Rising in Flames: Sherman’s March and the Fight for a New Nation. By J. D. Dickey. Maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index, 413 pp., 2018. Pegasus
in the Pacific Northwest, is author of Empire of Mud, a history of Washington, D.C. in the 1800s In Rising in Flames he offers a colorful narrative of Sherman’s Georgia and Carolina Campaigns
of 1864–65. It’s an interesting take on these important events, as I saw in Dickey’s book elements of
history, biography and fiction. Through his publisher, I e-asked the author if he saw his work as blend of these three. He answere “although there are certain nove istic and biographical elements to the book, I intended Rising in Flames as a work of narrative nonfiction—a history of selected participants in Sherman’s march and people who supported them on the home front.” Dickey thus follows Sherman’s campaigns not as a traditional historian would, but through the experiences of eight characters: Sherman, Gens. Jefferson Davis and John Logan, Capt. Charles Wills (103rd Illinois), the Rev. John Hight (chaplain of the 58th Indiana), “Mother” Mary Bickerdyke, Mary Livermore (publisher of a religious newspaper in Chicago), and John McCline, an 11-year-old escaped slave. I asked Mr. Dickey how he cho his characters. He answered, “I
chose these characters because each represented something
intrinsic to what Sherman’s campaign was about….Each was fascinating in his or her ow right (especially such an amazin person as Mother Bickerdyke).” But because he chooses to vie
events through Northern characters, he essentially omits the Confederate side of the story. With its focus on individuals
I found Rising to read rather as impressionistic history (although the author’s research is extensiv
judging from his notes and bibliography). And as a novel will, th narrative is not sustained and li ear; we jump from Fort Donelson to Chickamauga in four pages. I read his treatment of the Atlanta Campaign with greatest interest. When Dickey writes that at Kennesaw Mountain “Logan bellowed at his men to follow
perbole (as XV Corps commander, Logan’s place was properly in the rear, as shown in Thure DeThulstrup’s famous painting
of 1887). Similarly, referring to the Northern bombardment Atlanta, July 20–August 25, he writes, “anywhere from 100 to 150 civilians had died in the shelling, though no one could be sure since many bodies were vaporized or severed into countless pieces by the blasts.” I found th particularly odd, as Dickey cites my article in Atlanta History from back in 1999, when I estimated only twenty civilian lives lost to Sherman’s shells. Rising in Flames follows Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas to the end of the war i its colorful, interesting fashion But, as you can infer from these few instances, when I want the facts on the Atlanta Campaign and the march to the sea, I’ll tu to Castel’s Decision in the West and to Trudeau’s Southern Storm.
Hawkeyes Go To War Iowa and the Civil War, Volume I: Free Child of the Missouri Compromise. By Kenneth L. Lyftogt. Maps, photos, notes, index, 416 pp., 2018
Recounting a state’s particip tion in the Civil War is a daunt challenge. This is particularly true in the case of Iowa, for th Hawkeye State contributed much to the Union war effort, and reminders of the state’s Civil War heritage can be found in many communities and on many battlefields. Author Kenneth Lyftogt has not only accepted the challenge, but is planning to produce a three-volume study detailing Iowa’s role in the war—the first comprehensive history of the subject to appear in more than a century. This first volume begin with an examination of Iowa politics and abolitionism in the 1850s, and concludes with the
1862 Battle of Shiloh. Lyftogt argues that although
state’s residents leaned toward Democratic Party in the years im mediately following statehood in 1846, the new Republican Party soon posed a significant chal-
lenge to Iowa Democrats, and by the late 1850s Republicans were firmly entrenched in state offices. In the 1860 election, 6 of the state’s 97 counties went Abraham Lincoln. Abolitionist John Brown found support in the
state, and Iowan Barclay Coppoc served with Brown at Harpers Ferry. With the start of the war in 1 the citizens of Iowa and Governor Samuel Jordan Kirkwood enthusiastically responded to Presiden Lincoln’s call for troops. Iowans played an important role in some of the war’s early fighting, part
helped secure southwest Missouri and greatly aided fellow Iowan Samuel R. Curtis’s victory at Pea
Ridge, Ark. Iowa regiments gained glory east of the Mississippi River as well. The state’s soldiers assist Ulysses S. Grant in the capture of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. On the first day of the battle of Shiloh on April 1862, several Iowa units fought bravely in the legendary Hornet’s Nest and elsewhere on the field, and according to one estimate, nearly a quarter of the casualtie suffered by Grant’s army that day were Iowans. Lyftogt’s prose is a delight t read, with interesting details an a refreshing lack of jargon that would put off readers unfamiliar with Civil War history. He avoids digressions and minutiae that would slow the pace of the narrative. Although not intended to be an exhaustive study of all aspects o the state’s history during the Ci War period, Lyftogt’s excellent overview of Iowa’s role in the first year of the war is required reading not only for Hawkeyes, but also for anyone wanting to
learn more about the war in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters. This reviewer looks forward to the other volumes in the series as Lyftogt follows the Iowans to Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta and beyond.
Jeff Patrick is the museum curator at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Missouri He is currently working on a history of the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry (83rd U.S.C.T.)
The Most Complete Political Machine Ever Known: The North’s Union Leagues in the American Civil War. By Paul Taylor. Illustrations, index, not bibliography, 322pp., 2018. Kent
The North’s initial enthusiasm for crushing the secessionists waned by the summer of 1862. Repeated Federal battlefield loss es fueled an antiwar sentiment at home. What was deemed necessary was an organization to shape pro-Union public opinion. This gave rise to the creation of vari Union Leagues, which became the most powerful propaganda tools for the Lincoln administration to attack Copperhead sentiment and shape antiwar positions as treasonous. Begun as a series of secret societies, by the end of 1863 one fourth of adult Republican males were members of an organized pro-Union loyalty group. From this time until Lincoln’s reelect in November 1864, the Union Leagues distributed millions of pamphlets, wrote thousands of newspaper editorials, and gave countless public speeches equating patriotism w the policies of the Lincoln administration. Loyal opposition by Democrats became treason and justified the questionable
CWN Book Review Editor, Ste 3670 Falling Leaf Lane, Cumming
Constitutional silencing antiwar protestors. The efforts of the Union Leagues were responsible for reversing the malaise in the North, rallying reluctant enlistees and creating a voting bloc that ultimately saw Republican dominance for decades to come. They likewise successfully mitigated resentment towards the Emancipation Proclamation, the suspension of habeas corpus, and the Enrollment Act of 1863. They shaped public opinion to accept these means as justified to win the war and save the Union. In today’s political climate, the central question of “Do the means justify the ends?” is still hotly debated. During the Civil War the Union Leagues answered this question in the affirmative. The perceived threat from the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Sons of Liberty, and the Order of American Knights energized the Union Leagues into the most effective political action committe the country has ever experienced. In the end, their victory transformed the United States from a plural to a singular noun, began the process toward AfricanAmerican equality, and preserved the original Union. Paul Taylor has produced a thoroughly researched tome that finally removes the Union Leagues from an historical footnote to an essential tool in winning the minds and hearts of Northerners to save the Union. His work is essential for an understanding of not only its role the Civil War and Reconstruction, but how the media today can shape public opinion. It is highl recommended for historians and political scientists as well.
Dr. Wayne L. Wolf of suburban Chicago is Professor Emeritus at South Suburban College in Illinoi and Past President of the Lincoln Davis Civil War Roundtable. He is the author of numerous Civil War books and articles and is current researching previously unpublished soldiers’ letters to incre our understanding of the common soldier.
Redemption Under Fire Under the Crescent Moon with the XI Corps in the
Civil War – Volume 2: From Gettysburg to Victory, 1863– 1865. By James S. Pula. Photos, maps, footnotes, appendices, bibliography, index, 369 pp., 2018.
This book is the second and final volume of James S. Pula’s history of the Union XI Corps. I reviewed Volume 1 and found it to be an exceptional, well-written book. This volume lives up to its predecessor’s terrific standards. The first book ends with the battle of Chancellorsville, where the Federal right flank was attacked and surprised by overwhelming numbers of General Stonewall Jackson’s force, and only collapsed after putting up a noble fight. The rest of the army did no see it that way, and blamed the XI Corps for the loss of the battle. This second volume picks up where the first leaves off and pro vides the XI Corps’ experiences in the battle of Gettysburg. There on the first day of the battle, th are again attacked by superior numbers (General Richard S. Ewell’s Corps). The ground they held had few natural defenses and, to top it off, one of their d visions moved forward, against orders, leaving both flanks in the air. Pula’s description of the XI Corps defense of the area north of Gettysburg is one of the most exciting I have read. He excels at describing the battle action; one almost feels he is there. Again, a ter a fearsome fight, the unlucky XI Corps is forced to retreat from the field. And again, even though the I Corps was also driven off
the field, blame was placed on the XI Corps for losing the battle of July 1. On the second day, they were
attacked at their post on East Cemetery Hill. They faced great-
er numbers again, but this time they slugged it out with the enemy until the Rebs were forced to retreat. It was a hard-fought battle and their actions won several commendations. One would think this would have redeemed them, but the balance of the army still thought they were not equals to the rest of the Army of the Potomac. After Gettysburg, they were separated from the Army of the Potomac and sent to Chattanooga to aid in lifting the siege of that city by the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Being in another army, in another section of the country, should have changed their luck. I advise obtaining this book to find out.
Civil War Catalo Featuring a large assortment of C War autographs, accoutrements, me insignia, buttons, GAR, documents Please visit our fully illu
I recommend this book for any one interested in the Civil War. The XI Corps served in both major theaters of the war and Jame Pula does a brilliant job of tel its story. His battle accounts a unparalleled.
Robert L. Durham of Centerville, Ohio, has been a devoted history buff for many years and is finally getting a history degree online. Bob has written articles publication in various historica magazines and internet blogs, as well as CWN. He is retired from most 40 years of service with th Defense Logistics Agency, where one of his roles was to install munications systems for Foreign Military Sales countries. This g him an opportunity to travel all over the world.
l War and Indian abilia, medals, hotos, & books.
Many of us are practicing scholars and writers, even if we’re “amateur” ones—strictly defined by the academicians as not earning our financial livelihood from our work (as college professors do). Nonetheless, we all share the joy of research—gaudium investigationis, as they used to say. One of my particular pleasures is to come upon a soldier’s lette that has not made its way into the literature. The experience is made sweeter when the archival repository holding that epistle i beyond one’s beaten path. I credit my friend Brad Butkovich, in his book The Battle of Pickett’s Mill (History Press, 2013), for putting me onto the le ters held at the library of Picke Mill State Historic Site. I drove out there recently, and Kelly Miller of the staff kindly provid ed me copy of the fourteen-page typescript of the missive written by Lt. Sebron G. Sneed, Jr. of the 6th/15th Texas Infantry (Consolidated) to his wife, “Fannie,” dated June 7, 1864. In his writing, he refers to a diary kept during the campaign, so his recollections for Fannie strike m as particularly well informed. Sneed was the son of a wealthy
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farmer and slaveowner in Austin. Born at Fayetteville, Ark., in Sept. 1836, he attended college in Galveston and, after travelin to Rome in 1858, he studied for the priesthood. Sneed returned to Texas in 1860, and when war broke out he enlisted in Co. G, 6th Texas Infantry. The regiment became part of Brig. Gen. Hiram B. Granbury’s Brigade in Pat Cleburne’s famed division. “Seb” liked to write long letters. His to Fannie of June 7 is quite extensive. Here I draw from it that portion having to d with the battle of Pickett’s Mil fought about 25 miles northwest of Atlanta on May 27.
My darling Fannie: * * * * * * * On this morning of the 27th t batteries of Artillery occupied front of us where the Calvary [sic] was and our Regiment was ordered to support them. We entrenched strongly. The enemy made no demonstrations against us at this point, but seemed to be attempting something further down towards our left. We lay quiet and lazy in our works. The cannoniers at their guns and our boys occasionally popping at a blue coat as he dodge about in the wood in front. About 5 P. M. our scouts reported a large forc had gone further than we extended towards our Right and that they were massing troops at that point. Our Brigade was quietly put in motion as we moved about a mile further to the Right. Her we found a weak line of dismount ed calvary [sic] who were a continuation of our main battle lin Our Brigade was not more than halted before the enemy opened a hot fire which rapidly approache us and increased in intensity
every moment. Each Regiment threw forward one company as skirmishers, but they had not advance one hundred yards before they found a main line of battle of enemy advancing. The Cavalry left in a hurry and our skirmishers were compelled to retire at once to their own main line. The skirmish company of our Regt. lost five wounded before they could get in. The enemy advance up under cover of the bushes and trees and poured a terrible fire musketry on us but they shot too high, or they could not see our position. When our skirmishers got in we opened on them. They came up bravely, but our men kept such a shower of minnies in their faces that flesh and blood could not stand it. Again and again they attempted to charge us and approached their line within five paces of ours, but with shou and volleys they were forced to retire. The balls flew thick as h and death stalked around. Our men had no shelter except a few rails from an old fence that ran along our line. It was with difficulty they could be restrained from charging, but we were too weak to risk it, and besides we had no breast works to fall back to in case we had been forced back, nor any reserves to support us. To have charged and had been repulsed would have ruined us. The enemy shot about a foot too high, or they would have wounded or killed half the command. The battle continued thus hot for about two hours when the 8th and 9th Arkansas Regiment[s] came up to reinforce us. All the Caval had given way on the Right of our Brigade and our Regiment was on the Right of the Brigade—and the enemy were gradually flanking us. The Arkansas Regiments charged and drove the flanking parties back. The right of our Regiment also charged the flankers and they retreated. We were getting nearly out of ammunition, the men having fired about 50 rounds each. I scared one Yankee awfully. I had a large butcher knife in my hand that I had been using to cut a cartridge Box from one of the wounded men in order to give his ammunition to the others. I had just finishe
when Sam Piper came to me with a prisoner he had captured. I ran
to him with the knife reased to c his cartridge box off. The poor
him and threw up his hands with the most pitiful face. I could no restrain a laugh at his despairin countenance. The battle contin-
ued fierce until 8 o’clock when the enemy retired. About 10 at
night we made a right charge in the woods, knowing that they had not retired but a short distance.
We came upon them suddenly and captured about 300 prisoners. They flew in utter confusion. We learned from the prisoners that we had been fighting the whole o Howard’s Corps and part of another and that they had four lin of battle against us which were repulsed. They had silently take position and had purposely kept quiet in our front lower down in order to conceil what they were about. They thought they would find only the Cavalry which they could easily drive from its position and thus flank our main line. But our Brigade arrived at the opportune moment to thwart their cunning strategy. The next morning we went over the ground and the light of day revealed wh havoc our bullets had made in their ranks. Over four hundred lay dead in front of our works. Many of the chief officers of the army, Johnson and Hardee, and others said they never saw men piled thicker in all the battle fields had seen. It was an awful sight. They lay crossed and thrown in
every conceivable situation. Mos of them were shot in the head.
Could some of our women who have been insulted by the ruffia
or some of the parents who have lost their idols in defense of t country, have seen the slaughter they would have thought it a ret
ribution for the wrongs the demons have inflicted on us. It wa
a ghastly sight and I will not s en you with its horrible details Our loss was not heavy….
John R. Lundberg’s fine Granbury’s Texas Brig (2012) informs us that Seb Sneed was wounded in the battle of Jonesboro. General Granbury mentions him in his after-action report: “First Lieut. Sebro G. Sneed, acting assistant adjutant-general, was severely wounded in the breast on the eve ning of the 1st instant while ca ing an order in the most exposed portion of the field. His conspi uous daring won the admiration of the entire command” (OR, vol. 38, pt. 3, 745). Sebron recovere at a hospital in Barnesville, Ga continued to serve as A.A.G. and by the end of the war, had been promoted captain. He returned to Austin to become one of the city’s noted educators. He founded the Austin Normal Military School, was the first treasurer of the Austin Sc Board, and superintendent of the Travis County Public Schools. After Fannie died in 1867, Seb remarried to Alice Bacon, who sadly passed away in 1881 at the age of thirty.
Sebron lived out his years as bachelor; death came on Sept. 1,
1894. He is buried in Austin. Note: next month I’ll write
about a cool letter I found at the Auburn University Libraries Special Collections and Archives
Steve Davis is the Book Review ticle, “The ‘Criminal Blunder’ a Pickett’s Mill,” will appear in May issue of America’s Civil War
Did the Federal Governme Pay Pensions to Ex-Confederate
Even to this day, the U.S. gov ernment will provide a headstone for the grave of a Confederate soldier whose descendants meet criteria. The reasoning is that Northerners and Southerners were all American soldiers, righ So the question follows: did the Federal Government pay pensions to former Confederate soldiers in the years after the The answer is no. Historian James Marten puts it succinctly: “Southern states, of course, paid for Confederate pensions.”1 While Union veterans after the war could lobby both national and state governments for financial aid in their waning years, ex-Confederates could only turn to their states and localities, Professor Marten asserts.2 The postwar United States Congress was so vindictive toward ex-Rebels that it enacted in the words of the late E. Mert
Coulter, “the withdrawal of pensions from all Confederates who were veterans of past wars.” Meaning, if you fought for your country in the Mexican War, but then later joined the Confederate army, you were cut off. Or, if you were the widow of a Revolutionary War soldier, but had a son who fought for the South, you also were denied further benefits.3 Southerners, of course, were outraged, especially as Federal pensions for former Yankee soldiers were being paid by every American taxpayer, including those in Dixie. Worse, it was a whopping amount of money. One writer to Confederate Veteran Magazine in 1898 declared that the annual cost of pensions to Union veterans would total “the entire salary-list of the gover ment in Washington and throughout the country, the expenses o all departments, including the whole judicial system, the cost of the army and navy, post-offi deficiencies, public buildings,
fortifications and ships, rivers and harbors, the Department of Labor, and the whole expense of the White House and its salaries.”4 The sources I’ve cited so far are from my personal library (the “Brig. Gen. Clement Anselm Evans Memorial Research Library,” as I call it, to my wife’ perplexity). When Jack suggested that I write a column on this question, I also went online to a source you should check out, too:
L. Gorman’s definitive article, “Civil War Pensions.” • “Union soldiers were covered under the federal system while each former Confederate state had to create and fund its own pension system.” • Southern states could not even use Federal tariffs to fund pensions. Georgia had to resort to tobacco taxes. • “Part of the issue was that state officials continually un derestimated the number of eligible pensioners and how much those numbers would change annually. It is easy to see why they had such trouble. In 1937 Georgia had 232 veterans receiving pensions, but still 1377 widows, all of
a month even in the depths of the Depression.”
Needless to say, the state struggled to meet its obligations. “In the state of Georgia alone,” Gorman continues, “in 1952 there were still 401 widows receiving
To be sure, a federal law enacted in1953 affirmed elibility for federal pensions for spouses and children of all Civil War veterans, including ex-Confederates. But it took nearly a century.
Endnotes: 1. James Marten, Sing Not War: The Lives of Union & Confederate Veterans in Gilde Age America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 16. 2. Ibid., 240. 3. E. Merton Coulter, The South During Reconstruction 1865– 1877 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1947) 13. 4. “Fraudulent Pension Confederate Veteran, vol. 6, 1 (January 1898), 38. 5. Kathleen L Gorman, “Civil War Pensions.” Essential Civil Wa
1. Even before my father’s fathe They called us rebels Burned our cornfields And left our cities leveled I can still see the eyes Of those blue bellied devils When I’m walking around tonight Through the concrete and metal
These lyrics, from “Rebels,” a track on his Southern Accents album (1985), were sung by this famed American rock ‘n’ roller and leader of the band The Heartbreakers. Who? 2. As sung by “The King,” lyrics for “An American Trilogy” included lines from “Dixie” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Who is The King? 3. The majestic opening score of this famous 1939 film was written by Austrian-born Maximilian (“Max”) Steiner (1888–1971). What movie? 4. “Till Stoneman’s cavalry came and tore up the tracks again” ar lines from this song, recorded by The Band and released on their second album in September 1969. Which tune? 5. In the movie Masked and Anonymous (2003), Bob Dylan and his band perform this famous tune composed by Daniel Emmett two years before the war. Which one? 6. Composed in April 1861, “Maryland, My Maryland” became the state song in 1939. Do you know the name of the Baltimorean who wrote the poem that became its lyrics? 7. “If the South Woulda Won,” this country singer declared, th days Elvis and Patsy Cline died would be national holidays. “I’d probably run for President of th Southern States,” he muses, and if he won, “I’d put that capital
back in Alabama.” He’d ban all Chinese cars, move the Supreme Court to Texas and the national treasury to Tupelo. Who is this performer? Hint: he’s the son of a famous singer-songwriter who died in 1953 at the age of 29, primarily from alcoholism and prescription drug abuse. 8. “When you’re fighting Yankees a redneck’s a man’s best friend” is a line from the tune “White Trash” on White Mansions, the famously little-known album released in 1978. This concept album—with songs written by an Englishman—tells the story of the Civil War through fiction Southerners. On “White Trash,” electric slide guitar is played by this world-famous guitarist who was given the nickname “Slowhand.” Who? 9. In the movie The Young Riders (1980), Clell Miller (played by Randy Quaid) objects to the saloon musicians playing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and at gunpoint “requests” a Southern tune. The musicians promptly launch into a tune base on the poem written shortly after the war by Innes Randolph (1837–87), who had served as a Confederate major. Know the song? 10. “He freed a lot of people, b it seems the good die young/you know I just looked around and he’s gone.” Thus Dion sang about the 16th president of the United States on this record, released August 1968 after the deaths of Dr. King and Sen. Kennedy earlier that spring. Remember the name of the song?
Steve Davis is the Civil War New Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at:
A Hometown Meeti Two Charlestonians at War: The Civil War Odysseys of a Lowcountry Aristocrat and a Black Abolitionist. By Barbara L. Bellows. Maps, photos, notes index, 344 pp., 2018. Louisiana
What can a free black abolitionist and an aristocratic slaveholder have in common? A U Five for Freedom: The African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army. By Eugene L. Meyer. Notes, bibliography, index. 282 pp., 2018. Chicago
Everyone remembers John Brown, the fiery abolitionist whose plan to incite a slave re bellion came to a bloody end at Harpers Ferry. Brown’s trial, a his willingness to sacrifice hi life for his cause, inspired so Americans just as it horrified others. Lost in this famous sto
Times of War shared love of their mutual hometown of Charleston, according to Barbara Bellows’ dual biography of Joseph Barquet and Thomas Pinckney. Born a mile apart in th very city in which the war began over the diverging ideologies tha Barquet and Pinckney represented, their lives intersected only once and briefly in the midst of war. In 1864, Barquet, a sergeant in the 54th Massachusetts and a guard at the prison on Coffin (no Folly) Island, met an imprisoned Captain Thomas Pinckney of the 4th South Carolina Cavalry. It is Pinckney’s telling of this single encounter in his unpublished memoirs that inspired Bellows to uncover their lives. She explores how their mutual affection for the Charleston of their childhoods bridged for a few moments the insurmountable gulf between them. Barquet, a free biracial man of European ancestry whose father came to Charleston via Santo Domingo, lived most of his adult life in t North, became an abolitionist, and eventually a sergeant in the 54th Massachusetts. Pinckney represents a way of life in many ways opposite that of Stories, Unknown Heroes are the five African Americans who accompanied Brown in his quixotic quest. Journalist Eugene L. Meyer brings them back into the picture in Five for Freedom, a highly readable volume that considers the diverse motivations and undeniable courage of these men, restoring them to thei rightful place in history. Brown’s small but stalwart band of revolutionaries consisted of nineteen men, among them three of Brown’s sons and several veterans of the violence in “Bleeding Kansas.” Five black men committed themselves as well. They were a diverse lot. Dangerfield Newby had been freed from slavery, but was in a relationship with a slave woman, the mother of his children. Despite a lifetime of toil, he wa unable to buy the freedom of his family. John Anthony Copeland and Lewis Sheridan Leary were
free men of color and residents of Oberlin, Ohio, where they had participated in the dramatic rescue of a fugitive slave. Osborne Perry Anderson, another free person of color, was active in aidin runaways in Chatham, Canada. Newby, Copeland, Leary, and Anderson were all of mixed racial heritage. In contrast, Shiel Green was a fugitive slave from
Barquet’s. Pinckney remained a lifelong Southerner, enlisted in what became the 4th South Carolina Cavalry, and believed in a paternalistic view of the institution of slavery. This biography provides a microhistory of the factors that de veloped identity and motivation, providing insight into the divers ty of experience for Southerners before, during and after the Civi War. Bellows’ work builds upon two Civil Rights-era books, Who Speaks for the Negro and Who Speaks for the South, that consider the diversity of racial experiences and the importance of both races to Southern culture. Indeed, Barquet’s life illustrate the diversity of black experience in both the South and the North. The reader sees a shift in how Barquet identified himself based upon his geographical location and the racial dynamics present therein, which explains how Barquet transitioned from a slaveholding family in the South to life as an abolitionist in the North. Even as Barquet pursued his new cause, his background and education meant that others sometimes perceived him as an
Charleston, South Carolina, who had lived for a time at the home of Frederick Douglass. Each man brought a different level of education and experience to the plot and each carried personal motivations—for rescue, for revenge, for sacrifice—to the cause. By the time the raid came to its san guinary conclusion, two of these men were dead, two were captured (and later executed), and one escaped. Meyer brings a journalist’s fl and sensibility to this project. The story of each participant is woven with Meyer’s personal journey of research. Readers discover not only these five men, bu the worlds they lived in and the places their descendants inhabit. Meyer explores how their stories were forgotten and how they were, in essence, consumed by
the long shadow of John Brown. Meyer includes another story as well, that of Haywood Shepherd, a free black man who had the great misfortune to be caught in the crossfire of the Brown raid. baggage handler and porter at the Harpers Ferry railroad station, Shepherd most likely was killed by one of the raiders when he either raised an alarm or simply walked into their path. Like the raiders, he left behind a family
outsider, including his comrades in the 54th Massachusetts. Pinckney’s largely unsuccessful experience throughout the war, during which he never obtained the honor he sought through service but which in fact ended ingloriously, did not hinder him from becoming a stout advocate of the Lost Cause in his later years. In many ways, Pinckney’s and Barquet’s lives create a back-and-forth dialogue that brings the nation from the foundations of the Civil War through Reconstruction. It is then that the irony of Barquet’s life b comes apparent: had he chosen to remain in his home state of South Carolina, he perhaps could have pursued the political opportunities that Illinois denied him in t decades following the war. While Pinckney committed himself to living in the new post-Civil War South in which he found himself, he eventually moved to the epicenter of the Lost Cause—Virginia—and became immersed in the literature. Bellows’ acknowledgment of this has the unfortunate effect of undermining the basis of her dual biography—that friendly meeting
who mourned him. Meyer takes the stories of these men beyond their deaths, into the period of remembrance and commemoration after the Civil War. The lone survivor struggled to have his voice heard, publishing an account of the raid in 1861, but dying a pauper in 1872. Founded in Harpers Ferry after the war, Storer College, West Virginia’s first institution of higher learning for African Americans, helped to keep the legacy of the five raiders alive for almost a century, but the college’s financial collapse in th early 1960s extinguished another light of remembrance. Ironically, Shepherd was erroneously portrayed as a
of equals on Coffin Island in 1864. Given Pinckney’s devotion to the Lost Cause, his description of the meeting, while still remarkable, becomes suspect. That the book does not consider this is a looming flaw. In addition to this flaw in arg ment, Bellows sometimes runs into the risk that befalls many bi ographers and speculates on inner thoughts or feelings with no real evidence, especially Barquet’s perception of the meeting on Coffin Island, for which there is no record. However, despite these issues, the book is overall a very enjoyable read. Readers may not come away impressed with any real significance of thei meeting, but the book’s value lies in providing concrete examples of how identities and ideologies played out in the lives of two vastly different men.
Kelly Mielke resides in Charleston S.C. Her Civil War interests resid chiefly in social, cultural and po litical aspects of the Confederacy especially the use of print cultur in the formation of Confederate identity. She has written reviews for several historical publication
“faithful slave” and became a hero to “Lost Cause” partisans, who erected a monument to him at Harpers Ferry. In an era filled with controversy over monuments and memorials, Meyer’s thoughtful and well-written book, aimed at a general audience, will help students of the war dive deeper into the story of the raid and its repe cussions. By including the details of the raiders’ descendants, Meyers demonstrates that the story of John Brown’s revolutionaries is not an isolated incident, but part of the connective tissue of the American experience.
Tracy J. Revels is Professor of History at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.
or programs & workshops ing Historians since 1990
as White Christian America Our Country: Northern Evangelicals and the Union during the Civil War Era. By Grant R. Brodrecht. Notes, index, 278 pp., 2018. Fordham
The phrase “Christ America” likely engenders associations with the culture wars and religious right of the 1980s However, as historian Grant Brodrecht demonstrates, during the Civil War and Reconstruction most evangelical Northerners championed Republican policies and affirmed their belief that the Union must be preserved at all costs in order to sustain an further their goal of a Christia nation. Brodrecht approaches his topi through the sermons and writings of preachers. Well-known figures such as George Cheever, Gilbert Haven, Henry Boardman and George Peck dominate the account with lesser ministerial lights filling in the gaps. While it ca argued that clerical commentary reflects the predominan views of the laity as much as shepherds shape the opinions of their flocks, Brodrecht gives careful attention to gradations of Republican support among more politically conservative, moderate and radical clergy, especially regarding their stanc against slavery and for racial equality. For example, Haven consistently worked to obliterat all distinctions based on caste, but during Reconstruction many evangelicals forgot about or neglected freedmen and instead turned their rhetoric and energi into unifying the nation around a white Christian culture. The book’s focus on presidential
politics—at times Lincol Johnson and Grant all fit the bil providential instruments chosen to carry out the evangelical agenda—similarly bends the narrative toward a history of elites. Although evangelicals typicall favored Republicans, Brodrecht’s account would benefit from acknowledging evangelical backing of Democrats. He categorizes Boardman as representative of “the moderate to conservative portion of the Republican spectrum,” but in September 1864 the Presbyterian cleric congratulated George McClellan on his nomination for president and expressed hope that God would allow him to win election. Three months later Boardman’s letter of consolation underscored that the general’s defeat was a national tragedy. Including evangelical Democrats most certainly would modify yet enrich the analysis. The thesis that Northern evangelicals cloaked the Union in sacred garb fits nicely with Gary Gallagher’s assertion that unionism remained a constant motivation for Northerners and was never eclipsed ideologically by emancipation (The Union War, 2011). By tracing how evangelical pastors equated the Union with Christian America in their sermons, letters, and editorials, Brodrecht essentially offers theme and variation on works ranging from James Moorhead’s analysis of clergymen who saw the United States as essential to furthering millennial conditions (American Apocalypse, 1978), to my own work that highlighted how the Northern laity’s patriotism politicized the church (A Visitation of God, 2011). Nuances aside, these studies all undersco how evangelicals of the Civil War era viewed the American nation as indispensible to God’s working out his providential designs in the world. Perhaps Brodrecht’s greatest contribution lies in enlarging th story to include Reconstruction, a period characterized by historical neglect of evangelicals. His point that evangelicals contribut ed to its failure rings true in t sense that many denominational leaders prioritized white unity over black inclusion. However, the American Missionar Association and various denominational freedmen’s aid societies which are largely absent from these pages, continued to work in educating and evangelizing
African Americans long after mainstream popular opinion embraced a reconciliationist rathe than emancipationist memory of the war. Highlighting national politics and those preachers who sought audiences with presidents—with expectations that they would carry out evangelical policies—raises questions about how, why and when men and women on the front lines in the South gave up the fight. To be sure, evangelicals, Northerners, Southerners—practically a generalized category of people —either failed to live up to the nation’s lofty founding ideals or actively undermined African American equality as citizens. Yet without the efforts of numer ous Northern evangelicals during the war and Reconstruction, freedmen and women would have been substantially worse off. With over eighty pages of notes that highlight Brodrecht’s masterful command of the secondary literature, Our Country makes a welcome contribution to the growing literature on religi during the Civil War era.
A specialist in Civil War era re gion, Sean A. Scott teaches U.S. History at the Indiana Academy in Muncie. He recently completed a research fellowship at the Methodist Archives at Drew University.
Excellent History of the Remarkable Individuals Who and Restored This Iconic St September Mourn: The Dunker Church of Antietam Battlefield. By Alann D. Sc and Terry W. Barkley. Maps, photos, footnotes, appendix dex, bibliography, 156 pp.,
Anyone familiar with the Maryland Campaign and the battle of Antietam has seen heard about the whitewashed brick building on the west of the Hagerstown Pike just of the Visitor Center. Buil pacifist Anabaptists, known the German Baptist Brethren
stands as a monument to peace on what became one of the United States’ bloodiest fields. September Mourn is an excellent history of the remarkable individuals who built and restored this iconic structure. But it is much more. Besides serving as a thorough description of the Brethren and their various sects, the book succinctly describes the German influence in the settlement of western Maryland. This book filled in many of the gaps in my own knowledge of Sharpsburg and Washington County, Maryland. I discovered that individuals, whom I had been told were Brethren, were not; that the majority of the Germans in the area were Reformed or Lutheran; that the Brethren allowed other churches to conduct funerals from the church; and that the African American who returned the Bible to the church in the early 1900’s was one of the Brethen. I had never known that the Brethren were integrated at that time. They genuinely practiced their belief that all men were equal in the sight of God. While the book has a chapter devoted to the church’s role during the battle, in its last par it details the seemingly insurmountable struggle to rebuild and preserve the building for future generations. That was a separate battle and is the part of the stor I had known so very little about. Had it not been for dedicated individuals like Paige and Betty Otto, the Washington County Historical Society, dedicated National Park Service historians such as Superintendent Harry Doust, and countless others, the church foundation would still be all that remained of the building. cannot say enough about how the hard working staff at Antietam are constantly maintaining and improving the battlefield. I am honored to serve as a guid there. That love and devotion resonate throughout Schmidt’s and Barkley’s very important contribution to the Brethren, the Dunker Church and the battlefield.
Among his other works Mike Priest, of Clear Spring, Md., is t author of Antietam: The Soldiers’ Battle (1989).
An Underwhelming Argument Creat General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War. By Frank P. Varney. Images, maps, 312 pp., 2018.
Frank Varney’s book General Grant and the Rewriting of Hist is an attempt to critically exa how the most influential milita leader during the American Civi War, Ulysses S. Grant, affected the contemporary reputation of lesser known general, William S Rosecrans. Varney also explores how Grant’s characterization re egated Rosecrans to the ash hea of history. Varney’s approach i much different from most of the recent books on Grant. Instead of focusing on the development of Grant as a general or politician, General Grant and the Rewriting of History concentrat on Grant’s character, and tries
a National Cemetery make the argument that he was a manipulative, deceitful and self-aggrandizing person. Varney poses thought-provoking questions about Grant’s motives as a leader. He presents arguments that challenge the accepted view of Grant and the validity of his personal memoirs. In each chapter, Varney lays out the basic negative interpretations of Rosecrans’ record, arguing that Grant’s incorrect assessments of Rosecrans fueled those interpretations. Varney attempts to show how Rosecrans has been treated unfairly by historians because of Grant’s assertions. Perhaps the most interesting claim that Varney makes is that Grant intentionally falsified the historic record in order to hurt Rosecrans’ reputation and to bolster his own. Although Varney raises interesting questions, he fails to provide convincing answers. On the surface, his explanations for Rosecrans’ demise appear to be sound, but when they are checked against the record, it becomes evident that Varney tends to misquote Grant, and he takes evidence out of context to reinforce his argument. Just one example is his handling of the battl of Corinth. He argues that Grant intentionally manipulated the historical record with shifting state ments about Rosecrans’ conduct during the battle. Varney cites th supposed inconsistencies found within Grant’s original report on the battle and what he later wrote in his personal memoirs. Varney claims that Grant was only “mildly critical” of Rosecrans in his battle report. He includes a portion of Grant’s report to prove th claim, but an examination of the report in The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant and The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion reveals that Varney omits a significant portion of the quote withou noting it in his book. The part he leaves out drastically affects his argument because it includes Grant’s statement that he had giv en clear orders that Rosecrans di not follow. In the next paragraph Varney continues to quote Grant in an attempt to show that Grant praised Rosecrans after the battl but he fails to alert the reader the nature of the document (he also provides an incorrect citation in this section), which is important because he is quoting from a fairly typical general ord by a commanding general that praised every person involved in the victory. Finally, Varney quotes Grant’s memoirs, in which he was critical of Rosecrans’ actions, to show that Grant intentionally changed his views to dis grace Rosecrans. This argument is invalidated by Varney’s mischaracterization of Grant’s original assertions about Rosecrans’ conduct during the battle. The author’s failure to properly contextualize the varying documents used does not lend credibility to the overall argument and leaves his interpretations on shaky ground. This, in conjunction with numerous citation errors found throughout the book and an inability to show why Grant would be so vindictive in the first pla makes it difficult for Varney to mount a convincing argument. Although one may question Varney’s approach, he does raise an important point about how Rosecrans and his contribution to the war have faded. Even John Y. Simon, a pioneer in the documentary editing field and a renowned Grant historian, praised Varney for making this point (although Simon was apparently commenting on the dissertation the book based on and not the final product). While Varney rightly brings attention to Rosecrans’ forgotten achievements, his reliance on questionable interpretations to explain the general’s faded fame provides an underwhelming argument.
Louie P. Gallo is Publications Editor at the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and Association, headquartered at Mississippi State University.
Where Valor Proudly Sleeps: A History of Fredericksburg National Cemetery, 1866–1933. By Donald C. Pfanz. Maps, photos, index, 253 pp., 2018, Southern Illinois University
On a hillside overlooking Fredericksburg, Va., resides a national cemetery with the same name. Interred within the walls are the graves of 15,257 Union soldiers, with fewer than 2,500 of those identified. Visitors pas through the gates of the cemetery and can stroll the rows of graves glance at the various statues tha dot the premises, and marvel at the sacrifice the American Civil War took, just in this smal geographic area. Questions lingered however. How did the solders’ remains arrive at this bucolic hillside? How did this become the location of a national cemetery? Of the soldiers’ remains that are identi fied, who did the identification? Retired National Park Service historian Donald C. Pfanz has now dug into those questions and uncovered the answers. In the second volume of the Engaging Civil War Series, published by Southern Illinois Press in conjunction with “Emerging Civil War,” enthusiasts and readers now have the answers at their fingertips. This is truly the fir in-depth account of the creation of Fredericksburg Nationa Cemetery and fills that void for the avid student of the American Civil War. In a sweeping narrative, Pfanz provides a complete synopsis of the creation of the national cemetery, from the painstaking approaches by the early United States Army teams that scoured the battlefields of the region, t the more systematic approach that followed. Pfanz moves into the creation of the national
Phillip S. Greenwalt is a full-ti contributor to “Emerging Civil War” and co-founder of “Emerging Revolutionary War.” He is the co-author of four books, three on the American Civil War and one on the American Revolutionary War. He is currently working on a publication about Valley Forge fo the “Emerging Revolutionary War” series. Phillip currently resides Florida where he is actively researching that state’s role in th Confederacy and the contributions of Florida soldiers.
