Reviewed by Joseph Truglio
One of the most common discussions amongst Civil War buffs is: “What is the more important battle, Vicksburg or Gettysburg?” Emerging Civil War/Savas Beatie has published two books on this issue, one for each event. I have not read the Gettysburg book but did read the Vicksburg book.
The format is the anthology type, with approximately twenty authors giving their opinions on the various stages of the battle. The Tullahoma campaign is thrown in for good measure. Many essays are short; however, this does not detract from the history nor the results. This is not a battle history but rather the opinions of noted historians as to the battle’s results. One need not read the essays in order, but it is recommended to do so to maintain continuity,
I found this book full of valuable information on the battle and also valued the opinions of authors I admire and respect. Virtually all the essays are taken from ECW podcasts and this book allows those who have no access to podcasts the opportunity to learn of the events in written form. One need not agree with the opinions of the authors but can form more informed opinions themselves. This is a format that I whole heartedly enjoy.
What is best about this format is that is well suited for the novice student of the War. This is a valuable tool for beginning students. It seems that this is also the forte of ECW in reaching out to new scholars of Civil War history.
The price is affordable for virtually all readers, and it will make a great gift for an “emerging” student. My only complaint, and it is not really a complaint, is that there should have been a bit more on the important happenings at Tullahoma. None the less I came away fully satisfied. I look forward to reading the Gettysburg book to see if it changes my mindset.
In passing, I’m in agreement with this set of authors that Vicksburg is the more important event. However, that is just this reader’s opinion. Get yourself a copy and let me know what you think!
Joseph Truglio, of Manchester, N.J., is a retired Motion Picture Technician who has a life long interest in the Civil War. He is currently President of the Phil Kearny CWRT in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.
The Record of Murders and Outrages: Racial Violence and Truth at the Dawn of Reconstruction. By William A. Blair. 4 tables, notes, index, 173 pp., 2021. The University of North Carolina Press. https://uncpress.org. $95 (Hardback), $19.95 (Paperback).
Reviewed by Salvatore Cilella
The title of William Blair’s latest book, neither pithy nor nuanced, pretty much sums up his theses. As the blurb on the book’s cover explains, “Blair uses the accounts of far-flung Freedmen’s Bureau agents to ask questions about the early days of Reconstruction, which are surprisingly resonant with the present day: How do you prove something happened in a highly partisan atmosphere where the credibility of information is constantly challenged? And what form should that information take to be considered as fact?”
Well beyond a thoughtful reconsideration of Reconstruction, Blair’s book is an example of the use and misuse of primary documents both by contemporaries and 19th and 20th Century American historians. Blair has packed several narratives, conclusions, and new information in a small format of only 173 pages. Working with an exceptionally diligent research team, which he gratefully acknowledges, Blair has shed a harsh new light on the post-war-period-south.
Blair’s work has involved a long journey. Many years prior, doing research in the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia, he stumbled on a microfilm reel pertaining to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman, and Abandoned Lands—the Freedman’s Bureau. The title page of one reel stopped him cold in his tracks—“Records Relating to Murders and Outrages.” The inclusion of material so shockingly direct from a government agency became in his words, “central” to understanding Reconstruction. He realized that amid all the intense rhetoric of that period, here was a documentation of actual events on the ground by eye-witnesses attempting to accurately report what they saw.
The “Murders and Outrages” are stunning. As Blair points out, the Freedman’s Bureau findings and reports to President Johnson, who downplayed them; General Grant who responded to them positively; and of course the Radical Republicans who accepted them, and Democrats who labeled them alarmist, were the first unvarnished, data driven facts concerning violence in the post war South. Johnson and the Democrats looked at the South as totally reconstructed, blacks and whites living in harmony with minor outbreaks of “political” or “cultural” violence, certainly nothing to do with racism.
The arguments used in the late 19th Century for the existence of the Klan, for example, sound remarkably modern. Democrats denied its existence, much like cosa nostra mobsters of today. Southern newspapers called the idea of a bunch of horse riders wearing white sheets as “youthful pranks” or a “humbug” (89). Southern leaders, former Confederates, averred in official memoranda from their positions of authority, that there was “nothing to see here” (95).
One such individual, newly minted Georgia congressman, Nelson Tift, attempted to influence the House Committee on Reconstruction by conducting a poll he gathered from civic authorities. In 1869, he asked his survey respondents if they thought blacks were mistreated, if the present civil government was sufficient to maintain law and order, and if military oversight should be reinstated. Unsurprisingly, the poll showed all was well in Dixie (94-5).
Tift’s “survey” proved unsuccessful. It was the Freedman’s Bureau that provided the more reliable answers and all was not well. The Bureau’s reporting convinced congress that reinstitution of military control was necessary. Ironically, Tift’s work was picked up by late 19th to the middle of the 20th century historians (well into the 1960’s) as evidence that atrocities committed in the name of law and order during Reconstruction could be largely ignored taking the white man’s word over the freed man (96). The difference was that the Bureau recorded names, places, and violent acts whereas before its existence rumor and hearsay ruled the day. Hence, Blair’s subtitle…”the fight over truth.”
Blair helpfully provides four tables, each of which provides greater clarity and definition. Table 1, “Types of Murders and Outrages by state, 1865-1868;” Table 2, “Victims and assailants, 1865-1868;” Table 3, “White Voting in selected States, 1867- 1868;” and Table 4, “Homicides in Texas, 1865-1868.” The author devotes a chapter to “The Problem of Texas” and his epilogue to the subject of lynching. The latter narrates the tortuous federal path to stop lynching, an action not taken until 2020. Texas proved exceptionally disturbing for law-and-order organizations because it’s sprawling geography, transient population, and lack of the necessary resources to prosecute “evil-doers.” As Phil Sheridan so famously proclaimed, “If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live at the other place” (106).
“Murders and Outrages” is an important addition to the growing new scholarship concerning post-Civil War America and Reconstruction. Its addition is a lesson in the use of primary materials, or their misuse. Blair makes good and common sense out of them. “Murders” also underscores the very real need to make history relevant. Many “outrages” enumerated in this powerful book could come from the pages of today’s news sources.
Salvatore Cilella is the retired CEO of the Atlanta History Center. He is the author of Upton’s Regulars, (Univ. of Kansas Press, 2009) and editor of The Selected Correspondence of General Emory Upton, 2 Volumes. (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2017). The latter is the recipient of the 2019 Founder’s Award, American Civil War Museum. He has edited “Till Death do us Part,” the love letters of Emory and Emily Upton documenting their brief and tragic two-year marriage (University of Oklahoma Press, 2020).
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Patterson’s Independent Company of Engineers and Mechanics 1861–1865. By Charles H. Bogart. Photographs, maps, annexes, index, extracts of letters (in lieu of footnotes) and bibliography. 150 pp. Yellow Sparks Press, Frankfort, Kentucky. yellowparkspress@gmail.com. 2020. Softbound. $12.98.
Reviewed by Richard J. Blumberg
Some smaller units that initially appear insignificant became well known for their major contributions to the War effort. Paterson’s Independent Company of Engineers/Mechanics is one of those. Charles Bogart gives a compelling biographical description of the challenges Patterson’s unit encountered and their triumphs over what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles.
Very few works covering the Civil War focus on contributions of the Engineer Corps. An even smaller number provide a good link between combat and logistical operations. Mr. Bogart’s work does both. Being a former Planner, Operations Officer, and Trainer for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management makes him well qualified to conduct the research needed for this tome.
Also known as the “Kentucky Pioneer Infantry,” the unit was mustered into service in September 1861 and served until January 1865. Their assignments involved building, improving or repairing sites and facilities during the Cumberland, Vicksburg, and Red River campaigns. Captain Patterson and his unit served the three major Union Armies of
the Western Theater: The Army of the Ohio, The Army of the Cumberland, and The Army of the Tennessee.
The soldiers of this company performed their services in four different states: Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. These services included: 1) building or repairing roads; 2) building or repairing bridges and railroads; 3) fortifying sites to be used in battle; and 4) building or repairing a location’s infrastructure to support battlefield operations. It also included other activities and duties required to get units from one point to a geographically different point.
Although it was probably difficult to write, Bogart’s prose is easy to read and understand. Rather than using footnotes, he provides extracts of actual communication between Union commanders and Patterson’s Engineers. Battlefield maps and photographs help make the story of each adventure come to life. Bogart also provides the human side of Patterson’s story, which included mistakes he made and the lessons he and his unit learned.
Bogart effectively links his analysis between an action and its associated consequences. Flooded bayous without proper bridges made moving soldiers and equipment to the battlefield, impossible. Improving or building roads to various bivouac sites enabled units to move quickly and in an organized manner.
Patterson’s Independent Company of Engineers and Mechanics 1861–1865 is an excellent work and is especially recommended for those whose interest is in various engineering endeavors. Bogart effectively bridges the gap that shows how important support related operations are to the success on the battlefield. The $12.98 price tag makes this book a real bargain. Excellent research, a detailed bibliography, and numerous annexes and photographic images make it a book that should be on everyone’s reading list.
Richard has reviewed books for Civil War News for over twenty years. Three of his articles have been published in various issues of Civil War News.
A Powerful Framework for Understanding
the Civil War as a Crisis of Civilization
Rites of Retaliation: Civilization, Soldiers, and Campaigns in the Americans Civil War. By Lorien Foote. Photos, maps, notes, index, 312 pp., 2021. University of North Carolina Press, www.uncpress.org. $22.95.
Reviewed by Jonathan A. Noyalas
A century after the Civil War’s opening shots in Charleston, South Carolina, Pulitzer-winning historian Bruce Catton appeared frustrated by the attempts of some historians to demonize the actions of one side at the expense of the other. In the introduction Catton penned for William Webb’s Crucial Moments of the Civil War (Bonanza Books, 1961), Catton stated that “meanness and folly and ordinary wrong-headedness, were divided” among both United States and Confederate forces throughout the conflict. While historians have written much about the savagery perpetrated by both sides, scholars have, in the estimation of historian Lorien Foote, the Patricia & Bookman Peters Professor of History at Texas A&M University, missed an opportunity to analyze those inhumane behaviors to comprehend how “Americans in the Civil War era” fought to “maintain their essential identity as a civilized people” in the midst of a bloody struggle for “republicanism and nationhood.”
Central to Foote’s deeply researched and deftly written study is an examination of retaliation rituals in the Department of the South, the area that embraced South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Throughout this study Foote does an impeccable job of differentiating revenge, a quick knee-jerk reaction to events without much thought, from retaliation. While historians oftentimes use these two terms interchangeably, Foote lucidly argues that retaliation served as an important mechanism to maintain “the identity of Americans as civilized people.” Engaging in a retaliation ritual involved communication between representatives of both sides, thoughtful reflection on international law and historical precedent, debates about how to make the response proportional, discussion among leadership about how best to implement a retaliatory measure, gauging the public’s potential response to the action, forecasting prospective consequences, and thinking about how future generations would judge the decision.
The dilemma that Foote lucidly argues plagued the retaliation ritual was how each side determined who belonged to civilized society and was therefore subject to its rules and protections? In the estimation of Confederate officials, as Foote rightly asserts, black troops who donned United States uniforms were not part of civilization, but rather savages engaged in a most uncivilized act of servile insurrection. While the Confederacy never recognized formerly enslaved people as legitimate combatants, Foote investigates how the retaliation ritual in which United States officials engaged to alter the way Confederate authorities viewed US Colored Troops yielded a modicum of progress. Confederate officials ultimately recognized black soldiers who were born free as equal to white Union troops and thus when captured were subject to the same treatment. However, as the author notes, transformation in policy did not always translate to a battle’s aftermath. Murder and mistreatment of black soldiers in the Union’s service continued through the conflict’s end, including the uncivilized actions of Confederate surgeons who performed unnecessary amputations on black Union soldiers wounded and captured at Olustee.
Beyond the author’s detailed examination of retaliation rituals and their limits, Foote illustrates how subordinates’ refusals to carry out vengeful directives from superiors also served as a mechanism to maintain civilized behavior. For example, when Federal General John Foster ordered a substantial reduction in the rations for 600 Confederate prisoners of war in response to the horrid conditions endured by Union prisoners in South Carolina, Colonel Philip Brown, the commander of the 157th New
York Infantry, decided not to carry it out. A devout Christian, Brown believed that withholding one of life’s basic necessities from this contingent of Confederate officers brought to Morris Island in early September 1864 as a response to the Confederacy’s use of Union prisoners of war as human shields in Charleston, clashed with Christ’s teachings.
In the end, as much as both sides hoped to maintain the idea that Americans could remain civilized in the midst of the Civil War, Foote clearly explains that while retaliation rituals at times “worked,” they “also failed.” Sometimes they miscarried because the desire to achieve victory, as in the case of the Union bombardment of Charleston, outweighed all else. On other occasions, retaliation rituals failed because, as in the case of the treatment of black Union soldiers, Confederates could not satiate their desire to re-enslave “Black Union soldiers” or murder “them on the battlefield.”
While those interested in the Department of the South will find Foote’s marvelous study essential, this volume’s appeal extends beyond the book’s geographic constraints. Foote’s valuable study, destined to be branded a classic, provides an important framework for understanding how armies and the soldiers who comprised them implemented and reacted to vengeful and retaliatory policies.
Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute in Winchester, Virginia, a professor in Civil War Era Studies at Shenandoah University, and founding editor of Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era. He is the author or editor of fourteen books. Noyalas’ latest book, Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era, was published by the University Press of Florida.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada— January 21-23. Due to COVID, this long running show was not held in 2021. It is back and in living color, lots of energy and well represented with dealers and collectors, both local and nationwide. Covid restrictions kept most Europeans from attending, but about 750 tables and booths were mapped in the program with about 500 individuals and businesses listed.
The show was very active and, as always, high value articles exchanged hands.
Almost every firearms auction house had displays showing their upcoming sales. There is no lack of antique guns in the market with millions of dollars’ worth being sold this year. Any kind of antique Colt, Winchester, Remington, ornate European arms, or Civil War item can be found in the upcoming spring auctions. My favorite weapons have always been Confederate revolvers and three auction companies displayed 10 examples, Amoskeag, Poulin, and Rock Island.
There were a few scattered Civil War items for sale amongst all the Colts and other antique arms. There was only one Civil War dealer here selling all Civil War material, Mickey Kiser of War Room Relics, who drove all the way from Kingsport, Tenn. One dealer normally associated with Civil War materials like Brendan Synnamon, proprietor of Union Drummer Boy in Gettysburg, had five tables of 20th century guns that were selling well. He had just bought big collection and said he picked a good venue as sales were good. Another Civil War dealer Brian Akins, proprietor of Rebel Relics, brought a display of American Indian artifacts and a collection of Confederate cutlasses.
Congratulations to Cheryl Goyda who did a fantastic job as the new show chair after DMA purchase the show. Next year’s show is scheduled for Jan. 20-22, 2021.