Published: 10/30/19DIRCK: The Black Heavens (2019)By: Brian Matthew JordanCategory: Book Reviews The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death by Brian R. Dirck. Southern Illinois University Press, 2019. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0809337026. $29.50. Brian R. Dirck has spent his career approaching the life of...
Published: 10/23/19BLEVINS: The Conflicted Ozarks (2019)By: Roy WisecarverCategory: Book Reviews A History of Ozarks, Vol. 2: The Conflicted Ozarks by Brooks Blevins. University of Illinois Press, 2019. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0252042737. $34.95. Brooks Blevins’ A History of the Ozarks Vol. 2: The Conflicted...
Published: 10/21/19Grant’s War Horse: CincinnatiBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line While Ulysses S. Grant rode a number of horses during the Civil War, he was particularly attached to one of them: Cincinnati. According to Grant’s son Frederick, Cincinnati, who came...
Published: 10/16/19SPARKS: Africans in the Old South (2016)By: Evan C. RotheraCategory: Book Reviews Africans in the Old South: Mapping Exceptional Lives across the Atlantic World by Randy J. Sparks. Harvard University Press, 2016. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0674495166. $28.00. The lives of the vast majority of...
Published: 10/14/19Lee’s War Horse: TravellerBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line Of the several horses Robert E. Lee rode during the Civil War, the one he named Traveller was the object of his greatest affection. Lee, who purchased the grey gelding...
Published: 10/9/19HARROLD: American Abolitionism (2019)By: Ashley TowleCategory: Book Reviews American Abolitionism: Its Direct Political Impact from Colonial Times into Reconstruction by Stanley Harrold. University of Virginia Press, 2019. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0813942292. $39.50. To what extent did the abolitionist movement bring...
Published: 10/7/19The Overland CampaignBy: Garry AdelmanCategory: Photo Essays [I]n May and June 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac pushed doggedly toward the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, in the Civil War’s bloodiest military...
Published: 10/4/19Which Way Did They Go?By: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line Library of Congress Union soldiers find dummy defenders and wooden cannon after storming a Confederate trench in Julian Scott’s 1872 painting “Sold.” Both sides used such phony weapons—known as Quaker...
Published: 10/2/19ENDRES & KURTZ (eds.): Soldiers of the Cross (2019)By: Adam TateCategory: Book Reviews Soldiers of the Cross: The Authoritative Text: The Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War by David Power Conyngham, edited by David J. Endres and William B....
Published: 9/27/19A Hair-Raising Incident at ShilohBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line Frank Leslie’s Illustrated History of the Civil War Frank Leslie’s Illustrated History of the Civil War, published in 1895, contained a broad collection of sketches that had appeared during the...
Published: 9/25/19HUNT: Meade and Lee at Bristoe Station (2019)By: Jeffry D. WertCategory: Book Reviews Meade and Lee at Bristoe Station: The Problems of Command and Strategy after Gettysburg, from Brandy Station to the Buckland Races, August 1 to October 31, 1863 by Jeffrey William Hunt....
Published: 9/23/19A Triple Bereavement at CairoBy: Mary LivermoreCategory: The Front Line Woman’s Work in the Civil War (1865) Nurse Mary Livermore Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Mary Livermore, a 40-year-old native of Boston, volunteered to work for the...
Published: 9/20/19Rock of ChickamaugaBy: Mark GrimsleyCategory: The Front Line Library of Congress Major General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga” In the American Iliad, the Civil War’s chief victors are well known: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and...
Published: 9/18/19DAVIS: The Most Desperate Acts of Gallantry (2019)By: Alexandre F. CalliotCategory: Book Reviews The Most Desperate Acts of Gallantry: George A. Custer in the Civil War by Daniel T. Davis. Savas Beatie, 2019. Paper, ISBN: 978-1611214116. $14.95. George Armstrong Custer is a heroic yet...
Published: 9/11/19MERTZ: Attack at Daylight and Whip Them (2019)By: John DaleyCategory: Book Reviews Attack at Daylight and Whip Them: The Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862 by Gregory A. Mertz. Savas Beatie, 2019. Paper, ISBN: 978-1611213133. $14.95. This reviewer would have been surprised and...
Published: 9/4/19POWELL: Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah (2019)By: Jonathan M. BerkeyCategory: Book Reviews Union Command Failure in the Shenandoah: Major General Franz Sigel and the War in the Valley of Virginia, May 1864 by David A. Powell. Savas Beatie, 2019. Cloth, ISBN: 978-611214345. $29.95....
Published: 8/28/19GALLAGHER & GALLMAN (eds.): Civil War Places (2019)By: Rebecca HowardCategory: Book Reviews Civil War Places: Seeing the Conflict through the Eyes of Its Leading Historians edited by Gary W. Gallagher and J. Matthew Gallman. Photographs by Will Gallagher. University of North Carolina Press,...
Published: 8/25/19Extra Voices: Clara Barton—The Angel of the BattlefieldBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line Library of Congress Clara Barton In the Voices section of the Fall 2019 issue of The Civil War Monitor we highlighted quotes by and about famed nurse Clara Barton (1821–1912),...
Published: 8/21/19TACKACH: Lincoln and the Natural Environment (2019)By: Brian Matthew JordanCategory: Book Reviews Lincoln and the Natural Environment by James Tackach. Southern Illinois University Press, 2019. Cloth, IBSN: 9780809336982. $24.95. “Lincoln was a close observer of nature,” remarked the journalist Noah Brooks, the president’s...
Published: 8/14/19SILKENAT: Raising the White Flag (2019)By: Eric Michael BurkeCategory: Book Reviews Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War by David Silkenat. University of North Carolina Press, 2019. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-4696-4972-6. $39.95. In this fascinating treatment of a long...