the war.

   The editing is generally OK, although nothing fancy. There are no maps, but then again, Priest has had trouble with maps in the past. Because the work was done in Maryland, there is no feel for Connecticut history and locations. The historic town of Simsbury is given as Simburg on page 2, for example. The biggest shortcoming is that there is no account of William Relyea the author and how this manuscript came to exist in the Connecticut Historical Society. Priest and the boys and girls have not consulted pension files, but restrict themselves to printed Connecticut sources to ID the soldiers. I wish I lived within driving distance of the National Archives; they do. Sounds like a great class trip to me.

   Unpublished regimental histories are like hen's teeth. I have been fortunate to edit and publish a history of the 1st Vermont Cavalry and have a copy of a fragmented manuscript history of the 4th New Hampshire Infantry. These manuscripts should be published. Priest and his class have done a good job on the History of the 16th Connecticut. Even though it might have been done a bit better, I highly recommend this book and this is a very useful addition to Antietam, Fredericksburg, and the coastal campaigns. Good job guys.

2 comments about Morgan's Raiders (The American Civil War).

1. I live in Greeneville, Tn and enjoy learning more about the civil war. General Morgan visited Greeneville often during the war and enjoyed staying at one of the nicest homes in the area known as the Williams/Dixon mansion which today has been restored to resemble the original splendor of the days when Gen. Morgan visited. Unfortunatley, Greeneville is also the town were General Morgan was killed by Federal troops that had surrounded the town after learning from an informant that Morgan was visiting. This book is much more interesting than I thought it would be. I purchased the book in Sacramento, CA on a sale rack. I lived in Greeneville in the early 80's and didn't think I would ever live here again, but I had a chance to move back about 2 yrs. ago so I am just now reading the book. This book is a good blend of technical details and human interest stories and features many short poems and songs written by the men that were under General Morgan's leadership. I highly recommend this book to all Civil War enthusiats but I feel it would be interesting reading to others as well. People involved with horses would also find this book interesting.



2. Brown's narrative account of John Hunt Morgan's cavalry exploits during the Civil War is thorough and entertaining, with many interesting details of the individuals involved. Unfortunately, it is also flawed by a heavy Southern bias and lack of perspective, so read with a grain of salt. Brown gives the impression that Kentucky was heavily pro-Southern, and fails to explain that that it remained in the Union because Confederate general Polk was the first to breach its short-lived "neutrality." He also fails to explain that Bragg decided to retreat from his 1862 invasion of Kentucky largely because the male population did not rally to join him in rebellion, as expected. Perhaps his biggest lapse was his description of Antietum as "Lee's glorious victory over McLellan." I was also disappointed by the lack of a balanced analysis of Morgan's effectiveness as a cavalry raider, and the lack of comparison with contemporaries such as Nathan Bedford Forrest and Union counterpart Frank Wolford. Morgan becomes "legendary" after the first small skirmishes, and remains a perfect hero throughout, despite many opinons to the contrary, such as Bragg, Jefferson Davis, and most of the senior command! Even his disasterous raid into Indiana and Ohio is treated as a great victory.

No comments about A Biography of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

No comments about THREE YEARS WITH WALLACE'S ZOUAVES.

1 comments about Private Osborne, Massachusetts 23rd Volunteers: Burnside Expedition, Roanoke Island, Second Front Against Richmond.

1. This book is based around fifty-odd letters written by Frederick Osborne from Salem, Massachusetts who served three years in Company F, 23rd Massachusetts Infantry. His brother Stephen also served in Company G and brother Nathan became a career soldier after securing a commission in the Regular Army. Marcotte tries to create a worthwhile book out of Osborne's rather mundane letters with some decent research. Osborne was only under fire at the battles of Roanoke, New Bern, and Whitehall, all in North Carolina in 1862. The 23rd did not see much active service in 1863 and Osborne was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps due to a non-combat leg injury sustained in a "scuffle" and missed seeing any action during 1864 before his muster out that fall. Taking Osborne's letters as a basis for the book, Marcotte first prints the letter then explains what you have just read in a text that goes on for 1-3 pages each. He also uses footnotes, but the redundant material of explaining what you have just read, plus information on everything from the lyceum, to Union war aims, to soldier life, could also have been placed in footnotes. If this book was meant for readers who know little about the Civil War, the very limited topic will find few takers. If meant for readers with an interest in the war, most of Marcotte's text is not necessary. This book will interest 1) readers who read accounts by New England soldiers, and, 2) those having an interest in the North Carolina campaign of 1862. Osborne's father was an officer of the Salem Lyceum along with Nathaniel Hawthorne. Unfortunately, there is no evidence why a sixteen year-old son of an educated family would be allowed to enlist in 1861. The book needed a careful proofreader. Major J. Lewis Stackpole is identified as Stockpile, Stackpole and Stockpile again all within a set of notes on page 267. Marcotte makes a game attempt to create a useful book, but given the very ordinary letters that have survived (and it seems many have not) about a campaign that few people in the Civil War community care about, this book has very limited usefulness.

No comments about The women and the crisis;: Women of the North in the Civil War,.

No comments about Boys in blue: Van Buren County in the Civil War, 1861-1865.

2 comments about Born at the Battlefield of Gettysburg: An African-American Family Saga.

1. The lives of Victor Chambers-who was born on the battlefield at Gettysburg to a runaway slave and later became an artist in Providence-and his mother are chronicled in this book based on letters that Victor Chambers wrote to Rinaldi's great-grandfather, a Civil War veteran, in 1931. The story Rinaldi relates is emblematic of the fate of countless others whose lives were shaped by the scourge of slavery. Chambers' mother, a daughter of free blacks in Philadelphia, was kidnapped from her parents by slave catchers, who most likely included the notorious Lucretia (Patty) Cannon. After the kidnapping, Chambers' mother was enslaved on a Virginia tobacco plantation for 37 years before she made her escape to Gettysburg on the night before the historic Civil War battle erupted. She was nine months pregnant with Chambers-and determined that her child would not be born a slave. Gettysburg was a key stop on the Underground Railroad. This riveting chronicle provides valuable insights into the tactics and routes used by slave catchers in abducting free blacks, especially children, the atmosphere in slave markets; the role of religion as a means of control by owners, as well as a means of self-expression by slaves; the treatment of slave children; physical and psychological measures used by masters and overseers to control slaves; sexual abuse by masters; and the Underground Railroad as a clandestine operation.



2. " Born At The Battlefield Of Gettysburg: An African-American Family Saga is the true story of an African-American family that suffered from the unspeakable evil of slavery. The protagonist's mother was the daughter of free blacks in Philadelphia; kidnapped from her parents by slave catchers, she was enslaved on a Virginia tobacco plantation for 37 years before making a daring escape to Gettysburg on the night before the historic Civil War battle ensued. She was nine months pregnant, and determined that her child would not be born a slave. Born At The Battlefield Of Gettysburg is an impressively in-depth, heavily researched and brutally accurate portrayal of the methods and means by which the monstrous evil of slavery was justified and perpetuated, how religion was used both as a club to keep slaves in line and as a means of self-expression for the slaves, the operation of the Underground Railroad, and much more. Riveting and highly recommended, yet also shocking in its literal, realistic portrayal of man's historical inhumanity to man."-- Midwest Book Review