Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home by Matthew Pinsker

Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home
by Matthew Pinsker

This is an unusual book about the American Civil War. Unlike most which show focus on a specific individual, unit or campaign this looks at a location and how interactions around it shaped the wider war. This is the Soldiers' Home a collection of buildings originally created to house disabled veterans of American conflicts on the outskirts of Washington DC. In the summers Abraham Lincoln and his family lived there in the evenings to get out of the heat of the White House.

Buried in the back of the book is the information that this was essentially a work for hire job to promote the building which recently received historical site status. If I had known that I would've been a bit more leery about purchasing it. The biggest problem is there often isn't any context. For instance much is made of Lincoln meeting with visitors who just showed up unannounced. The question is how unusual was this compared to the behavior at the White House? We are never really told.

The narrative is pretty much linear covering each of the summers that they stayed there. The major decisions that were made and dealing with any primary sources that talk about meetings or appointments that took place at the home.

Pinsker goes to great pains pointing out that different and unusual sources are being used to use as documentation. However frequently after analyzing them for a page or two they are discarded as being unreliable. This seemed to be more like padding than anything else.

Perhaps the most interesting piece of information is Lincoln's view of his personal safety. How he had to be encouraged to have a cavalry unit stationed with him. As well as the friendship he had with some of the officers from the unit.

Mildly recommended for the novelty value.

Grant and Lee: A Study in Personality and Generalship by J. F. C. Fuller

Grant and Lee: A Study in Personality and Generalship by J. F. C. Fuller was part of the great reassessment of U. S.Grant The book is a joint biography of Grant and Lee describing their abilities and faults. There's an outline of the war in general to put things into context. It's hard to review something like this. So much of what's here is now part of the accepted narrative of the conflict. There are a few novel ideas. The discussion on tactics and logistics for instance.

Recommended.

Medical Histories of Confederate Generals by Jack D. Welsh

Medical Histories of Confederate Generals by Jack D. Welsh a fascinating encyclopedia like look at medical techniques and ailments experienced by the men who became Confederate generals in the American civil War. Entries span their lives from birth through death. Some are more detailed than others. Some of the most interesting were those I'd never heard of Stonewall Jackson was not the only hypochondriac for instance. There's no attempt to discuss whether their ailments affected their military judgment. There's a glossary of terms as well as citations to sources.

Recommended.

Kenneth M. Stampp, Dies at 96

Kenneth M. Stampp, Civil War Historian, Dies at 96

Abraham Lincoln books

New York Times has a piece that's on James M. McPherson's battlefield trips and on upcoming books for Lincoln's birth bicentennial. I'll be doing some adding to my wish list.

Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by McPherson
Lincoln: President-Elect by Harold Holzer looks like a massive work [600 pages]. Very interested to see what he has to say about the time between the election and first inauguration.

Wild Life of the Army: Civil War Letters of James A. Garfield edited by Friedricks Williams

Wild Life of the Army: Civil War Letters of James A. Garfield edited by Friedricks Williams. This is a selection of correspondence from the future president of the United States from the outbreak of the Civil War through 1863. Unfortunately it's not as interesting as you might think.

Garfield sat as one of the judges at the court-martial of Fitz John Porter. He also was Rosecrans chief of staff in the Chickamauga campaign. He spends most of his time writing about his health [he suffered from frequent bouts of diarrhea], the failure of people back home writing to him and his own political career. The military operations are dealt with quickly and as the editor frequently notes inaccurately.

Not recommended!

The Peninsula Campaign of 1862: Yorktown to the Seven Days: vol. 2 edited by William J. Miller

The Peninsula Campaign of 1862: Yorktown to the Seven Days: vol. 2 edited by William J. Miller is the second in a three volume series of essays on this campaign of the Civil War. I've reviewed the first volume previously. There are six essays. Topics include Confederate artillery, Union logistics, the behavior of Union Quartermaster General M. C. Meigs and extracts from the diary of a Confederate staff officer. There isn't really an overarching theme.

Unlike in the first volume the essays in this one do take advantage of modern secondary sources but there is still quite a bit of original archival research. There are footnotes instead of endnotes. They provide extra information not just citations. Perhaps a little more specialized than what I'm used to but still well worth it. The Civil War is one of those conflicts that I know I should do more in-depth study on.

Recommended!

Sherman's March: The First Full-Length Narrative of General William T. Sherman's Devastating March through Georgia and the Carolinas by Burke Davis

Sherman's March: The First Full-Length Narrative of General William T. Sherman's Devastating March through Georgia and the Carolinas by Burke Davis. Through the use of primary sources the author creates a book length study of this important campaign in the fall of the Confederacy. For the most part this is quite good at describing the methods and consequences of the scorched earth policy Sherman employed.

The book is mostly about the destruction visited upon the property of individuals by Sherman's army. The material is pretty balanced. There are accounts of both Union soldiers acting badly and protecting confederates. Some of the material from the Southern perspective was written after the fact. Much of it does sound like it's very similar. Southern women staring down the cowardly northerners.

Sherman is somewhat of an enigma. Publicly he disavowed the more destructive actions of his forces while seemingly turning a blind eye. He also had views on slavery which were much closer to the Southerners then the Northern politicians that he served throughout the war. This led to the surrender controversy which is also covered.

One irritation that I have that is common to many books on this topic is the argument that what Sherman did was "modern war". If anything this was a throwback to colonial warfare or ancient warfare. The Athenians who had their farms destroyed by the Spartans presumably reacted in much the same way the Georgians did. I have some more comments on this which I may write up in a separate post at some point.

Recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

Civil War Command And Strategy: The Process Of Victory And Defeat by Archer Jones

Civil War Command And Strategy: The Process Of Victory And Defeat by Archer Jones is an attempt to analyze the strategy of the American Civil War. Jones breaks up the narrative of the war into several thematic sections. This strikes me as being a little simplistic but it does make the task of analysis easier.

The commanders of both the Union and Confederate forces were indebted to Napoleon for much of their strategic thought. Particularly the idea of turning the opposition out of an advantageous position. Much is also made of interior lines and concentration.

The one minor annoyance I have is that Jones will occasionally state something as fact without providing the evidence for the assumption. For example much is made of the myth of pursuit but it's never really explained why this is a myth.

The book contains a further reading section as well as diagrams of both civil war as well as other illuminating battles from the 19th century.

Recommended.

The Peninsula Campaign of 1862 : Yorktown to the Seven Days Volume 1 edited by William J. Miller

The Peninsula Campaign of 1862 : Yorktown to the Seven Days Volume 1 edited by William J. Miller is the first volume in a three volume series containing essays about this campaign. Essays include the discussion of Lee's relations with Jefferson Davis, a Pennsylvania unit history, manpower shortages in the Confederacy, Stewart's circling of the Union Army and extracts from a diary of an Union soldier from Boston. There's also a 30 page chronology of the campaign including references to whether conditions. The chronology also includes citations to relevant documents in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion just in case you have the 128 volumes on your coffee table. The essays are quite good. There are various maps and illustrations which highlight the text. Much of the research is based on primary sources. One strange thing is that when secondary sources are used they where usually published prior to 1950 which seems strange considering this was written/published in the early 1990s.

Recommended I'll be looking for the other volumes in the series.

Is available through Abebooks.

Gettysburg 1863:High Tide of the Confederacy by Carl Smith

Gettysburg 1863:High Tide of the Confederacy by Carl Smith is an expanded Osprey publication for this pivotal battle of the American Civil War. This book is 128 pages which is larger than most Osprey titles. It contains all the usual information including the superb summary of the battle, the units involved and their uniforms. There's also extensive order of battle information as well as a further reading section. The book concludes with a discussion of wargaming the battle and visiting the battlefield today. The 3-D battle plans, artwork and photographs are all here.

Smith seems to be trying hard not to blame anyone for the Southern failure. Lee is criticized but this is tempered by pointing out that he did not have proper intelligence about the Northern forces.

Highly recommended for those looking for a superb introduction as well as an excellent summary for the expert.

Is available through Abebooks.

The Blessed Place of Freedom: Europeans in Civil War America by Dean B. Mahin

The Blessed Place of Freedom: Europeans in Civil War America by Dean B. Mahin describes the participation of immigrants in the Civil War.

The book is divided into two sections. The first section describes the numbers and reasons for members of different European ethnicities to join the Army's of the north and south.

The second section provides commentary created by immigrants or foreign observers discussing various parts of the Civil War. Some of these are based around discussions of the military campaigns Gettysburg, Vicksburg and the Naval engagements. There's also a discussion of the political aspect of the war foreign recognition of the South and the issue of slavery. The author has obviously spent quite a bit of time in the archives. An impressive piece of scholarship.

There are a few minor irritations. In the first section we get repeated reasons for enlistment which had nothing necessarily to do with individuals being a particular ethnicity for instance signing up for a sense of adventure or for the money. This gets rather repetitive. There's no context given in the second section if the opinions given by the immigrants or onlookers were different from your average nativeborn American.

There are 2 appendixes which contain short biographies of foreign-born officers in the Union and Confederate military s.

Highly recommended. A different way of looking at the Civil War.

Is available through Abebooks.

Chancellorsville and Gettysburg by Abner Doubleday

Chancellorsville and Gettysburg by Abner Doubleday describes in a rather short book the two above-named campaigns.Doubleday who is perhaps best known as the suppose it creator of baseball [probably not as central as is usually claimed] does a ok job. The editor notes in the introduction that there are various errors and therefore the book is perhaps only useful as showing the arguments and recriminations in the Union command after the war.

If the editor had intcluded footnotes explaining the mistakes book would-be more useful.

Recommended only if you must have everything written on either of these battles.

Is available through Abebooks.

Campaigning with Grant by Horace Porter

Campaigning with Grant by Horace Porter is considered to be one of the more important primary sources for General Grant's command style.

The book describes Porter's membership in Grant's staff in a closing stages of the Civil War. Specifically when the army of Potomac was attacking Lee and pushing South until the final surrender at Appomattox. Most secondary sources use anecdotes from this book. If you've read any Civil War history you've probably run into some of the material from this book. Not only is the book useful as a source but the writing style is much superior to many Victorian writers. There isn't as much flowery gibberish added on.

Excellent book.

Chancellorsville Lee's Greatest Battle by Edward J. Stackpole

Chancellorsville Lee's Greatest Battle by Edward J. Stackpole originally published in 1958 this work is considered to be a classic of Civil War history. An often lively account of the Chancellorsville campaign. It does not disappoint. The author describes the movements of the various forces in this battle which was one of the more confusing of the Civil War. Also puts forward a reason for why fighting Joe Hooker didn't at Chancellorsville.

Of particular interest is that the author obviously visited the battlefield and throughout the text mentions examples of how it is changed in the intervening 90 years since the battle. The underbrush which was such an important factor in the battles fought around this area actually expanded its hold on the land in the intervening time. Which considering the march of progress is rather surprising.

Unfortunately the work only occasionally mentions the sources from which it cites. There is no endnotes and only a partial bibliography. All that being said it is a excellent read. A welcome anecdote to the occasionally dry military history that in my education I have to inflict upon myself.