CIVIL WAR Book Reviews Civil War News book reviews provide our readers with ti analysis of the latest and most significant Civil War re
The War that Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher. Edited by Caroline E. Janney, Peter S. Carmichael, Aaron Sheehan-Dean. Introduction, footnotes, index, 269 pp, 2024, University
The War that Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher is a labor of love by three scholars who were mentored by the noted civil war scholar. Dr. Gallagher’s contribution to Civil War histo scholarship and historiography are legendary, and essays 68 Civil War News Magazine | Nov.-Dec. 2024
in his honor, to add to his many honors, are more than appropriate. The introduction starts out with an overview of his caree scholarship, and publications. The editors were all mentore by Dr. Gallagher, and it is obvious from their comments tha besides being a distinguished scholar, he is an all-around good guy. The volume is divided into three sections: Nations at War, Intersections of War, Constructing the Past, and an Epilogue: Taking the Shape of the War. The authors of the essays are all noted Civil War scholars with distinguished publications. Nations at War consists of three essays. Of particular no are the essays entitled Protecting Their Interest: Native American Governance in the Confederacy and Apples and Oranges and Hardtack: On the Use of Comparison in Civil War History. Regarding Protecting Their Interest who knew that there were Native American delegates to the Confederate Congress? With regards to Apples and Oranges and Hardtack the author sums it up nicely when he states: “Comparative history ….will never replace standard historical investigation. But it can illuminate the way we understand the US Civil War.” The third essay is entitled The Confederacy’s Use of Nationalism and Vice Versa. Intersections at War consists of three essays. The subjec consist of “Robert E. Lee as an Engineer, Soldier and Modernizer,” the trial of the guerrilla John W. McCue after Appomattox, and Robert W. Smalls’ land distribution in Port Royal, South Carolina, before and after the Civil War. Constructing the Past consists of three essays. The subjects consists of “Erasing Violence from the Civil War Record,” Jubal Early’s consolidation of history following the Civil War, and “White Northern Veteran Writers and their Narratives of the Civil War. The War that Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher contains nothing but well-written, scholarly, noteworthy and interesting essays. There is something for every Civil War scholar and buff in
the volume. It is a fitting tribute to Dr. Gallagher and highly recommended.
CAPT Joe Derie is a longtime Civil War buff with a special interest in Civil War naval history and the Civi War in the West. He is a retired USCG officer and a licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, currently self-employed as a marine surveyor and marine accident investigator in Portland, OR.
The Army Under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era. By Cecily N. Zander. Photos, notes index, 256 pp., 2024. Louisiana State University Press,
As a teenage boy Robert Milroy dreamed about studying at West Point and having a lifelong career in the regula army. Unfortunately for Milroy, who rose to the rank of major general in the volunteer army during the Civil War, his father, Samuel, opposed his son’s ambitions. He prohibited Robert from attending West Point as he thought a professional army had no rightful place in a republic. The “unconquerable prejudices” Milroy’s father harbored toward the regular army were not unusual. Despi historians’ awareness that distrust against professional trained officers and a national standing army existed in decades before, during, and after the Civil War no study prior to this one has delved as thoroughly into trying t understand why antimilitarism existed during one of the most tumultuous periods in the nation’s history. Throughout this elegantly written, prodigiously
researched, and cogently crafted volume, Zander, a professor at Texas Women’s University and a rising star in the field, explores why a portion of Americans harbored distrust of a professional army. Despite the important work the regular army performed from the early 1850s through Reconstruction, Zander bluntly asserts that the “army was not loved.” The book’s central question is why? The author convincingly argues that antimilitarism accelerated in the United States during the 1850s as members of the newly established Republican Party viewed the regular army as an instrument to aid in slavery’ expansion and enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. Among the moments Zander explores to bolster this assertion is the intervention of regular troops in the spri of 1854 to return Anthony Burns, an enslaved man who fled to Boston, Massachusetts, to his Virginia enslaver. With the Civil War’s outbreak in the spring of 1861 Zande demonstrates that doubt as to whether professional soldiers could be trusted to fight and defeat the Confederacy ran rampant among Republicans. This uncertainty, the author argues, prompted Republicans throughout the conflict to incessantly diminish the deeds of regulars and praise the work of the citizen soldiers who comprised the lion’s share of the Union army. For instance, Zander highlights Senator Zachariah Chandler’s campaign to condemn the efforts of professional soldiers in the victory at Fort Donelson and emphasize the role that volunteers played in this significa early victory. Chandler’s was, as Zander notes, a curious claim considering that three West Point graduates, Generals Ulysses S. Grant, James B. McPherson, and Charles F. Smith, played crucial roles. While Zander persuasively posits that antimilitarism among Republicans stemmed from the party’s efforts to destroy slavery, the author also notes that not all Republi were in lockstep throughout the war. For example, when President Abraham Lincoln called for an expansion of the regular army by eight infantry regiments and one each of artillery and cavalry in the spring of 1861, Lincoln confronted opposition from within the party. Opposition from members of his own party was of course something Lincoln contended with throughout his presidency. As much as Republicans might have detested the regular army, this thoughtful volume reveals its importance to implementing Reconstruction policies. With all volunteer soldiers mustered out of service by the autumn of 1867, the regular army proved the only mechanism to ensure that Republican policies could be implemented and the rights of Black people protected. Zander’s keen analysis not only reveals the inner turmoil Republicans felt as they attempte to balance their distrust of the regular army with their recognition of its value in conducting their programs it al brings clarity as to why Reconstruction failed, a question with which historians have grappled for decades. In the end, Zander posits that Republicans’ distrust of profession soldiers and desire to save money ended Reconstruction four years earlier than historians traditionally claim. Thi assertion, like all good history does, will certainly spark debate among scholars. There is no denying, however, that Zander’s argument is a convincing one. In the book’s acknowledgments Zander offers “an apology Civil War News Magazine | Nov.-Dec. 2024
for bringing yet another book about the American Civil War era into this world.” While the number of books published annually continues at an astounding pace only a small portion each year are worthy of note. This is such a book. Zander certainly does not need to apologize for bringing such an impeccably researched, thoughtfully crafted, and groundbreaking volume into the world.
Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah U niversity ’ s M c C ormick C ivil W ar I nstitute 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 sixteen books including most recently “The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah,” published by Savas Beatie.
Fantastic Biography of ANV’s Greatest Cavalryman J. E. B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man. By Edward G. Longacre. Photos, maps, footnotes, bibliography,
Above all else, J. E. B. (Jeb) Stuart loved being a sold from his entry into West Point in 1850 until his 1864 deat at Yellow Tavern. In Stuart’s case, it is difficult to sep the soldier from the man. Even in his many flirtations wit the weaker sex, a proclivity which often led to criticism, did not stray far from his love for the military. Jeb appo many of the more attractive of his feminine admirers to honorary positions on his staff. Edward G. Longacre has done a magnificent job of providing a portrait of Stuart a both a soldier and a man. 70 Civil War News Magazine | Nov.-Dec. 2024
Longacre studied hundreds of primary and secondary sources to present a picture of both Jeb’s military caree elements of his personal character. Stuart’s early biogra tended toward hero-worship, omitting most negative aspects of his personality. For these, the author relied mainly on contemporary letters that were not influenced by posthumous idolatry. Vainglorious, ambitious, overly sensitive to criticism, Stuart had his share of human foi As a cavalry commander, Jeb had no peer in the Eastern Confederacy. He excelled at intelligence gathering but at times, especially during the Gettysburg campaign, he fail miserably. As a combat commander, he could hold his own with anyone. From his Regular Army battle experience against the Cheyenne, to taking command of Stonewall Jackson’s Corps after Jackson’s wounding, he showed himself to be expert in controlling all service branches, cavalry, artillery, and infantry. There are even some who believe he should have been retained in command of Jackson’s Corps after Jackson’s death. Stuart shone when on a raid behind enemy lines, finding Federal flanks and weak points, dispensing destruction on enemy supply depots, and capturing wagon trains. Yet, eve here, he sometimes let his penchant for raiding, and the publicity it garnered, get away with him. Edward Longacre is an authority on cavalry operations in the East, and it shows in this volume. Among other books he has written are the award winning The Cavalry at Gettysburg and an account of the First Battle of Bull Run The Early Morning of War. I enjoyed this work immensely and recommend it to all with an interest in the Civil War Those with a special attraction for Confederate horsemen during the war will find this book indispensable. Robert L. Durham, retired from the Defense Logistics Agency, is a freelance writer who has written articles and reviews for numerous historical publications. A lifelong history buff, he recently went back to college for his history degree. Noyalas’s Newest Book Reveals Shenandoah’s Similarities to the Rest of the South Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era by Jonathan A. Noyalas. Maps, photos, notes, index, 250 pp., 2021. University Press of Florida,
In the past decade, Jonathan Noyalas, the Director of t McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University, has established himself among the foremost authorities on one of the Civil War’s most contested geographic area. Historians have long characterized the Shenandoah Valley as a region distinct in many ways from much of the Confederate South, aligned with Thomas Jefferson’s vision
