1 comments about From Ball's Bluff to Gettysburg... and Beyond: The Civil War Letters of Private Roland E. Bowen, 15th Massachusetts Infantry 1861-1864.

1. Bowen's letters are wonderful to read. In an age when posturing and gallantly posing was openly admired, Bowen shows a remarkably unvarnished and very human side of his life in the 15th MVI. The editor, G. Coco, has added tremendous amounts of research and filled in the background of many of the people, places and incidents with which Bowen was so familiar. An absolute must for anyone with an interest in the history and genealogical aspects of 15th MVI.

No comments about Old Hickory's Nephew: The Political and Private Struggles of Andrew Jackson Donelson (Southern Biography Series).

3 comments about Charles Sumner.

1. Harvard historian David Donald applies his keen intellect to the life of Charles Sumner and writes a worthy biography of a man Americans should know more about. Sumner might be described as the first "PC" politician. If you're interested in the Civil War, race relations, or the perils (and triumphs) of a public life devoted to principle, you'll learn much from this book.



2. David Herbert Donald's "Charles Sumner" is an exhaustive biography touching all areas of the man's life. Throughout, Donald is balanced in his treatment of a controversial man who was described, quite accurately by another reviewer, as the country's first "politically correct" politician. As a person I do not think I would have liked Charles Sumner nor agreed with his extremism in many of the positions he took (most other people in the government did not either), but his life is well worth reading about for a fuller understanding of the decades immedaitely prior to and immediately following the Civil War.

   Donald goes into many speeches, newspaper reports, letters, personal opinions of others, and proposed legislation to give one a real feeling for the man. His controversial life and opinions give one much to think about regarding the complex issues of race, reconstruction, and society in mid-nineteenth century America. Although this is not the most lively written of biographies, it is judicious and scholarly. Well worth the time.




3. This is a thorough biography of the stubborn Charles Sumner, once the toast of both aristocratic England and the Boston Brahmins alike, but who is best known for getting his head bashed by Preston Brooks right on the Senate floor in 1856. Donald's 1960 work is a good, although not great, read and better than his more recent Lincoln biography, another Pulitzer Prize winner. (Youthful exhuberance, perhaps?) If you need any evidence of its staying power, check out the price tag that mirrors much more recent work. The demand remains high for good material, and Donald's biography is just that.

2 comments about Lee and His Army in Confederate History (Civil War America).

1. With the skill of a surgeon, Gary W. Gallagher dissects the myths and legends surrounding Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, past and current, to reveal a fascinating new look at the "marble man". Positioning himself squarely between the Lost Cause proponents and the current pack of revisionists, Gallagher relies on primary sources (newspapers, diaries and letters of civilians and soldiers, official correspondence) and careful, well-reasoned analysis to discover the real truth surrounding Robert E. Lee, and in the process lands an effective blow worthy of the general himself upon both sides. Gallagher's claims that Robert E. Lee was indeed an able proponent of modern warfare (though I would dispute the term modern) and also a capable administrator fully capable of being as strict or lenient with his subordinates as the case required breathes new life into the continuing quest to discover this fascinating man and effectively destroys the myths held by both sides (ironically enough, both sides often seem to wind up arguing both sides of the same coin) that Lee was first of all a member of the landed Virginia gentry far too short-sighted and stuck in the past for command of the Confederacy's main eastern army as well as being far too gentlemanly to deal strictly with subordinates. In fact, Gallagher presents Lee, through his own words and letters, as a man fully aware of the forces arrayed against him and as one who from the beginning knew full well that the Confederacy needed to marshall all of its resources in order to win the war and gain independence and that tough decisions and hard sacrifices would be required, and that a strong government would be required to take charge in order to ensure this was done and coordinate everyone's effort. Also, the idea that Lee "bled" his army to death (the fact that Lee's army at the beginning of the 1864 Overland Campaign was basically the same size as it ever was seems to have escaped the notice of many) also comes across as rather weak thanks to Gallagher's fine research. The weakest argument Gallagher refutes is that Lee's myth was wholly created after the war, and he does this by proving most emphatically that Lee and his army were indeed the primary source Confederates looked to for hope as well as the national symbol of the Confederacy (much like Washington's Continentals) worldwide. The fact that the main part of Grant's thrust against the South hit here against Lee proves this as well. However, do not mistake Gallagher as a Lost Cause proponent in disguise; though he defends the points Lost Cause proponents make that are actually rooted in fact, he spares them not his swift, sharp sword in pointing out the concerted effort to preserve and protect the memory of the Confederate armies, and Lee in particular, by shaping history through their own eyes. Also, he cuts like a knife through as many of their arguments as those of the revisionists, who, in their zeal to cut through the myth of the Lost Cause (and rightfully so, since we must be as objective as possible) often go too far and wind up rejecting legitimate conclusions and research in favor of their own modern myth. In conclusion, Gallagher, the good professor has taught us all a valuable lesson; look not through the lens of your own eyes to view history, but search ever more diligently for the real facts and take nothing for granted. Though I'm sure we all carry our own biases (I fully admit my admiration for Lee, and I fail to see how anyone can remain truly and completely aloof), we can all separate ourselves, at least partially, from our opinions in order to get at the facts and reach reasonable conclusions, as Gallagher has so beautifully done. Good job, Professor Gallagher.



2. This book is a collection of Gallagher's essays published elsewhere. In this format however, they take on an added dimension and explaination of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and its commander, Robert E Lee.
   Gallagher begins by examining Lee's Maryland campaign, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and the army's campaigns in 1864. His conclusions on the Battle of Gettysburg and its effects on the Confederate home front are particularly interesting. He concludes that the battle was not the overwhelming defeat to the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate home front that it would later be portayed as by historians. He makes the argument that the loss of Vicksburg was seen as a vastly bigger loss and Gettysburg was more seen as a small defeat or even a victory because of Meade's failure to chase the Confederates in retreat.
   Gallagher also includes an interesting essay evaluating the claims of some historians that Lee was not fighting a modern war with modern tactics and if he had done so, the Confederacy would have been better off. He ably demonstrates that indeed Lee did understand the difference in technology such as the minie ball and its impact on strategy and tactics.
   However, the best essay is Gallagher's essay on the Lost Cause "myth". Gallagher explains that many of the claims that were later associated only with Lost Cause historians such as Jubal Early or Douglass Southall Freeman, were actually developed during the war and immediately following the war prior to any claims made by Early and others. Thus some of the "myths" such as the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Union as part of the central cause of the Confederacy's defeat, is actually true. He draws the wonderful and correct conclusion that to dismiss the Lost Cause myths in their entirety does a major disservice to the historical profession and that discussing those Lost Cause claims that do have a basis in fact is not in fact giving any legitimacy to any neo-Confederate point of view concerning the centrality of slavery to the origin of the Civil War.
   The one quibble, and the reason I gave this book four stars instead of five concerns Gallagher's essay "Fighting the Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church." I really couldn't find a point as to why this essay was included in the book, unless it was to demonstrate a hard and fast friendship link between Early and Lee that Gallagher does build upon in his essay on the Lost Cause. However, I still think the essay about Fredericksburg really doesn't belong in this format.

5 comments about A Maryland Bride in the Deep South: The Civil War Diary of Priscilla Bond.

1. A Maryland Bride
   
   Priscilla Bond begins her diary in a light fashion, offering subtle, at times too ordinary details of her daily life inside her parent's Maiden Lane home outside of Baltimore where she often receives guests for tea. This is to be expected as Bond grew up in a very prominent family household with numerous friends and relatives and lived in the nineteenth century South where women's identities were defined by their families both immediate and extended. Nevertheless, these activities are far too mundane to be found enjoyable. Too frequently, bond mentions these houseguests who stop in for tea and are gone just as quickly. "Nothing has occurred worthy of note, no one was here but cousin Howard P--he took tea with us and then left for Mr. Dallam's in Bel Air..." (Harrison, 69) One wishes for such entries to be over quickly as they are a strain on both the reader's patience and bladder.
   Furthermore, such entries are frustrating as women in Bond's time often used their diaries to find means of escape from their subservient societal roles. With such freedom at one's literal fingertips, one wonders just why someone would spend so many entries recounting the painstaking activities of daily life. Nevertheless, these entries do not begin until the temporary, but drawn-out departure of Bond's potential suitor, Howard and one soon realizes that Bond's entries are merely a way of coming to terms with her newfound life and establishing her identity in his absence.
   Once Bond is able to put aside her sadness and bask in her freedom, her entries become more involved and thought-provoking, allowing her wit, endearing personality, and charming prose to shine through. One of her more light-hearted entries finds her gazing up at the clouds, imagining them taking on the likeness of fairies. "...methinks I can see little fairies as they were skipping and chasing each other in frolicksome glee till they are lost in the distance..." (Harrison, 69) Her observations take a more elaborate turn after she notices the change in the clouds after a rainstorm. "They first looked like an army arrayed for battle. Some were on horseback, some walking and the flags flying as if it were flying in the breeze." (Harrison, 75)
   Bond is at her literary best, however, when she is exploring more profound subject matter such as mortality which she does after the death of her aunt. "Oh! May we be prepared when ever the messenger comes, and have our lamps trimmed & brightly burning." (Harrison, 74) She boldly ponders the day when she too must meet death's door, doing so in a light-hearted, yet wistful fashion and then proceeds to discuss something as simple as the weather. This, at first, seems like an odd turn, but it is Bond's intention to state that death, like the weather is commonplace and not to be fretted over. One simply disregards it and moves on with the day.
   It is this approach to life along with Bond's faith that carry her through the diary's duration. After her marriage to Howard, a man whom she cares for deeply, but is never quite sure if she truly loves, her health begins to deteriorate. This only makes the feats that follow all the more admirable, however, as her husband joins the Civil War effort and she finds herself alone and ailing.
   It is a pleasure to witness Bond's growing strength which not only masks her illness but establishes her as a force to be reckoned with. This is no longer the woman who wrote of tea time and fairy-like clouds. When soldiers invade her Abbeville home, looking for enemies who may be hidden within, she boldly ushers them around, insisting that they look wherever they wish. Once more, she finally stands up to her unpleasant mother-in-law with whom she has long been in rival. Howard's long awaited return is greeted with joy, but the event is bittersweet as one knows that she will not be around to enjoy it much longer. Although Bond may have not been able to find love, she was, in fact, able to find herself.
   
   
   



2. A Maryland Bride in the Deep South by Kimberly Harrison is a historic account of a young woman's diary during Civil War America. While true in its accuracy and well-researched the book was exceedingly dull and long-winded. The day-to-day entries of the diary's author, Pricilla Bond, consist of nothing more than weather reports and a monotonous list of "who visited whom". After meeting Ms. Harrison I learned that she had not intended the book for the general public but wrote it for a smaller, more scholarly group. Nevertheless, A diary should be a glance into one's soul, an opening into one's deepest thoughts and beliefs; yet Mrs. Bond's writings made her seem the most mundane creature to every put ink to paper. There are faint glimmers of hope that she may be more than what her entries make her seem, a few secret meetings with her fiancé, a wrestle with faith and religion; but those were few and far between. It is true that Mrs. Bond was very ill and was therefore often unable to write but this only serves to add to my ponderings as to why she would then use what little strength she did posses to write about the rain or who attended church that day.
   
   I accept the face that I am not a historian, I do not understand the life and customs of women in the 19Th century. However, if Mrs. Bond's life is a good representaion of most women in that time then I cannot thank God enough that I live in the era that I do. On that note, I am grateful to Pricilla for aiding me in putting my life in perspective. I have freedom and opportunity to marry whom I want, to go where I want, to not have to `dress for dinner', to receive medical care for the condition that so abruptly ended Mrs. Bonds life and her writings.
   Overall, I would only recommend this book to those who are truly interested in that time and place, and are resilient enough to search through the sea of dull truth, to find a few pearls of wisdom from Pricilla Bond.
   
   Elya Franciscus
   #2248241
   ENG 11 A.M.



3. As expected this book was not intended for the general public, therefore it does not arouse any significant interest in the average reader. Even though I did not find the book particularly interesting, I cannot deny or ignore the meticulous analysis, and research done by Harrison. The introduction not only demonstrates extensive research, but also provides enough background information to fill in the gaps in Priscilla's diary so that it presents a coherent narrative of her life during the war. The introduction also incorporates certain aspects and themes of society and culture in the mid 19th century, making it easier for the reader to understand Priscilla's personality and behavior as a product of her environment. By providing an overview of principal friends and family as well as frequently mentioned places, Harrison allows for a quick point of reference to the many characters mentioned. Overall the book is an extraordinary piece of research and undoubtedly an invaluable tool for historians as it gives direct insight into the mind of a civilian woman during the civil war. I think Harrison does a marvelous job incorporating the diary in its entirety for it reflects the changes in Priscilla's mood and personality before, during, and after the war. The diary provided a source of comfort to Priscilla and played a role in the formation of her identity. Priscilla struggled as she attempted to conform to what she believed was her duty as a wife in the turmoil of war, but also as she faced the differences in culture as she moved from her home in Maryland to that of her husband's family in Louisiana. The diary, and Harrison's further analysis explain how Priscilla uses her diary not only as her confidant but also as a means of easing or suppressing the cultural shock she experiences when she moves to Louisiana, and the sense of loneliness and isolation generated by the absence of her husband.
   As I previously mentioned, the book is an extraordinary piece of research and will undoubtedly serve as a valuable scholarly tool, as well as an important source of historical reference. Unfortunately I am not a historian, nor am I overly interested in the monotonous life of a bourgeois 19th century girl. Although Harrison attempts to make the book as accessible as possible while maintaining its caliber as a scholarly tool, it is not quite enough to incite enough interest in the average reader.



4. Priscilla Bond's civil war diary is an excellent historical resource. That said, it is not trying to be anything more, nor is it a book that will warrant a second read-through unless of course you are examining the text as a scholar.
   
   The diary starts off quite slow. Many of Bond's entries early on consist of whether or not it rained and which cousins `took tea' that day. These entries were deliberately not omitted, not only because a historical document should not have parts excluded (no matter how boring), but because it gives the reader an idea of how the war impacts Bond's life. It is a neat experience for even the most laymen of readers to watch her reports change from social reports almost exclusively to war reports, updates on the `Yankees', etc.
   
   This isn't to say that her non-war related entries are all completely boring. Quite a number of them are incredibly well written and poetic. An example:
   
   "The first of autumn - the last rays if the declining sun gives us somber feelings and remind us of the coming of winter, when at zenith, he stares at us with his big pale face, and tells us he is going to withhold from the world a portion of his heat for a season."
   
   Another element of the diary that will keep the average reader trekking onward is Bond's relationship with fiancé Howard. In the first entries, Bond makes Howard out to be her romantic knight-in-shining-armor, but as months go by of the two being separated, she begins to become impatient and even wonder if she still loves him. Trudging through the lists of who went to what sermon will be worth it, as her feelings toward him develop and tend to be ever bit as interesting as something out of fiction.
   
   Kimberly Harrison, the book's editor, provides an extensive introduction that helps to connect the dots, especially for readers who use the book for historic and gender study. Harrison includes sections on principal friends and family and frequently mentioned places referenced in the text. There's about an average of three footnotes per page, providing Harrison's own research to shed light on Bond's life. While her notes may prove invaluable to a historian, the casual reader might find himself skipping more and more of the denotations as he presses onward in his reading. Still, it is nice to have the footnotes, and anyone can appreciate the extra hundred miles Harrison took in providing this information.
   
   'A Maryland Bride in the Deep South' is intended for scholarly reading versus beach reading. If you are a casual reader and are interested in the role of women in the Civil War, you might want to instead get a copy of Mary Chestnut's Diary, or Kate Stone's. If you are a historian (or a Civil War fanatic), this book then proves to be essential. Priscilla Bond's voice and, sometimes, humor and wit are a great representation of women's role in that era.



5. Priscilla Bond's diary is a wealth of tedious tidbits about her daily routine, spattered with rare introspective statements about herself and her views on the Civil War. Bond's diary is not an enthralling read. In keeping with the social restraints at the time, her views are clipped by her desire to be a good woman and the fact that her diary, although personal, was intended to be read by family. It is, therefore, a fairly accurate portrayal of women in her era.
   
   Bond's diary is solely meant to be a historical source. In reading it, it's difficult to kindle any sort of feeling or sympathy for her, despite her difficult situation. Uprooted from her home and separated from her husband, Bond has to learn to live a life she was altogether unprepared for, while dealing with her consumption. I found her entries to be somewhat vapid, dealing largely with surface issues. However uninteresting she may have seemed, there was a real and troubled woman penning these words. The unspoken is what needs to be pieced together and understood.
   
   It would undoubtedly have been more reader-friendly had the diary been abridged, but that would have robbed the document of it's historical value. I cannot say that I enjoyed the book, but I can appreciate its worth. Her diary has the advantage of beginning in the antebellum years and continuing throughout the war, so that we can see the changes that occurred in her. It also gives us an idea about women who were not overly passionate about the Cause. Bond considers herself a southerner, but does not exhibit the kind of zeal towards the Confederacy that we can see in other diaries.
   
   A Maryland Bride in the Deep South is a painstakingly researched work that serves as a wonderful addition to Civil War women's studies. If that is your forte, plunge ahead. Otherwise, you may want to bypass this one.

No comments about A Civil War Soldier's Diary: Valentine C Randolph, 39th Illinois Regiment.

1 comments about The Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume 5: Armies & Leaders.

1. I have been a student of the American Civil War for 30-plus years and still find this book, with its accompanying 4 volumes, a foremost commentary and comprehensive photographic assemblage which surpasses most other single volumes or more inclusive works. I like two things about this collection....there are photographs here that I have never seen before, so it is extremely extensive, and it was initially compiled and published in 1911, which gives an advantageous and "less than contemporary" perspective from many actual participants of the event that were still alive at that time. In this particular volume, short biographies and photographs are given of each army's leaders, north and south. Essays are presented on Grant, R. E. Lee, and "Stonewall" Jackson as well as the various departments and armies of both governments. Various statistics are presented such as the sizes of armies, corps, regiments, and so on, and the dates of every battle and skirmi! sh, no matter the impact, with casualty counts. There is also a complete section concerning the veterans organizations which were established during and after the war, including their histories through 1911.

No comments about The Spirit Divided: Memoirs of Civil War Chaplains-The Union.

No comments about Tupelo.

2 comments about Hard Tack and Coffee: Or the Unwritten Story of Army Life As Published in 1887.

1. Josh Billings served with the 10th Mass Battery of Light Artillery during the Civil War. After having written the Official "History of the 10th Mass Battery" he responded to numerous requests to write a book about daily life in the Union Army. "Hardtack and Coffee" is an unpretentious, humorous look at life in the Union Army, Particularly the Light Artillery During the Civil War. Mr. Billings paints a vivid picture of living life under canvas, in the field. He addresses such topics as Army food, The day by Bugle calls, Beats (people who "avoided work"), punishments and more. This book is not a comedy, but is written with a light and readable style that makes it interesting to the average reader, as well as to those interested in the Civil War. this book is a must read for all readers of Civil War literature.



2. This is a very genuine and accurate account of a subject that has always fascinated me. It is written by the person who would know the material best--a genuine Civil War soldier--in excruciating detail and a suprisingly lively, colorful style for a book of nonfiction, not the stuffy, pompous style of encyclopedias. It contains well-articulated, balanced, open-mided opinions that are probably as unbiased as is possible for someone so close to the source.

   Be aware, though, that this book contains only the personal experiences of the author, and is thus a source of information only about the Union, not the Confederacy. Still, it is an extremely informative book that reads almost like a novel, and I highly recommend it to any intellectual who is curious about conditions for the common soldiers in the American Civil War.