Review: Loyal Hearts: Histories of American Civil War Canines

Loyal Hearts: Histories of American Civil War Canines
by Michael Zucchero

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 184 pages
  • Publisher: Schroeder Publications; 1st edition (February 16, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1889246573
  • ISBN-13: 978-1889246574

Horses are famous.  Many of us can name a general’s horse without any problem at all.  Robert E. Lee’s horse, Traveler, rated a novel by Richard Adams with him as the main character.  Monuments with mounted Generals are a feature of every battlefield.  Horses figure in numerous photographs from the war and count as casualties in artillery batteries.

What about dogs?

Even if there are no K9 units during the war, soldiers must have had them as pets.  Dogs are common, men like them, they like men.  However, most Civil War histories say very little about dogs in camp, on the march or in battle.  Stepping into the void while bring some light to the subject is this small well-written book.  Nineteen stories, from four to twelve pages each, tell the story of one unit’s dog during the war.  Each story is fully footnoted to original source documents and books.  Fifty-seven period photographs and illustrations add to the well-written stories.

You can read this book as a book or as a series of individual stories.  People that read about the Civil War and people that read about dogs will enjoy it.

Editor’s Note: Jim is a highly ranked reviewer of American Civil War histories on many book seller’s sites.

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