No comments about Levi Coffin, Quaker: Breaking the Bonds of Slavery in Ohio and Indiana.

1 comments about Lincoln and the Radicals.

1. I first read this book in graduate school twenty-five years ago, and while recently rereading it I was impressed anew with its scintillating but remarkably dated analysis. T. Harry Williams argued a very interesting thesis about Abraham Lincoln in this benchmark work in the historiography of the subject. He found that in spite of his personal antipathy toward slavery, Lincoln was moderate in his public statements because he could not afford to compromise his questionable popular base of support as president. Lincoln recognized that his administration's ability to hold the rest of the nation together in the wake of southern secession was dependent upon his walking a narrow path of acceptability to a coalition of factions with sometimes divergent beliefs upon the slavery issue, that without enough support his position as president would be undermined and he would never be able to accomplish anything worthwhile. In spite of personal desires, it was a question for Lincoln of first things first. In the end Lincoln was prompted to end slavery by executive order by radicals within his own party who pressed for emancipation.
   
   Lincoln demonstrated, according to Williams, a spirit of pragmatism. To demonstrate this he once compared government to a machine. If something goes wrong with the machine, what should one do? The reactionary might say, "Don't fool with it, you'll ruin it?" The radical might say, "It's no good, get rid of it and find a new one." The pragmatist would try to fix the machine, to remove the defective part and add a new one, but only after carefully scrutinizing the situation to ensure that his action was correct (T. Harry Williams, "Abraham Lincoln: Pragmatic Democrat," in Norman A. Graebner, ed., "The Enduring Lincoln: Lincoln Sesquicentennial Lectures at the University of Illinois" [University of Illinois Press, 1959], pp. 26 27).
   
   In this book Lincoln's moderation is very much admired by Williams, while the radicals were "Jacobin" revolutionaries intent on destroying the fabric of the nation. This position essentially embraces the larger thesis present about the Civil War in the 1930s and 1940s; that it was a "repressible conflict" that could have been avoided had extremists on both sides been willing to compromise. Williams viewed the radicals as dogmatic and inflexible in dealing with a significant problem in American history, while Lincoln was a pragmatist. Such people as the radicals in Congress, led by old antislavery Whigs such as Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, argued for a ruthless prosecution of the war and a punishment of the South for its rebellion. They established a Committee on the Conduct of the War that pressed Lincoln daily about the aggressive prosecution of the war with Republican rather than Democratic Party generals and punishment of the South. They were all opposed to slavery but the manner in which it would be eliminated--gradually or immediately, with owners paid off or not, and the status of the freed slaves--were hotly contested. In this book Lincoln is very much a pragmatic hero and the radicals very much obstinate ideologues.
   
   More recent interpretations of Lincoln's relationship to the radicals in his party are quite different from what Williams believed. Hans L. Trefousse argued in "The Radical Republicans" (Alfred A. Knopf, 1969) that they were Lincoln's vanguard for racial justice. They served as lightning rods for the antislavery agenda that Lincoln and all members of his party agreed upon. Having been elected to Congress from districts supportive of their aggressiveness, the radicals served as "blocking backs" for Lincoln and made it possible for him to move out on the abolition of slavery more readily than he would have been able to do otherwise. This is an interpretation that is more in keeping with recent trends in the historiography rather than Williams's more than 60-year-old study, but it also deserves continuing revision as new documentary materials and new perspectives on the era emerge.

2 comments about The Blue and Gray in Black and White: A History of Civil War Photography.

1. The Blue and Gray in Black and White A History of Civil War Photography by Civil War author Bob Zeller has added an exciting new dimension to the history of Civil War photography that will appeal to a broad spectrum of American historians, Civil War enthusiasts, and those who study photography as an art form. With newly discovered photographs and primary sources, Bob Zeller's study has captured the Civil War photographer on the edge and sometimes in the midst of the battlefield pointing his wet plate camera into the thick of battle smoke across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, on the sandy beach of Morris Island at Charleston's harbor as the huge Union ironclad, New Ironsides bombarded Confederate forts, and in the shivering cold of Nashville as a General Hood's army met its destruction.
   Bob Zeller, author of his high successful The Civil War in Depth Volumes One and Two and president of The Center for Civil War Photography, "a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, presentation, and preservation of Civil War photography" has "walked the walk" in his thorough and exhaustive research of Civil War photographs. He has traveled the breadth of the country visiting private and public photographic and documentary collections in museums, historical societies, personal interviews, and the new digital collection at the Library of Congress. As a reader, I studied his thoroughly academic note section at the back of his study with great satisfaction.
   The Blue and Gray in Black and White is the key primer how Civil War photographers such as Captain Andrew J Russell, the Union army's only photographer, Timothy O'Sullivan, George Barnard, and southern photographers George S Cook and J.D. Edwards visually captured on delicate wet plates the most bloody war in our Nation's history. The author weaves an engrossing story of photography as an art form and has also chronciled the industry of photography from its beginnings in late 1839 to the eve of war in 1860. In those twenty one years, we read the personal encounters of "daguerreian artist," Platt Babbitt who captured the "doomed" Joseph Avery clinging to life on a shifting log just above the American Falls on the Niagara River, Roger Fenton who traveled to the Crimea outside the Russian city of Sebastopol as he may have photographed the wisps of artillery smoke from Allied siege guns, and how the Cooper Union photograph of Lincoln had a tremendous national impact.
   Bob Zellers story of Civil War Photographers as they applied their craft on the war torn American landscape has set the standard to study the entire history of Civil War photography.
   Civil War photographs will no longer be incidental adornments to the pages of history texts. Publishers will have to ensure that historians have carefully dated and researched their photographic views. The author, moreover, carefully researched newly discovered photographs to illustrate the humorous side of the war. We the readers see General George B McClellan's staff drinking about the time President Abraham Lincoln visited the soon to be fired McClellan in October, 1862. In the chapter, Embedded With The Troops, we witness Union soldiers in a tree looking across the Rappahannock River as the smoke of battle rises behind the captured town of Fredericksburg.
   The story of Civil War photography is not complete without tracing the perilous journey of the photographs "negatives" through nearly 80 years of American history as well as giving us a personal sense of poignancy to the life changing experiences major personalities of photograhic history have had.
   In his first chapter, Bob Zeller tells us how a photographic exhibit in 1840 dramatically changed Edward Anthony's life and how his fascination and love for photography would build the largest photographic supply company in the United States. Bob Zeller completed the circle of life changing experiences how a young boy of nine in 1955, William A.Frassanito, read a Life Magazine article on the Civil War and the article's photograhs ignited all his youthful energies into the study of the photographs of the Civil War. Twenty years later, Frassanito, would write Gettysburg: A Journey in Time that established the academic standard for investigating Civil War photographs as documents of history. The author's tale is not complete until the reader has the opportunity to note the important efforts being made to preserve the images by the digitizing project of the Library of Congress.
   It is a great book and I highly recommend it.
   John R Kelley
   Photographic Historian
   Poughkeepsie, NY



2. I thought this book might just be a nice coffee-table book with some good Civil War photos, but it is so much more. While true, the book is filled with great photos, many I had never seen before, THE BLUE AND GRAY IN BLACK AND WHITE: A HISTORY OF CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHY, by Bob Zeller, is just what the title implies; a photo and written history of Civil War photography.
   
   Zeller, founder and president of the Center of Civil War Photography, has dauntingly researched his subject, and it shows in this book. Of course, Zeller includes the most notable of Civil War photographers, such as Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner, whose over 1000 images of the war include the first images of war at Antietam and his photos of Gettysburg; however, much of the book chronicles the career of southern photographer, George Smith Cook.
   
   The information on Cook is really a short biography within the pages of the larger work. Although Cook, who was present at Charleston, apparently and sadly missed the opportunity to chronicle the initial engagement with images, many of Cook's accomplishments are highlighted, such as the first photos of prisoners of war taken at Castle Pinkney, his photos of Major Anderson and the destruction at Fort Sumter as well as the ironclads in action.
   
   Not being a photographer, there is a good bit of information here that was foreign to me as far as the early processes of photography. I am sure photographers would gain fruitful knowledge from such information and have a much deeper appreciation for this work, as Zeller's research was obviously painstaking and meticulous.
   
   Monty Rainey
   www.juntosociety.com

3 comments about The Monitor Chronicles : One Sailor's Account. Today's Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck.

1. An interesting information source for life aboard the Monitor. There aren't alot of books out there about the ship, and I think this book was very interesting and needed. Also George Geer's actual letters are very interesting to read, as he tells everything that happened aboard the ship.



2. The Mariner's Museum has done a commendable job in putting together such an attractive collection of letters from Monitor sailor George Geer to his wife. Through his eyes, we see a more human perspective on the Civil War and the famous battle between the Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia than is available through most other sources. However, at times this perspective is altogether too human, as Geer devotes page after page of his letters to more mundane esoterica such as selling merchandise to his fellow crew members. The Mariner's Museum also used the needlessly repetitive and districting format style of putting some of the very same passages from Geer's letters in text, in bold, oversize text, and/or in actual illustrations of Geer's letters -- as a result, the reader constantly finds himself/herself reading duplicate passages. I also felt a little short-changed by the brevity of the discussion on the current state of the Monitor wreck and the plans for its future recovery and conservation. A few more illustrations of the wreck itself, and a few less of Geer's letters, would have been welcome. Other than these quibbles, it was a very enjoyable and informative look at a revolutionary ship through the eyes of someone who was there when history was made at Hampton Roads.



3. The biggest disapointment is that Greer does not write about the most interesting parts of the Monitor's history: the trip down to Hampton roads and the battle with the Virginia. It is about his shipboard life which details his illnesses and money making schemes to augment his pay which was not paid out to him in full causing financial hardship at home. Mostly of interest for its insights into a sailor's life, less so for info on the Monitor. It's a decent book to supplement other info on the Monitor but not the book to get if you get only one.

No comments about A Magnificent Irishman from Appalachia: The Letters of Lt. James Gildea, First Ohio Light Artillery, Battery L.

No comments about The life and ministry of John Morgan: For a wise and glorious purpose.

5 comments about James Longstreet: The Man, The Soldier, The Controversy.

1. DiNardo and Nofi have compiled a group of essays that fairly critique the different periods of the life of General James Longstreet. While the authors of these essays address the strengths of Lee's "Old War Horse", they also point out areas where the general could have made better decisions. The authors take a very scholarly approach to attacks made on General Longstreet and are able to refute many of the attacks made by the anti-Longstreet movement. If you are looking for a book that gives a balanced view of a great Civil War general and that succeeeds in trying to set the record straight, look no further. "James Longstreet-The Man, the Soldier, the Controversy" is an outstanding book.

   Steve Galligan




2. DiNardo and Nofi have compiled a group of essays that fairly critique the different periods of the life of General James Longstreet. While the authors of these essays address the strengths of Lee's "Old War Horse", they also point out areas where the general could have made better decisions. The authors take a very scholarly approach to attacks made on General Longstreet and are able to refute many of the attacks made by the anti-Longstreet movement. If you are looking for a book that gives a balanced view of a great Civil War general and that succeeeds in trying to set the record straight, look no further. "James Longstreet-The Man, the Soldier, the Controversy" is an outstanding book.

   Steve Galligan




3. This book is a collection of essays much like Gary Gallagher does for his Civil war battle series. The book starts with an explanation of how Longstreet became the scapegoat for the south engineered by the post war attacks of former VA. officers some of which were not held in high esteem during the war. Suffering from this malignment, Longstreet's place in history has not been very kind or in some cases accurate. The authors cover Longstreet's career describing him as a modern general in thinking strategicaly about inside lines of communication utilizing railroads and concentrating forces against a stronger foe. Essays include Longstreet at not only Gettysburg but Chickamauga, the latter being the last great southern victory. Wert covers the controversial aspects of Longstreet's role at Gettysburg and puts the bed any thoughts of the infamous but false allegation of a "sunrise attack order". A fascinating essay is DiNardos comparison of the staffs of Longstreet's and Jackson's where Longstreet's staff come off as more professional with many receiving independent commands. Piston covers Longstreet in the antebellum prewar army where favoritism and connections were ripe and in the final essay covers Longstreet place in Southern History where he was succesfully vilified by Jubal Early.



4. As an avid Longstreet admirer and biographer so to speak, books on Pete strike very rare and shows the creeping comeback of this man's stellar record.
   
   A very early book of Longstreet was written in the 1930's called "General James Longstreet: My Old Warhorse". This book showed the south's view of the man still as very bitter toward his after war activities--which in turn turned to badgering his war record.
   
   As the years have gone by, Longstreet's memory has grown to be more respected, either by research by an individual or by the 3 or 4 books that have been published since that 1930's time period which detract many of the ant-Longstreet cabul.
   
   Lt. General James Longstreet served in the Confederate Army in high command positions from 1861-1865, from Manassas to Appomattox. "Old Pete" (nickname) became known as Lee's "Old War Horse" and the best fighter and corps commander in the Army.
   
   Despite a distinguished military record and several brilliant victories where his prescience, strategic vision and well-executed tactics saved the Army of Northern Virginia from certain destruction, General Longstreet was unfairly scapegoated and blamed for the loss of Gettysburg (and the war itself) for many years after the conflict.
   
   Within the past decade historians and Civil War experts have refocused their attention on Longstreet with a view toward rehabilitating his reputation with a more balanced assessment. Various programs, roundtable groups and memorial funds emerged as a consequence of the Longstreet "revival," culminating with the unveiling of a Longstreet statue on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg in July 1998.
   
   Despite these good efforts there remains a strong sentiment among Longstreet's modern-day admirers that more can and should be done to rectify the wrongs heaped upon "Old Pete" and his family for the sake of honesty and decency in the treatment of heroic (if controversial) figures and American History itself.
   
   Just as these negative, media-driven barrages took a toll on Longstreet and his family and countless other Americans, we are all reduced by these vicious, orchestrated falsehoods. Our history becomes distorted and truth becomes a casualty. Moreover, we as a nation are nullifying, even negating the enormous sacrifices made by our ancestors, particularly the noble soldiers like Longstreet, if we permit the erasure from history of their lives and achievements --the actions which have created our current bounty.
   
   James Longstreet's life encompassed much of the tumultuous nineteenth century. As a West Point-trained officer, Longstreet served with distinction in the Mexican War and matured with the young nation's Manifest Destiny, honing his military skills in the rough wilds of the West. Longstreet knew the frontier and its values, and he drew strength and vision from his experience which served him well in the Civil War and beyond.
   
   Longstreet's struggles with the exigencies of the South's military situation and his acute awareness of broad facets of the interlocking tragedy which unfolded after Appomattox did not inoculate him from one of American history's cruelest outbreaks of scapegoating and ostracism through which he endured an unrelenting barrage of personal attacks on his military record and beliefs. For nearly four decades Longstreet stood against the ill winds, did his duty, and helped the country grow into an industrial power.
   
   Serious students of American history need to understand Longstreet's life, especially after his last great battle at The Wilderness (where he was nearly killed by accidental wounding) -- what happened to him and why it happened to gain a fuller understanding of what has transpired in the past one hundred and thirty-five years. There are profound lessons for all of us in understanding Longstreet, his travails and times.
   
   This book--which is the most new addition to the Longstreet collection comes through as a "Gallagher essay" type format where various authors from Dinardo, to Nofi, to Piston, to Wert, all chip in with new and original essays on the man--Lee's Old War Horse.
   
   Regards,
   Cory



5. This is an interesting--albeit uneven--edited volume on General James Longstreet, one of the best corps commanders in the Civil War. In any edited volume, there is apt to be some unevenness in the contributions. Just so, this volume.
   
   However, there are some very interesting essays that warrant careful reading. The chapter on Longstreet as a modern soldier is quite interesting; the author of this chapter makes an assertion that Longstreet had a more modern perpsective on war and combat than many of his contemporaries. The chapter on Chickamauga gives considerable detail on his attack in depth. Even though Union errors created a gap into which Longstreet, by luck, had aimed his assault, his disposition of forces was extremely well done.
   
   Perhaps the best chapter explores Longstreet's selection of and use of staff in his corps. The points that he was better than most at deployinf staff resources is well made here.
   
   All in all, a nice addition to one's Civil War library.

No comments about Robert E. Lee: Confederate General (Famous Figures of the Civil War Era).

No comments about Wartime Washington: The Civil War Letters of Elizabeth Blair Lee.

No comments about Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman: A Biography.