The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War

Customer Reviews:

Sex Ed 1861.......2005-10-08

Written by a medical doctor and historian, "Sex In The Civil War" shows that our prudish Victorian ancestors really weren't so uptight after all...in fact, some things haven't changed that much. Sometimes hilarious and always informative, Dr. Lowry covers everything from bathroom invective to antebellum birth control using research gleaned from period medical texts, diaries, military records and of course the soldiers' letters home. An entertaining and educational look at the birds and the bees in the nineteenth century.

99% of the time .......2005-07-26

It has said that ninety-nine percent of a soldiers' life is taken up with camp duties, training, mass movements, red tape, make-work and, if he is clever, leave.
As the the majority of books on military history deal with battles and the personal lives of commanders, readers seldom get an accurate picture about the experience of the troopers who must bear the burden of war on (often) anonymous shoulders. War does seem to bring out the best and worst in human behavior, and perhaps in historians as well as fighters. How can an author spend years discovering what a general did on a single occasion and not explore the daily hopes and fears of the common men and women in the field?
In each chapter, Lowry details a different aspect of life for the men in uniform and the women who loved them. Some parts are noteworthy as they detail problems which had no titles at the time (the Rev. James C. Richmond,in 1863, was pestering a goverment clerk named Rosa Bielaski in an unremitting manner we now call "stalking"). Each section cover human folly briskly, with a dry wit and even some sympathy.
For a good time, read this book.

A Must for Civil War Researchers.......2002-11-20

I've read many books on the Civil War, but this is one of the best. Lowry does an incredible job digging up the seamy side of the war and presenting it in unflinching fashion. Yet at the same time, he views this stuff with a detached and nonjudgmental eye, and with gentle humor as well. Lowry often picks up where Bell Irvin Wiley left off in his wonderful "Life of Johnny Reb" and "Life of Billy Yank." Where Wiley tiptoed away from certain subjects (he was writing in the '40s, after all), giving the reader only a titillating tidbit followed by a footnote telling us we could find the information at some faraway library, Lowry seems to have gone and looked up that information for us, and presented it in all its glory. A notable example of this is the poem about collecting urine in the South for making gunpowder. Wiley only told us the poem existed; but Lowry prints it, and it's a howler! If you want to go on believing that all the Civil War soldiers were pure as the driven snow, this is probably not the book for you. But if you like your history fascinating warts and all, buy this book!

The more things change, the more they stay the same........2002-10-09

I must admit that I found this book to be an interesting read, for it covers another one of those rare American Civil War topics which has not been covered a million and a half times over. (It's the only book of its kind in my rather extensive Civil War library.) The reason for this could possibly be that the mental image of Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd doing "the deed" is not an especially attractive one. As Dr. Lowry points out in his introduction, there has been an almost total lack of research done on the sexual attitudes and experiences of the average Civil War soldier. Though he makes a very valiant attempt, Lowry does not entirely succeed in covering the topic thoroughly. Perhaps the doctor's complaint of censorship by well-meaning relatives leaving little evidence for researchers to uncover is the reason that I was, after finishing the book, left with the feeling that I had gotten only a brief glimpse of the sexual side of the men who fought in the sectional conflict of 1861-1865. Therefore, while a good start, this book is certainly not the diffinative work on the subject. Still, I was confirmed in my impression that like today, sex, while perhaps not always openly discussed in polite society, has always been very much on everyone's mind throughout our entire human history. Hence the title for my review.

Valid insights.......2002-09-14

Lowrey serves up a meme for the cross-cultural diffusion that the Civil War initiated. The mid-nineteenth century mores, typically but wrongly labeled Victorian were indeed a clash of frottage and frontier fleshiness. The sexualt landscape changed as much as the topography Hotchkiss mapped for Stonewall as the West pushed west. The crinloines dropped, rustling to the floor like a immigrant Irish washlady bent over a tub of hot soapy lye--slippery, warm and bubbly, yet acrid and stinging in the afternmath. In the post Emancipation glow, and before sufffarage, were things all tht different? One thinks not, yet ones gaze lingers longingly on the tattos, pierced navel and tongue of a sophmore Honors Lit. student and wonders what 1865 had wrought. Excuse me, I'll be right back.

Average customer rating:

The prof can tell a good story...
Loved it...
We Die Free
Appallingly bad and historically inaccurate
it was their war, too...

Where I'm Bound: A Novel
Allen B Ballard
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684870312

Book Description

Where I'm Bound, a stunning and engaging Civil War novel, is the first work of fiction to focus solely on the soldiers of an African-American regiment. Throughout the war, more than 180,000 African-American men fought for the Union Army. Many were escaped slaves, others were freed men; yet all voluntarily enlisted for one cause: freedom. For the first time in fiction, their experiences are successfully portrayed in a manner befitting the grandeur and scope of their contributions. Inspired by the true story of a black cavalry unit in Mississippi, renowned African-American historian Allen Ballard weaves factual events with the fictional account of an escaped slave, Joe Duckett, who flees to join the Northern Army.

When Duckett escapes his life of bondage to become a cavalry scout, he grows to be more than a free man -- he becomes a hero. Duckett and his hard-riding regiment roam the Mississippi Delta, freeing slaves and keeping vital waterways open for the Union. As the war approaches its final, tragic days, Duckett embarks on his most dangerous mission yet: to return to the plantation from which he escaped in order to reunite with his wife and daughter.

More than just an account of the Civil War, Where I'm Bound is an affecting portrayal of the psychological effects of war. Through the character Duckett, some of war's greatest tragedies are painfully evoked -- the agonizing separation from family, the horrendous mission of having to kill another man, and the cruelty and moral corruption that occur when men's passions are their greatest weapons against one another. This story of one man's ability to meet such overwhelming challenges brings to life the noble fight for freedom as displayed by African-American soldiers as well as the effects of that fight on an entire country and culture.

Dr. Ballard's first work of fiction is a striking blend of historical fact and dramatic storytelling brilliantly illustrating the accomplishments of African-American Civil War soldiers. Where I'm Bound is destined to become a classic novel of the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

The prof can tell a good story..........2001-05-22

Allen Ballard knows how to tell a good story. His characters come alive as we accompany them through the tragic events in 1864-1865 western Mississippi. Both white and black characters come across as real people, and I was sorry to leave them when the book was all-too-soon finished.

Loved it..........2001-05-13

My Book Group read this book last month and thought it was terrific. The book did an excellent job describing what life in the south was like (for both soldiers and civilians - particularly the women) during the Civil War. It was an interesting read and it really made us "feel" life at that time. I had to put down the book a couple times as I got so emotionally involved with the characters and their lives. I'd strongly recommend this to historical fiction buffs. I don't think it is a book only for folks interested in black history - I would recommend it to all. I am very impressed that this is the first novel this author has written and I'll keep my eyes out for more by him.

We Die Free.......2001-03-26

"Where I'm Bound", is a work of historically-based fiction by Mr. Allen B. Ballard documenting the 180,000 African American Men who fought for the Union Army during this Nation's Civil War. Like the "Buffalo Soldiers" who served this Country in its Western Frontier, the 1,000 commissioned officers in World War I, the 370,000 "Doughboys" of World War I, or the Tuskegee Airman of World War II fighter pilot fame, these men and women fought and died for ideas and beliefs for which they have never been fully rewarded.

Rewarded may be the wrong word, perhaps recognition was all they sought. The tragedy of what they sought was something that their white counterparts took for granted, or in some cases took away from them. These African-American Soldiers were in some instances freedmen, in other, slaves who had escaped and then joined the Union Army to march directly back and fight those who enslaved them. They fought to reunite their families, they fought for what they were told would be waiting for them if the Union won, they fought for what the white men they fought and died with had enjoyed under the words, "we hold these truths to be self evident". The truths were self evident if you were white, male, and owned property. If you did not meet these criteria the words were as meaningless then as they are today.

Mr. Ballard recreates the horror of hand-to-hand fighting that was often a part of any given battle in this Country's Civil War. His story is fiction, however it is based upon real individuals that lived and fought, and the battles they fought and gave their lives in. His story contains all that was insidious in this war, however he also brings balance by depicting events that this reader did not expect to have actually happened. The events resolved themselves as one would hope they would, and that was why they were surprising to read, and an even greater surprise to read they are historically accurate.

Those who believed he was their savior refer to President Abraham Lincoln repeatedly in this book. They believed he was going to make them citizens a century after they had been excluded from the populace unless counted as property. What would they have felt, and how would they have fought if they knew this same President, "did not believe blacks and whites could live together"?

There were 180,000 black soldiers in the Union Army. How many African Americans do you see when the reenactments of some of the battles take place? How many paintings by those who chronicle that period of History celebrate the blood that was shed that was as red as any, but valued less because of its source?

If there were a vantage point from which those who have died can see what has resulted from their sacrifice, what changes would they see and what it is they died for, how would they feel? Their decision to fight and in their moment of death they may have indeed been free. But did their deaths bring the freedom they thought they were dying for? The answer is pathetic, as any cursory review of the century following the end of the Civil War will show.

This is an important book that I hope will cause the writing of many more. History is only as worthwhile as it is complete and accurate. African Americans, Native Americans, and other minorities have fought and died for the freedom we all enjoy. Because of books like this History becomes more valuable, for if you were to judge the contributions of African Americans by the number of monuments that have been raised to honor them, you would think they were barely present, much less a powerful positive element in the history of this Country.

Appallingly bad and historically inaccurate.......2001-02-13

Considering that this book is fiction, one might be able to ignore the many historical inaccuracies. Ballard rakes up every atrocity tale, every story of white abuse of African Americans, ever told. Some, like the massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow, have some historical veracity. Some, like myths of slaves being randomly shot by Confederate cavalry, have no foundation in any historical document I have ever seen.

But even if one ignores these things, one still has the stiff, unsympathetic, unrealistic characters and the boring, monosyllabic writing style to contend with.

Someone really should write a good book on the African American experience during the American Civil War. Where I'm Bound, sadly, is not that book.

it was their war, too..........2000-12-29

i have been having good luck picking good black books lately, and "where i'm bound," continues my hot streak. the protagonist, joe duckett, is a runaway slave in mississippi, who joins the union army and becomes a trusted soldier and war hero; we also get to see two views of of blacks fighting in the war: one, from the yankee side and two, from the confederate side. what i loved about this story was that mr. ballard not only throughly reasearched his subject, but he told his story in a way that even a newcomer to u.s. civil war history could easily digest. the battle scenes are picturesque; you can see the blue and gray troops on the field charging at each other, the madness and blood flowing in the name of war. i loved the way mr. ballard penned his characters: all of them were multi-faceted and human and were just as much a part of the story as joe. kenworthy, the confederate captain, was the most interesting character because ballard showed through him what war does to a man's mind. kenworthy beacme so caught up in killing, that the line between right and wrong became blurred. captain stiles, the union soldier, valued his black troops and showed his admiration for their feats in battle. i loved ballard's use of quotes from black gospel songs: they seemed to forecast to the reader what was going to happen next. joe was an easy character to like; he seemed larger than life, but his slight drinking problem and knack for mischief made him human, thus believeable. my only complain about the book was that several of the likeable characters: zenobia, pauline, etc die. i know ballard wanted this story to reflect reality, but i was so engrossed in their lives, i wanted them to overcome their adversities and succeed. but this book gets a five star rating. ballard has written a wonderful "thank you" to black men and women who fought in one of the bloodiest wars in u.s. history and also strove to prove themselves worthy to be called americans.

I Fought With Custer: The Story of Sergeant Windolph, Last Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn

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A valuable account of the Custer tragedy
A memorable account of the Custer fight
Interesting Read

I Fought With Custer: The Story of Sergeant Windolph, Last Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn
Charles Windolph , Frazier Hunt , and Robert Hunt
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0803297203

Book Description

Sergeant Charles Windolph was the last white survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn when he described it nearly seventy years later. A six-year veteran of the Seventh Cavalry, Windolph fought in Benteen’s troop on that fatal Sunday and recalls in vivid detail the battle that wiped out Custer’s command. Equally vivid is the evidence marshaled by Frazier and Robert Hunt on events leading up to the battle and on the investigation that followed.

Customer Reviews:

A valuable account of the Custer tragedy.......2003-11-29

It is difficult to really rate a work like this. This is the story of Charles Windolph, the last survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in his own, simple words. Windolph told his story to a father and son historian team in the 1930s and 40s. Windolph's distinction as last survivor is a bit misleading--he was the last man who was present at the battle to die, but his title as last survivor does not mean he was with Custer's column of troops. He wasn't. In fact, he was under Benteen, and was one of many who survived the battle because they weren't as heavily engaged in it as Custer.
Windolph presents an interesting perspective on the battle, and seems relatively objective. He does tend to romanticize a little, but for the most part he refrains from throwing blame on Custer, Reno, Benteen, or anyone else (though he does state up front that he is partial to Benteen). His story is not all that unique when compared to other primary accounts of the battle, but it is nevertheless valuable as the testimony of a survivor of that horrible tragedy.
Included with Windolph's narrative are a number of primary documents, cobbled together in chapters and laced throughout with author's commentary. This is all right, but it would have been better to present these documents in their entirety, with only enough commentary (perhaps in the form of footnotes) to give the reader an idea of the background surrounding the documents. Still, the Hunts have done a relatively good job of remaining objective as well, something that is rare in a Custer historian. This is perhaps not the best account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but it is nevertheless an important one.

A memorable account of the Custer fight.......2000-03-23

As a Custer buff, this book has been on my shelf for a long time. A great book to read, one that fleshes out a lot of the daily life in the Seventh as well as the battle along Greasy Grass. Right up there with "Son of Morning Star" and Walter Camp's book on the subject. Check 'em out, you won't be disappointed.

Interesting Read.......1997-12-13

This book is compiled from the found writings of a sergeant of the Seventh Cavalry who survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The first hand accounts of men like Sergeant Windolph and Theodore Goldin are very valuable and interesting reading. They were not men defending their performance as were the officers like Benteen, Reno, and Godfrey. They had their biases but didn't have to grind axes. This account is worthwhile reading for students of the Seventh Cavalry and the Little Big Horn campaign.

The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders

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Charley Hart was mistreated in Lawrence........
The Civil War wasn't just in the East
The Bloody Conflict in Kansas-Missouri
Classic Study on Guerrilla War In the US
Great Insight on why Kansas and Missouri were enemies

The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders
Edward E. Leslie
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 030680865X

Amazon.com

William Clarke Quantrill was quite possibly the most dangerous man to fight in the Civil War. The leader of an almost psychopathic band of guerrilla warriors, Quantrill participated as a Confederate in a deadly border war between Southern sympathizers in Missouri and the Unionist Jayhawks of Kansas. He was largely responsible for the 1863 massacre of nearly 200 unresisting men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as dozens of other brutal acts that today would be called terrorism. Among the notorious men who rode with him were Frank and Jesse James, whose postwar crime careers are briefly reviewed. Edward E. Leslie provides an objective treatment of his controversial subject, and readers will appreciate his ability to tell a good story--including the one about why Quantrill's bones currently rest in three different states and why a forensically correct wax reconstruction of his head can be found in the refrigerator of an Ohio historical society. --John J. Miller

Book Description

This is the first modern biography of the most famous--and infamous--soldier, rogue, raider, and terrorist to emerge from the Civil War. The Devil Knows How to Ride is based on memoirs, letters, diaries, and newspapers--all of which the author has skillfully converted in a biography that is almost sure to provoke controversy among Civil War historians and buffs alike. of photos.

Customer Reviews:

Charley Hart was mistreated in Lawrence...............2007-09-09

....and Colonel William Clarke Quantrill called in the debt. He sure as hell did. Hart was an assumed name that Quantrill used as a young man when he went west from Ohio seeking fame and fortune, or at least a living. Problem was, he landed right in the middle of the "Bleeding Kansas" mess that was especially hot along the Missouri-Kansas border. Quantrill worked as a teacher, and is said to have been a good one, but trouble was brewing...Charles Jennison and his Jayhawkers, John Brown and his murders of innocent whites....more than enough motivation for a young man to follow the South when war came.

Missouri was even more deeply divided than the rest of the country; it really was brother against brother. The Confederate commander in Missouri was Major General Sterling Price, a fine and decent man, but not our best General. Initially, Quantrill served in the regular Confederate Army, but gradually broke away, with a band of followers, to form The Missouri Partisan Rangers, forerunner of the modern Special Forces, complete with proper Confederate commissions. At first, they played by regular rules...taking prisoners, giving paroles, etc. But when Jim Lane wantonly burned Osceola, and murdered civilians, the black flag came out...

Quantrill's followers are the stuff of Legend...Captain Bloody Bill Anderson...Captain George Todd, who eventually supplanted Quantrill [I am married to a direct descendent of Captain Todd; our son will gladly tell you about it]...Archie Clement...Bill Gregg...Cole Younger...Frank James...Jesse James. Some died in the cause; others went on to fame after the war.

Quantrill's Raiders lived off the countryside, and made things hot for the Yankees wherever they went. They even fought, and won, regular battles, like Baxter Springs. Finally, the Yankees imprisoned female relatives of the Raiders in a structurally unsafe jail in Kansas City...when it collapsed, five innocent girls, including Bill Anderson's sister and Cole Younger's cousin died...enough was enough, the bill was due, and Lawrence paid. When Ewing issued his infamous Order #11, clearing northwest Missouri of Southern civilians, resolve hardened.

Eventually, Todd and Anderson were killed, and the war ended. Quantrill was mortally wounded in Kentucky in 1865. Or was he? He was seen alive as late as 1915...the ultimate legendary status...seen alive after death, joining such company as Jesse James [seen as late as 1951], Houdini, Elvis, and JFK. His skull was used as a prop in a college fraternity initiation for years; he finally received a military funeral, and Christian burial, in 1992. Surviving Raiders held reunions from 1898 till 1929; interestingly, there were two black Raiders at the reunions, though no one knows much about them.

This is a well researched account of a little known aspect of our Civil War. "Quantrill's War" by Duane Schultz is more academic, but this is more readable...both get five stars.

The Civil War wasn't just in the East.......2005-04-04

I went to KU in Lawrence so I was well aware of Quantrill's raid but that was about all that I was aware of. (Pioneer Cemetery with headstone inscriptions bearing witness to that raid is just across I70 from KU on Mount Oread.) When studying the American Civil War in school one learns about Gettysburg, Antietam, Petersburg and the fighting in the Shenandoah of Virginia. Some passing mention might be made of the war in the west, usually a reference to Grant and Vicksburg. There is hardly if ever any mention of the 'border war' in eastern Kansas and western Missouri. The border war is still alive in that part of the nation; the massacre at Baxter Springs and General Order Number 11 that emptied a number of counties of citizens in western Missouri to combat bands of guerillas is still in the memory of many. Not all of the fighting was in the east and Edward Leslie does a fine job of bringing to life a bit of the war in the west. It was as nasty if not nastier than anything in the east.

The Bloody Conflict in Kansas-Missouri.......2004-11-06

With nealy 620,000 combat deaths, the American Civil War has proven the single bloodiest conflict ever engaged in by U.S. forces. Names like Antietam, Gettysburg, and Appomattox still make many Americans cringe with thoughts of bullets, sabres, and grape shot tearing through ranks of steadily marching countrymen.

However, there was another smaller, beastly war occuring along the contested boarder region between Missouri and Kansas. Rarely was there a conflict between the massive armies of the C.S.A. and U.S.A. Rather it was a war of attrition waged by roving bands of maruaders who were less interested in ideology and more concerned with loot and plunder. Indeed, along the border raged a savage guerrilla war.

With the State of Kansas predomintly in support of the Federal Union, and the Missourians leaning towards Jeff Davis' Confederate States, the border was a tinderbox, and sparks were everywhere. Incidents of violence were common, and reprisal raids were bloody.

Leslie provides an excellent and informative book regarding not only the Missouri-Kansas border war, but one of the principal guerrila chieftains, William Clarke Quantrill. Q's band of raiders, which included such infamous names as Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, and the notorious "Bloody" Bill Anderson waged a war with few if any rules. Prisoners were executed with out remorse, cities and towns were burned to the ground, and civilians attempting the least resistance were gunned down, usually with one pistol ball to the head. Rather than being a rarity, Q's band was one of many roaming the countyside. The Unionists also maintained their guerrila fighters under the name of Jayhawkers who were equally ruthless as Quantrill; the difference being they were partial to the execution of Southern sympathizers.

Leslie follows the story of Q and the Kansas-Missouri war from its inception to its conclusion. He keeps his observations objective and provides a clear picture of both the C.S.A. and the U.S.A. His work is well researched and readable, and certainly leads readers to discover more about this unique, although bloody Americans.

Classic Study on Guerrilla War In the US.......2004-10-27

This is a classic study in depth study into the mind of the 19th century guerrilla in the War Between the States. To understand counterinsugency of today or to understand the reasons insurgents fight, you must delve into their world.

Great Insight on why Kansas and Missouri were enemies.......2003-03-25

Great Book
This is an excellently researched book about the pre-Civil War era along the Missouri and Kansas border and why their conflicts escalated into a all out war between them during the Civil War.
This book is well balanced and not a bunch of hyped up exaggerated stories about a notorious outlaw. Excellent read for any student or history buff desiring to better understand the turmoil and terror the local communities and people endured and suffered on both sides of the civil war.

The Civil War in Arizona: The Story of the California Volunteers, 1861-1865

Average customer rating:

Good Book, Seldom covered subject
Southwest Book of the Year
Remarkable!
Fills a void
Civil War in Arizona - who knew?

The Civil War in Arizona: The Story of the California Volunteers, 1861-1865
Andrew Edward Masich
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0806137479

Book Description

In this first book-length account of the Civil War in Arizona, Andrew E. Masich chronicles the all-but-forgotten story of the California Column, volunteer soldiers who served in the U.S. Army from 1861 to 1866 and played a key role in creating and shaping Arizona Territory.

The Civil War in Arizona is divided into two parts: a lively narrative history of the California Column in wartime Arizona, followed by a rare compilation of letters--originally published in the popular newspaper Alta California--written by the volunteer soldiers themselves. Enriched by Masich's meticulous annotation, these letters provide firsthand testimony of the grueling desert conditions the soldiers endured as they fought on many fronts, not the least of which was an uncaring army command structure preoccupied with war in the East.

Customer Reviews:

Good Book, Seldom covered subject.......2007-09-11

Unlike other civil war books, this one covers the soldiers from California that occupied Arizona and New Mexico. Not a lot of civil war action but more dealing with the desert and the Indians. It's not a page turner, but what civil war book is. But when your done with the book you know more then you did before. A civil war book with a different slant.

Southwest Book of the Year.......2007-03-18

I just learned that the Border Regional Library Association (includes Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and Sonora) has awarded Civil War in Arizona Southwest Book of the Year honors--and deservedly so! This book makes a real contribution to the study of the Civil War in the Western Territories.

Remarkable!.......2007-02-26

For Civil War buffs and scholars, for all those who love Western History, this book will make for compelling reading. Andrew E. Masich, president and CEO of Pittsburgh's Senator John Heinz History Center and former director of museums in Colorado and Arizona, serves up a riveting story of how the California Column marched across Arizona and New Mexico to not only defeat Confederates and Apaches but also to carve out an American community in the deserts of the great Southwest. In Masich's definitive account, readers will feel the sting of sand and the hot breath of desert winds as the California Column fights its way to victory. The depth of Masich's research is truly extraordinary, and his use of soldiers letters home published in the San Franciso Daily Alta California adds remarkable dimension to the story. Masich carefully annotates the soldiers letters and allows the reader to relive the events as they happened. This is one of those truly unique books that belong on the shelf of every student of the Civil War and the American West.

Fills a void.......2007-02-12

This is a strong examination of the role California Volunteers played in the development of Arizona as a territory. While weak in examining some operations, Masich still provides good coverage of a neglected theater of operations and helps set the stage for operations that followed.

Civil War in Arizona - who knew?.......2006-06-06

Who knew that Abraham Lincoln carved Arizona out of New Mexico Territory as a war-time expedient following a Confederate invasion bent on securing gold fields, Pacific ports, and a Mexican alliance? The Civil War in Arizona offers fascinating insights into one on the least understood theaters of the Civil War--including desert campaigning against Confederates, Apaches, and even Maximilian's French-backed forces south of the Mexican border.

The author follows the California Column into Arizona and recounts the westernmost skirmishes of the war--all the way to the bloody banks of the Colorado River, just north of Ft Yuma. But the real impact of the war turns out to be the tragic decimation of the tribes deemed "hostile" by the US government and the settling of the territory by the volunteer soldiers.

Reenactors and collectors will love the photos (more than 50), including some rare and never-before-seen views of California Volunteers in Arizona! Another bonus is the "Dispatches from Arizona" section: letters from soldiers in the field to newspapers in California. The reader re-lives the war in the far West as experienced by the men themselves.

This book really plugged a big gap in my understanding of the Civil War in the western territories.

Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade (American Civil War Classics)

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Classic primary source
Personal and Military experiences of a private soldier.

Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade (American Civil War Classics)
John O. Casler
Manufacturer: University of South Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1570035954

Book Description

From his looting of farmhouses during the Gettysburg campaign and robbing of fallen Union soldiers as opportunity allowed to his five arrests for infractions of military discipline and numerous unapproved leaves, John O. Casler's actions during the Civil War made him as much a rogue as a Rebel. Though he was no model soldier, his forthright confessions of his service years in the Army of Northern Virginia stand among the most sought after and cited accounts by a Confederate soldier. First published in 1893 and significantly revised and expanded in 1906, Casler's Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade recounts the truths of camp life, marches, and combat. Moreover, Casler's recollections provide an unapologetic view of the effects of the harsh life in Stonewall's ranks on an average foot soldier and his fellows.

A native of Gainesboro, Virginia, with an inherent wanderlust and thirst for adventure, Casler enlisted in June 1861 in what became Company A, 33rd Virginia Infantry, and participated in major campaigns throughout the conflict, including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Captured in February 1865, he spent the final months of the war as a prisoner at Fort McHenry, Maryland. His postwar narrative recalls the realities of warfare for the private soldier, the moral ambiguities of thievery and survival at the front, and the deliberate cruelties of capture and imprisonment with the vivid detail, straightforward candor, and irreverent flair for storytelling that have earned Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade its place in the first rank of primary literature of the Confederacy.

This edition features a new introduction by Robert K. Krick chronicling Casler's origins and his careers after the war as a writer and organizer of Confederate veterans groups.

Customer Reviews:

Classic primary source.......2001-03-06

Casler's memoir is a mandatory source for anyone studying the war in the East. Many of the familiar Stonewall Brigade and Valley Campaign anecdotes quoted in secondary sources are found here. Casler spent part of the war detailed as a pioneer, and his description of the work he did, including burying bodies, is interesting. He gives quite a few details on the Valley Campaign, Gettysburg and Spotsylvania. From August 1864, unfortunately, he was unable to march and was not with his company, which in any case was virtually wiped out. He was a prisoner in Fort McHenry toward the end of the war and gives an interesting description of being very badly treated until the Confederate government threatened retaliation, upon which conditions improved. I found it interesting how much time Casler spent *not* with his company, sometimes detailed elsewhere, sometimes apparently AWOL, sometimes participating in presumably non-authorized raids on the Federals with a couple of friends. This shows how little real control the CSA (the USA was probably much the same) had over its individual soldiers, a deficiency which surely did not do them, as the outnumbered side, any good.

Personal and Military experiences of a private soldier........1998-12-24

Although Casler wrote from memory late in life, his text has remarkably few errors of fact. His experiences are truly given without pretense or disguise, and are refreshingly human.

I have read literally hundreds of personal accounts and diaries written by Confederate soldiers, and I rate " Four Years In The Stonewall Brigade " in my personal top five.

This is a must read for anyone who wishes to experience the feel of life in the Confederate army, and to understand how service extracted its price for devotion to the southern belief in states rights.

Casler is whimsical always, and downright hilarious at times.

His devotion to the southern cause was unwavering, literally to the last as he was dubbed " The Last Of The Mohicans " by a Captain in his regiment. This because during the 1864 campaign, Casler was at one time, the only officer or private to be on active duty from his company.

His use of " French Leave " on numerous occasions, I found personally surprising, but as written by Casler became perfectly understandable.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Book Description

The Carolina Rebels of Company K, Holcombe Legion, were true sons of the Upstate. Brothers, cousins, and neighbors- all were well-suited for service in the independent brigade commanded by Ol’Shanks (Brig. Gen. Nathan Evans). The “boys” of Company K wore out many a set of boots “tramping” with the Legion wherever the regiment was needed- Charleston, Richmond, Malvern Hill, Rappahannock Station, Manassas Junction, Kinston, Wilmington, Jackson, Savannah and Petersburg.

One member of Co. K tells the story of his adventures with the legion, his capture at Stony Creek, his dramatic escape from the infamous Union prison in Elmira, New York, and his harrowing trek back to Virginia through the mountains of Pennsylvania and Maryland, helped along the way by copperheads, Dunkards and Dutch.

Customer Reviews:

Grandpa Scrugg's Civil War Stories.......2007-02-02

I enjoyed reading Grandpa Scruggs' account of his experiences in Company K, Holcombe Legion of South Carolinians fighting for their state's freedom from the tyranny of the Union. The format of night time stories told by Grandpa Scruggs to his grandchildren kept a dramatic tension in the book that helped keep me reading. We learn about the courage and commitment of Judd and other soldiers to their cause. We learn of the hardships, boredom,and horror of life as a foot soldier. The ways captured soldiers were treated changed as the war progressed. Judd experienced both ways. Because of the personal focus of this book, we also learn how the war caught up extended families and effected them. We also get glimpses of life back at home while the men were at war. I highly recommend Eugene Scruggs' book.

Surviving Elmira.......2007-02-01

Eugene Scruggs has made a valuable contribution to the history of the War Between the States with his account of the exploits of his great grandfather, Judson Puryear Scruggs, as an enlisted man in the Holcombe Legion, South Carolina Volunteers. To be sure, Scrugg's book is another in the "Johnny Reb and Billy Yank" tradition of oral history accounts from the point of view of the ordinary foot soldier. However, it is given context by a body of historical research, and a truly insightful introduction to some of this conflict's enduring themes. For many readers, the most interesting parts of the narrative will be those about life under horrible conditions in the POW camp at Elmira, NY, Judson's resourceful escape therefrom, and his traverse through enemy territory to Virginia.
In my opinion, however, as an avid student of the conflict rather than a professional historian, Scrugg's finest achievement was in his reconstruction of Judson's narrative within a quasi-fictional framework, in which he recreates not only the voice of his great-grandfather, but also that of the grandchildren who are auditors of the story. This teachnique not only creates a sense of immediacy in the flow of the narrative, but instills a kind of novelistic suspense which makes it enjoyable for the reader. This approach also permits Scruggs to render narrative as a truly "oral history," in that he has recreated the language of the period --- the regional dialect of 19th century Southerner. His handling of the artistic problem of the use of "eye dialect," moreover, is deftly handled: instead of generating pages of mangled orthography, Scruggs includes only occasional phonetic spellings, opting instead for the dialectal phrase, the idiom, and the speech rhythmns of his people. Professional historians may take issue with Scrugg's decision to treat his material in this way; other readers may enjoy it as thoroughly as I did.

Roger Cole
January 29, 2007

amazing research.......2007-01-29

I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Scruggs' book. It is written in such a manner that it draws the reader into the family circle while providing an amazing amount of detail into the history of the Legion and the personal recollections of Jud, the author's great grandfather.

Tramping with the Legion.......2007-01-16

With the help of his older relatives, Gene Scruggs has gathered together the oral history left by his great grandfather, Sergeant Judson Scruggs, who served in South Carolina's Holcombe Legion during most of the Civil War.

Almost nothing has been written about this effective fighting unit which was organized early in the war by Peter F. Stevens, a former superintendent of The Citadel. 'Shanks' Evans, whose brigade included the infantry regiment of the Holcombe Legion, regarded it as his best fighting unit. During Lee's 1862 campaign, the accomplished Stevens often led Evans' entire brigade on the many occasions when Evans was posted to the divisional level.

In his stories, Judson recalls training camps around Charleston, the battles of Malvern Hill, Rappahannock Station, Second Manassas, Lee's First Maryland Campaign, Kinston (NC), and Jackson (MS). In the summer of 1864, the Holcombe Legion was detailed to guard the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad and (luckily) was not with Evans' Brigade at the Battle of the Crater. However, Judson was captured while guarding the Stoney Creek (VA) station and bridge and sent to the infamous Elmyra (NY) Prison. Perhaps Judson's most interesting stories recount his tunnelling out of prison in October 1864 and his experiences of running, hiding, and working his way home by late May of 1865.

Gene Scruggs includes glimpses of the daily lives of his Spartanburg District ancestors as he fashions the war stories as if his great-grandfather was telling them to his grandchildren in nightly installations. This is a "good read" for anyone interested in this troubled time in American history.

War stories: Accounts of Minnesotans who defended their nation

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War stories: Accounts of Minnesotans who defended their nation
Al Zdon
Manufacturer: Moonlight Eagle Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois: The Story of the Twenty-Ninth U.S. Colored Infantry

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A welcome addition to its field of study

The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois: The Story of the Twenty-Ninth U.S. Colored Infantry
Edward A., Jr. Miller
Manufacturer: University of South Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

A welcome addition to its field of study.......2004-08-04

Walt Whitman once stated that the interior history of the Civil War soldier would never be told. Though Whitman's assessment is generally true, Edward A. Miller offers us an interpretive rapprochement through a new history of the all-black 29th U.S. Colored Infantry, a unit formed in Illinois. Yet, this work is not simply a regimental history, but a deeper study in the lives of black recruits in the Civil War era, and a journey into the hinterlands of an American racial pathos. Throughout this study, Miller explores in detail the biographies of individual soldiers, revealing their often convoluted histories which seem to be cut from the same mold. Yet, Miller has uncovered interesting and valuable demographic and socio-economic data. In addition, Miller explores the culture of the 29th's white officers, men who were unduly pre-judged as incompetent by their fellow Union soldiers.

The 29th's only substantial combat experience came at the ill-fated Battle of the Crater, where the employment of black regiments was unfairly blamed for battlefield failures. As such, many in the North wanted to place the responsibility for the disaster upon supposedly inferior black troops. However, Miller's historiography yields a saner assessment through a very detailed account of the battle. When the war ended, instead of disbanding, the 29th was brought up to full strength and marched to Texas to meet a perceived threat from French encroachment into Mexico. There life was "difficult, food shortages common, and medical care inadequate." (164), and many died of privation.

Broadening the reader's perspectives, Miller highlights the sixty percent of the 29th's officers and men who filed for pensions from their service. Many claims for compensation based upon service-related disabilities were exaggerated or downright fraudulent. No doubt many of these were motivated by extreme poverty, for a high percentage of the black veterans could find work only as day laborers.

Regardless, though they completed their military service with "devotion and competence" (206), Miller believes that most black veterans gained little benefit from their wartime service. However, when allowed to participate in combat, they performed with proficiency on a par with their white comrades. But national incredulity would persist with attitudes exemplified by "a mix of pity, paternalism, condescension, and racial superiority." (103) All told, Miller's is a welcomed addition to the growing scholarly literature on the individual experiences of the common soldier.

Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More Than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade

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Friendly fire in the civil war
this book doesn't hold the readers attention

Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More Than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade
Webb Garrison
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Through stories of defective ammunition, accidental shooting, inexperienced troops, and deliberate firings, this book is the first to identify when Yankee killed Yankee and Confederate killed Confederate. These tragic accounts strip away the romanticism of the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

Friendly fire in the civil war.......2004-01-23

In this book Webb Garrison has compiled a number of incidents in which soldiers fired upon men from their own side, be it in a large battle, a skirmish, or an act upon a lone individual. Although he has consulted numerous works and records, it is most likely that due to fog-of-war or willful supression that the incidents about which he writes are but a fraction of those that occurred.

Friendly Fire in the Civil War is an interesting book, and not without its merits. But overall I find that there is just something about Garrison's writing that makes his books too simplistic, and therefore difficult to read.

this book doesn't hold the readers attention.......2003-12-12

this book is short only 200 pages and it is a very little talked about subject but though informative it just doesn't hold my attention and I really don't recomend it

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