It has been quite awhile since we last looked at the Top 10 Amazon.com Civil War bestsellers list.  In fact, you have to go all the way back to the May 2009 Amazon.com Top 10 Civil War bestsellers list.  I’ve enjoyed keeping an eye on this list to see how books move over time, and the Amazon.com Top 10 Civil War Books list has become an every other monthly feature at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog.  Readers who are looking for books many people are currently reading and commenting on can’t go wrong selecting books from this list.

As in each entry in the series, I’ve taken the liberty of removing non-Civil War related books from the list.  The books below are in the Civil War Top 10 as of October 22, 2009.  As of this list, I am recombining Lincoln books with other Civil War books.  The hoopla surrounding the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth has ebbed a bit, so a recombination makes sense.  Usually, numbers in parentheses mark the book’s prior position in the Top 10 from the last time I did the list.  We will be completely starting over this time, however.

Note: Some of these are the Kindle edition. Kindle is Amazon’s handheld device for reading books electronically.  Since last time, Amazon has come out with Kindle 2, a sleeker version which also allows you to upload many public domain books for minimal or no cost!

1. (-) Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Summary: Goodwin covers the “team” Abraham Lincoln put together to form his cabinet.  Dimitri would dispute the validity of the term “team”. Since I started looking at this list of bestsellers, Team of Rivals has no rivals at the top of the Civil War book pile.

2. (-) The American Civil War: A Military History by John Keegan

Summary: Keegan is widely regarded as a master military historian.  I especially enjoyed his classic “you are there” approach to military history in The Face of Battle.  It will be interesting to see how Keegan’s one volume history of the Civil War stacks up against the others in this field.

3. (-) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Summary: Although obscure when initially written in the 1970s, Michael Shaara’s fictional account of Gettysburg has been a bestseller pretty much since the movie GETTYSBURG was released in 1993. Surprisingly, The Killer Angels has dropped completely out of the top 10, something I didn’t initially think was possible.  It’s interesting to see the month to month movement in this list.  It isn’t nearly as static as I had originally thought.

4. (-) Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson

Summary: This has been the standard one volume history of the Civil War since its release. McPherson’s book has been largely in the bottom half of the top 10. Given its widespread use and acclaim, I’m still a little surprised it isn’t consistently in the top 3.  I’m pretty sure it will not be that high in the foreseeable future.

5. (-) Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson

Summary: Swanson’s book covers the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the days immediately following Lincoln’s assassination.

6. (-) This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

Summary: Faust argues that 1860s America’s familiarity with death led to massive casualty rates, acceptable by those standards but appalling when looked at through today’s lens. This book has been one of the most reviewed Civil War books I’ve seen over the past 3 or so years since I started blogging. The book continues to rise and fall in the middle of the pack each time I take a look at these rankings.

7. (-) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

Summary: Jacobs was a slave, and she chronicled her experiences in this book, released in 1861.  Her attacks on slavery served to further educate the public as to the evils of the peculiar institution.

8. (-) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Summary: The autobiography of one of the most famous Abolitionists ever.  I have not yet had the pleasure of reading this one. Douglass’ book is the first on this list which focuses mainly on slavery and the life of slaves to remain near the top of the bestseller list. So much for harping on readers’ complete ignorance concerning the great racial elephant in the room, or what some corners of the Civil War blogosphere would call the ONLY reason to even study the conflict.

9. (-) Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James McPherson

Summary: This is another McPherson summary.  Many other Civil War bloggers have already commented on the lack of any new insights or groundbreaking material in this book.

10. (-) The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer

Summary: The State of Jones is the second book in a short while to come out about Newt Knight and Jones County, Mississippi.  Victoria Bynum’s was the first.  There has been some controversy between the authors of this book and Professor Bynum, especially about whether or not Jones County seceded from the Confederacy during the Civil War.  My advice would be to purchase both books and make up your own mind based on what the authors have written.  Check out the controversy AFTER you’ve read the books.

Dropped Out This Month:

This feature will return next time.

Brett’s Final Thoughts:

I apologize for not keeping this particular feature going more regularly over the summer.  Now that the weather is growing colder expect to see these lists every other month or once a month if I’m ambitious.  Keep in mind that “bestselling” definitely does not always mean “best”.  Instead, this is a glimpse into what is popular among Amazon’s admittedly large customer base.  In any event, whether you are new to the study of the Civil War or an experienced veteran, check out the Amazon.com Top 10 Civil War Books List and see if there is something there for you.

Previous Books in the Top 10 Prior to Last Month’s Top 10:

This feature will return next time.

Look over past Top 10 Civil War Books lists to see how various books have done over time!

Check out Beyond the Crater: The Petersburg Campaign Online!

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

Read many Civil War Book Reviews here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog!

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Top 10 Amazon.com Civil War Bestsellers: October 2009

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Amazon.com Civil War Bestsellers: May 2009
2. Top 10 Amazon.com Abraham Lincoln Bestsellers: April 2009
3. Top 10 Amazon.com Civil War Bestsellers: April 2009

Hess, Earl J. The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth. University Press of Kansas (September 9, 2008). 288 pages, tables, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-0700616077 $29.95 (Hardcover).

Did the widespread use of the rifle musket for the first time in the American Civil War lead to increased average combat ranges, increasingly destructive fire, and a revolution in combat?  In The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Myth and Reality, author Earl J. Hess answers this question mostly in the negative but makes several exceptions which will be explored in this review.

Dr. Earl J. Hess is the author of ten Civil War books and even more magazine and journal articles, including a trilogy on field fortifications during the war and a look at the Pea Ridge Campaign.  He currently is an Associate Professor of History at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.  Dr. Hess is well-known by most serious students of the Civil War.

The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth came about mainly due to Paddy Griffith’s groundbreaking book Battle Tactics of the Civil War.  First published in 1989, Battle Tactics presented conclusions which rocked the boat of Civil War orthodoxy at the time.  Among those conclusions was the contention that the rifle musket did not lead to dramatic changes in combat during the American Civil War.

Hess takes this contention and runs with it, “responding to a call” from Paddy Griffith to reevaluate the role of the weapon.  He does this by first looking at a history of rifles and rifle tactics prior to the Civil War.  After providing this base the author then explores the effectiveness of the rifle musket in combat conditions.  The meat of The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat is contained in the chapters detailing how rifle muskets were used along the battle line, on the skirmish line, and in the hands of individual snipers (referred to as sharpshooters during the Civil War).  He brings all of this information together in a compelling and thoroughly backed argument against the rifle musket having a minor effect along the battle line, concluding that the rifle musket found its true calling along the periphery of the battle line in the hands of skirmishers and individual snipers.

This book is a must read for any serious student of the Civil War, despite the somewhat misleading dust jacket and marketing material touting Dr. Hess’ findings as “entirely new.”  I was surprised at the level of difficulty of firing a rifle musket and hitting a man at long range due to the need to accurately estimate range and correctly use an adjustable range finder.  This alone is a somewhat persuasive argument against the rifle musket as a decisive weapon.  However, Hess does not stop there.  His chapter on “The Rifle Musket in Battle” is a real eye opener as to just how many things must happen before a bullet actually strikes an enemy soldier in the other battle line.  Research by Brent Nosworthy, Mark Grimsley, and Hess himself which perused first person accounts of combat also go a long way towards establishing that the ranges at which the opposing lines opened fire were not much different from the smoothbore Napoleonic Wars.  Hess writes that men have a tendency to want to see clearly what they are firing at, limiting their average range.  What surprised me the most, however, was the authors look at average ranges for later wars and the conclusion that the typical range of infantry firefights has not changed much at all in the past 300 years.

The chapters on skirmishers and sniping were illuminating and an entertaining read.  Hess disagrees with fellow TOCWOC blogger Fred Ray, believing that the sharpshooter battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia did not “dominate the skirmish line” during the Siege of Petersburg.  His contention that skirmishing reached its absolute apex during the Atlanta Campaign was somewhat surprising.  I had never heard this mentioned before and it is a subject which bears further exploration.

Hess’ next to last chapter on “The Rifle’s Impact on Civil War Combat” was very well done.  He offers a variety of reasons why the rifle musket’s impact on combat has been “exaggerated, misunderstood, and understudied” for most of the past 145 years.  He debunks commonly held beliefs about the rifle musket’s role in percent losses by armies in battle, the lack of decisive battles, increased vulnerability of artillery crews to rifle fire, and the limited number of massed cavalry charges during the Civil War.  Only in the area concerning a lack of decisive battles did I feel Dr. Hess’ arguments were not fully convincing.  His closing chapter points out that the rifle musket had a very short time in the sun.  Only a five years later the muzzle loading weapon was obsolete, the Franco-Prussian War having been fought with breech loading weapons on either side.

With The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Myth and Reality, Earl J. Hess has only added to his reputation as one of the leading Civil War scholars writing today.  All serious students of the Civil War, especially of Civil War tactics and the minutiae of combat 1860s style, will want to own this book.  It is reasonably priced at $29.95 and will provide readers with many times that amount in terms of value and knowledge gained.  This book is highly recommended!

I would like to thank Ranjit Arab and Susan Schott at The University Press of Kansas.

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

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Review: The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth

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The recent Civil War Bloggers Top 10 Gettysburg Books list turned out well, so well that I immediately contacted the members of the Shiloh Discussion Group to see if they would join me in creating another combined list, this time of the Top 7 Shiloh books, which will appear this August at TOCWOC on a permanent page designed for this event.  SDG members have been posting their lists of the Top 7 Shiloh books over the last month with a deadline of August 1.  What you see below is my own personal list of the Top 7 Shiloh books.  Each other member who posts a list in the SDG thread on the topic will also see that list posted here at TOCWOC in early August.  Once all lists have been posted, the combined list will be published.  In this way, I and my fellow Shiloh Discussion Group members hope to offer new TOCWOC readers and SDG members a concise list of good Shiloh books, books which will help further their understanding of this popular and important Civil War battle.  Enough with the talking.  Here’s my list, the first of many which will be appearing on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next few weeks.

Top 7 Shiloh Books

1. Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War by Larry J. Daniel
   Of the three general “campaign and battle studies” I list in my top 7, I think Daniel’s is the best overall.  I also found it to be the best read of the three, though what I consider a good interesting read may vary wildly from may others considering my interest in wargaming!
2. The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged by D.W. Reed
   Reed, a Shiloh veteran and the first historian of the Shiloh National Military Park, was obsessed with the battle.  This book, despite placing too much importance on the Hornet’s Nest at the expense of the other fighting on April 6, is the foundation for further research.  My recent review of the book was very favorable.
3. Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 by Edward O. Cunningham
   This classic study of the campaign, not well known among the general public for decades but touted by those with an intense interest in Shiloh, has been beautifully restored by Tim Smith and Gary Joiner and published by Savas Beatie.  As with any Savas Beatie book, you know the maps will be plentiful, and they are!
4. Shiloh: Bloody April by Wiley Sword
   I read Sword’s book a long, long time ago just as I was getting into detailed campaign studies, and it didn’t grab me as much as Daniel’s book did, which I read around the same time.  It’s not a bad book by any means.  I included it in my Top 7 Shiloh books after all!
5. This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park by Timothy B. Smith
   Civil War Historiography or “memory” is all the rage right now.  I have to admit I find studies which look at not the history of the battle itself but instead how the battle’s interpretation has changed over time to be fascinating.
6. Seeing the Elephant: Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh by Joseph Allan Frank and George A. Reaves
   Seeing the Elephant is not a Shiloh battle study, but instead uses soldier letters and diaries to explore how men seeing battle for the first time (and at Shiloh of all places, what an introduction!) felt and acted in that situation.
7. U.S. Army War College Guide to the Battle of Shiloh edited by Jay Luvaas, Stephen Bowman, and Leonard Fullenkamp
   The U.S. Army War College Guide series format is probably very familiar to many of you, with Official Records excerpts from leaders on both sides accompanied by maps in a “Staff Ride” format.  This is a great book to take along the next time (you HAVE been there, right?) you visit the Shiloh Battlefield.

Other Candidates for the Top 7 Shiloh Books List That Didn’t Make The Cut:

• The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and the Battlefield by Timothy B.  Smith
• The Shiloh Campaign (Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland) edited by Steven E. Woodworth
• Shiloh: A Novel by Shelby Foote
• Shiloh 1862: The Death of Innocence by James Arnold
• The Shiloh Campaign: March – April 1862 by David G. Martin
• Shiloh—In Hell Before Night by James L. McDonough

Please note that fellow bloggers Drew Wagenhoffer and Nick Kurtz have chosen their Top 7 Shiloh books as well and have posted these on their respective blogs.

*****

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

Read many Civil War Book Reviews here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog!

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Top 7 Shiloh Books: Brett Schulte

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Eleven Civil War bloggers posted their Top 10 Gettysburg Books at their blogs from June 30 to July 5, 2009.  The complete list of bloggers is at the link provided in the prior sentence.  These eleven bloggers ended up choosing 60(!) different Gettysburg books.  I tallied up the results, awarding 10 points for a first place vote, 1 point for a tenth place vote, and 5.5 points for books in unordered lists.  The final combined results, with total points, first place votes, selected comments from the bloggers, and links to each book at Amazon.com, are as follows:

1. The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command
by Edwin Coddington
60 points (4 1st place votes)

Eric Wittenberg, Rantings of a Civil War Historian: “This book is the bible for any serious student of the campaign. The treatment of the retreat is a little weak, only because Prof. Coddington died before it could be completed, and someone else had to finish the work.”

Brett Schulte, TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: “Despite Gettysburg Campaign studies in recent years from Stephen Sears and Noah Andre Trudeau, I still think the very best look at the Gettysburg Campaign is Edwin B. Coddington’s classic The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command.   Some have criticized Coddington for his tendency to favor the Federals and to denigrate Confederate First Corps commander James Longstreet, but his overall look at Gettysburg has not yet been eclipsed.”

Nick Kurtz, Battlefield Wanderings: “This is the classic book on the battle. Recently Stephen Sears and Noah Andre Trudeau have done very good books but its hard to knock Coddington off his perch. I didn’t put Sears or Trudeau on the top 10 because I didn’t want to have the list clogged with similar books. If I had made my criteria only the top 10, regardless of similarity then I think Sears and Trudeau would have made the list.”

John Hoptak, Civil War Musgins: “Next up is the standard, or mainstay work on Gettysburg by Edwin Coddington. No real explanation necessary.”

2. Gettysburg:  The Second Day
by Harry W. Pfanz
40.33 points (0)

Brett Schulte, TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: “Harry Pfanz has also written books on the first day’s fighting and that which occurred on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill on July 1-3.  I have selected his book on the July 2 struggle from Round Top to Cemetery Ridge as the best of his detailed tactical studies of the battle of Gettysburg.  All of these books are loaded with detailed maps and tactical discussions.  Curiously, Pfanz never did day three, though there may be a good reason for this.  For Day 3, you might wish to check out Jeffry Wert’s book Gettysburg, Day Three.”

Eric Wittenberg, Rantings of a Civil War Historian: “A truly magnificent book that provides the sort of detailed study of Longstreet’s assault on the second day that I crave. This book is a must-have for the library of any serious student of the campaign.”

John Hoptak, Civil War Musings: “For the best account of a single day’s action at Gettysburg, I have to go with Harry Pfanz’s landmark Gettysburg: The Second Day, just an excellent all-around book.”

Chris Wehner, Blog 4 History: “This was, of course, a monumental work and as John Hoptak noted a “landmark” book that has to be on the shelf of every Civil War enthusiast. He also covers a little about my ancestor, Charles H. Weygant of the 124th NY.”

3. Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign
by Kent Masterson Brown
28 points (0)

Craig Swain, To the Sound of the Guns: “Brown’s work cuts new ground in two ways.  First we finally learn Pickett’s Charge was not the end of the campaign.  Second, there were many more considerations for the Confederate retreat than just getting soldiers across the Potomac.  If you follow Brown’s logic, Lee actually “won” Gettysburg to a degree by securing enough supplies to support the Army of Northern Virginia through the end of 1863.  Certainly a unique way to look at things.  Regardless of how one receives that supposition, Brown’s study of logistics during the campaign is the best handling of such that any has produced.”

Rea Andrew Redd, Civil War Librarian: “Brown handles tactics and logistics quite well and offers sound insights into Lee’s and Meade’s leadership and the ability of their endure a rigorous and deadly campaign.”

Brett Schulte, TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: “Amazingly, Brown’s book, first published in 2005, was the first book-length account of the retreat from Gettysburg.  I say amazingly given the extreme saturation of the market with regards to Gettysburg books.  As the subtitle mentions, Brown looks at the retreat with a great deal of time and energy spent on logistics.  He believes Lee did not necessarily need a battle to happen to make the campaign a success.  Instead, says Brown, the Southern commander simply wanted to live off of Northern land for awhile to give Virginia a break.  Brown’s book has a decidedly Confederate focus.  For a detailed and balanced look at the fighting during the retreat, I recommend One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863.”

Nick Kurtz, Battlefield Wanderings: “We’ve also been treated to a couple of books on the retreat from Gettysburg after it being widely ignored. I haven’t read the book done by Wittenberg, Petruzzi and Nugent but have heard it is good too. One day I’ll read it but for now I’ll include Brown’s on my list.”

4 (tie). Gettysburg: A Journey in Time
by William A. Frassanito
24.5 points (0)

Nick Kurtz, Battlefield Wanderings: “At first I thought this seemed pretty high to have a picture book, but its become a classic. I cannot think of any other picture book I’d put in the top 10 at all. David J. Eicher’s “Gettysburg Battlefield” was good, but has its own issues/irregularities that I can’t rate it in the top 10.”

John Hoptak, Civil War Musings: “And, of course, so is Gettysburg: A Journey in Time [a good selection to include in a Top 10 Gettysbug list], by William Frassanito, which was also one of the very first books I read on the battle.”

Mark Grimsley, Civil Warriors: “Not sure when I came across this, but surely it was during my salad days.  An extraordinary study of the Gettysburg photographic evidence base.  I never again saw historical photos as mere illustrations, but rather as documents.  Plus it was wicked cool to learn how photographers dragged around corpses to compose the images they sought.”

4 (tie). The Killer Angels

By Michael Shaara

24.5 points (0)

Ethan Rafuse, Civil Warriors: “In addition to being a great read, The Killer Angels is an essential work for understanding, if not the battle (although it is pretty good in that respect), why it is so much easier to find a t-shirt or print of a certain Maine colonel than it is to find one of the commander of the Army of the Potomac, or why there are so many more people visiting Little Round Top than Culp’s Hill.”

Mark Grimsley, Civil Warriors: “Encountered the novel at age 15.  Totally captivating.  Would have devoured it in a single sitting were it not for school, chores, etc.  Even then I could see some historical inaccuracies (the presence of a slave recently imported from Africa — WTF? — and the idea that “there is no good ground south of here” — there’s loads of good ground south of Gettysburg), but The Killer Angels formed my introduction to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and challenged my pre-conceptions about James Longstreet.  And Shaara’s taut prose style taught me a lot about good writing.  Still a very good introduction to the battle — the Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership assigns it as preparatory reading for strategic leadership staff rides.  But one should also read the antidote, D. Scott Hartwig’s excellent A Killer Angel’s Companion (1996)”

Chris Wehner, Blog 4 History: “[It] has to be on any list. It was my first introduction to the Civil War in High School.”

6. Gettysburg, July 1

By David G. Martin

22 points (0)

Eric Wittenberg, Rantings of a Civil War Historian: “I’m a first day guy. It’s by far my favorite part of the battle. An incredible research resource, this was the first detailed study dedicated entirely to the first day of the battle. It can be tough to read, but it’s worth the effort.”

Craig Swain, To the Sound of the Guns: “I could mention at least three other works here for the first day’s fighting, but I think Martin covers the topic in more detail and with better maps.   Martin’s approach takes the reader through brigades and regiments, linking their activities into the larger flow of the battle.  And if the account of the day’s fighting is not enough, the appendices are equally outstanding.  Every student of the battle should at least read the topographical and meteorological notes found there.”

Brett Schulte, TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: “I went back and forth on whether to include this title in my Top 10 Gettysburg Books list, but in the end the positives outweighed the negatives.  Martin’s book to me is a better representation of the July 1 fighting at Gettysburg than Harry Pfanz’ similarly titled book.  I wanted to include a book on the first day’s fighting, so this by default was it.  Martin’s book, especially the first edition, suffered from numerous typos and errors of fact, so much so that the book has been panned in many circles.  Get the latest edition of the book that you can (the Amazon link above leads to the paperback version), and you will not be disappointed with this one.”

7. Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory

By Carol Reardon

20 points (0)

Ethan Rafuse, Civil Warriors: “Carol Reardon’s book on Pickett’s Charge is a no-brainer, as it is one of the best books on any Civil War topic to appear in the past few decades (as evidenced by the legion of folks–yours truly included–who have jumped on the history and memory bandwagon since it appeared).”

Chris Wehner, Blog 4 History: “[A] fascinating book on the battle’s most controversial and important event.”

Harry Smeltzer, Bull Runnings: “Influential memory study.”

8. Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg

By Eric Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi

18 points (0)

Craig Swain, To the Sound of the Guns: “The two previously mentioned works cover General J.E.B. Stuart’s movements in parts, but not to the depth that a student of cavalry would be satisfied with.  Wittenberg and Petruzzi resolve that gap, in my opinion.  The authors take on a subject that far too many historians, in my opinion, had oversimplified or ignored.  They directly confront many of the old beliefs regarding Stuart’s ride and in doing so breath life back into the debate!  I particularly like style of presenting the material, accounts, and details first, then offering conclusions.”

Brett Schulte, TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: “Wittenberg and Petruzzi have written what I believe to be the best book yet on Stuart’s adventures in Pennsylvania.  The authors and fellow bloggers tapped a large number of previously unused primary sources for the book.  The result is a detailed look at Stuart’s Ride which does not get caught up in the blame game so prevalent in secondary sources.  It also covers in great tactical detail the cavalry engagements which resulted from the ride.  If you can only afford one book on the subject, this one is it.”

9. Pickett’s Charge: The Last Attack at Gettysburg

By Earl J. Hess

16 points (0)

Mark Grimsley, Civil Warriors: “The best study of the engagement by one of the best Civil War military historians.  Carol Reardon’s Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory (1997) is excellent, as Ethan rightly notes, but deals only in part with the attack itself, and had less impact on me than it might have done otherwise because I had elsewhere received my introduction to public memory.”

Brett Schulte, TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog: “Hess’ book is a detailed tactical look at, and to me the best book on Pickett’s Charge, topping George Stewart’s classic look at the July 3 fight for the Union center.  Hess gives the point of view of both sides, moving back and forth and producing a wonderfully researched look at this climactic moment of the most famous battle of the war.”

10. Gettysburg

By Stephen Sears

14 points (0)

Ethan Rafuse, Civil Warriors: “I would naturally have someone begin their studies with one of the single-volume histories. Stephen Sears’s is at the top of the list for the general reader (although for someone who blanches at its heft or needs more pictures, I might substitute Steve Woodworth’s short history or Craig Symonds’s American Heritage history).”

John Hoptak, Civil War Musings: “There are many overview books on the campaign and battle and picking from among them was tough, but I settled upon Sears’s work as a good narrative, suitable for both the casual reader and the more serious student of the war.”

Chris Wehner, Blog 4 History: “[H]is reading style is very accessible. I thought he handled Meade and Lee fairly, but really this book is a favorite as I enjoy his writing style. Gettysburg books can be very convoluted as it was indeed a massive battle.”

*****

Note: In addition to the Top 10, there were 50 more books which appeared on the various Civil War bloggers’ lists.  I am listing these books here with the rank, title, author, and a link to buy at Amazon.com without the various comments by the bloggers.  If you would like to see these expanded with blogger comments, use the Contact Us form or comment below.  I may be willing to flesh these out later depending on time available.

11 (tie). Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg

By John W. Busey and David G. Martin

13.5 points (0)

11 (tie). The Gettysburg Nobody Knows

B y Gabor S. Boritt

13.5 points (0)

13. The First Day at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Leadership

Gary W. Gallagher (ed.)

13.17 points (0)

14. Gettysburg Day Two: A Study in Maps

By John Imhof

11.5 points (0)

15 (tie).  “A Strange and Blighted Land” Gettysburg, The Aftermath of Battle

By Gregory Coco

11 points (0)

15 (tie).  Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide

By Mark Grimsley and Brooks Simpson

11 points (0)

15 (tie).  The Bachelder Papers

By John Bachelder

11 points (0)

15 (tie).  The Generals of Gettysburg

By Larry Tagg

11 points (0)

19. Gettysburg—The First Day

By Harry W. Pfanz

10.83 points (0)

20. The Complete Gettysburg Guide

By J.D. Petruzzi and Steven Stanley

10.5 points (0)

21 (tie). Here Come the Rebels

By Wilbur S. Nye

10 points (1 first place vote)

21 (tie). The Battle of Gettysburg

By Bruce Catton

10 points (1 first place vote)

21 (tie). Those Damned Black Hats: The Iron Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign

By Lance J. Herdegen

10 points (1 first place vote)

21 (tie). The U.S. Army War College Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg

By Jay Luvaas and Harold W. Nelson

10 points (0)

25. Gettysburg, Day Three

By Jeffry D. Wert

9.5 points (NOTE: Since a first place vote garners by definition 10 points, all books from this point forward will not show the number of first place votes in parentheses.)

26. Roads to Gettysburg

By John W. Schildt

9 points

27 (tie). The Second Day at Gettysburg: Essays on Union and Confederate Leadership

Edited by Gary W. Gallagher

8.17 points

27 (tie). The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond

Edited by Gary W. Gallagher

8.17 points

29 (tie). The Maps of Gettysburg: The Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 – July 13, 1863

By Bradley M. Gottfried

8 points

29 (tie). The Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign: A Tactical Study of Mounted Operations during the Civil War’s Pivotal Campaign, 9 June-14 July 1863

By Edward G. Longacre

8 points

31. Pickett’s Charge: A Microhistory of the Final Attack at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863

By George Stewart

6.5 points

32 (tie). Devil’s Den: A History and Guide

Garry E. Adleman and Timothy H. Smith

6 points

32 (tie). Haskell of Gettysburg: His Life and Civil War Papers

Edited by Frank L. Byrne and Andrew T. Weaver

6 points

32 (tie). Morning at Willoughby Run, July 1, 1863

By Richard Shue

6 points

35. Gettysburg: Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill

By Harry W. Pfanz

5.83 points

36 (tie). “Fighting Them Over”: How the Veterans Remembered Gettysburg in the Pages of the National Tribune

By Richard Sauers

5.5 points

36 (tie). “Grappling with Death”: The Union Second Corps Hospital at Gettysburg

By Roland Maust

5.5 points

36 (tie). “Like Ripe Apples in a Storm”: The 151^st Pennsylvania Volunteers at Gettysburg

By Michael Dreese

5.5 points

36 (tie). A Vast Sea of Misery: A History and Guide to the Union and Confederate Field Hospitals at Gettysburg, July 1-November 20, 1863

By Gregory Coco

5.5 points

36 (tie). Gettysburg Sketches

By Frederic Ray

5.5 points

36 (tie). Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy

By Richard Sauers

5.5 points

36 (tie). Gettysburg’s Bloody Wheatfield

By Jay Jorgensen

5.5 points

36 (tie). The Attack and Defense of Little Round Top, Gettysburg, July 2, 1863

By Olver W. Norton

5.5 points

36 (tie). Brigades of Gettysburg: The Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Gettysburg

By Bradley M. Gottfried

5.5 points

36 (tie). The Union Generals Speak: The Meade Hearings on the Battle of Gettysburg

Edited by Bill Hyde

5.5 points

36 (tie). These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory

By Thomas Desjardin

5.5 points

36 (tie). This Is Holy Ground: A History of the Gettysburg Battlefield

By Barbara Platt

5.5 points

48. Covered with Glory: The 26^th North Carolina Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg

By Rod Gragg

5 points

49 (tie). Crossroads of the Conflict: Defining Hours for the Blue and Gray: A Guide to the Monuments of Gettysburg

By Donald W. McLaughlin

4 points

49 (tie). Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage

By Noah Andre Trudeau

4 points

49 (tie). In the Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg

By Lance J. Herdegen and William J.K. Beaudot

4 points

52 (tie). Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition

By Scott L. Mingus, Sr.

3 points

52 (tie). Lee’s Real Plan at Gettysburg

By Troy D. Harman

3 points

52 (tie). Silent Sentinels: A Reference Guide to the Artillery at Gettysburg

By George Newton

3 points

55 (tie). Gettysburg: Memory, Market, and an American Shrine

By Jim Weeks

2 points

55 (tie). Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America

By Garry Willis

2 points

55 (tie). Small Arms at Gettysburg: Infantry and Cavalry Weapons in America’s Greatest Battle

By Joseph Bilby

2 points

58 (tie). Gettysburg, Then & Now: Touring the Battlefield with Old Photos

By William A. Frassanito

1 point

58 (tie). The Colors of Courage: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War’s Defining Battle

By Margaret S. Creighton

1 point

58 (tie). When War Passed This Way

By W.P. Conrad and Ted Alexander

1 point

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

Check out Beyond the Crater: The Petersburg Campaign Online for the latest on the Siege of Petersburg!

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Top 10 Gettysburg Books: Combined Civil War Bloggers’ List

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2. Top 10 Gettysburg Books: A Civil War Bloggers’ Event
3. Top 10 Gettysburg Books

I love sharing the knowledge I’ve gained over the years from reading, and reading about, top Civil War books.  I’ve also always found the list format to be an easy way for readers to take in some of this knowledge.  With these things in mind, we will be doing a series of lists for major battles during the Civil War here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog.  This post is one in a series of Top 10 Gettysburg Books blog entries by a group of Civil War bloggers.

I want to add a little disclaimer before I start.  This list is the educated opinion of Brett Schulte alone, and in no way should it be construed as the final word on the subject.  If you believe this list is totally wrong or if you believe I’m an idiot for forgetting to add this or that book, let me know!  I hope new readers can go to this page in the future and by reading my Top 10 Civil War Books on the Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg list, those of the other Civil War bloggers in this event, AND the comments will be able to get a good idea of what types of books on Gettysburg might be for them.

Top 10 Civil War Books on the Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg

1. The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command by Edwin B. Coddington

Despite Gettysburg Campaign studies in recent years from Stephen Sears and Noah Andre Trudeau, I still think the very best look at the Gettysburg Campaign is Edwin B. Coddington’s classic The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command.   Some have criticized Coddington for his tendency to favor the Federals and to denigrate Confederate First Corps commander James Longstreet, but his overall look at Gettysburg has not yet been eclipsed.

2. John Bachelder Papers (3 Volumes + 7 Maps) by John B. Bachelder

John Bachelder, an artist at the time of the battle, became obsessed with writing a history of Gettysburg.  He corresponded with thousands of veterans of the fight, and these collected writings form the three volume Bachelder papers.  Morningside has put together a fine version of this collection, which is readily available to the public for the first time.

3. Gettysburg—The Second Day by Harry W. Pfanz

Harry Pfanz has also written books on the first day’s fighting and that which occurred on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill on July 1-3.  I have selected his book on the July 2 struggle from Round Top to Cemetery Ridge as the best of his detailed tactical studies of the battle of Gettysburg.  All of these books are loaded with detailed maps and tactical discussions.  Curiously, Pfanz never did day three, though there may be a good reason for this.  For Day 3, you might wish to check out Jeffry Wert’s book Gettysburg, Day Three.

4. Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg by John W. Busey and David G. Martin

This is absolutely the most detailed order of battle study I’ve ever seen.  Busey and Martin break down each army and come up with exact numbers for each and every unit in the Army of the Potomac and Army of Northern Virginia.  Using known numbers of regiments in each corps, they came up with plausible numbers for those regiments for which exact Present for Duty numbers were not known.  The result is a wargamer’s and researcher’s dream and an indispensable reference work on the battle.

5. Pickett’s Charge–The Last Attack at Gettysburg by Earl J. Hess

Hess’ book is a detailed tactical look at, and to me the best book on Pickett’s Charge, topping George Stewart’s classic look at the July 3 fight for the Union center.  Hess gives the point of view of both sides, moving back and forth and producing a wonderfully researched look at this climactic moment of the most famous battle of the war.

6. Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign by Kent Masterson Brown

Amazingly, Brown’s book, first published in 2005, was the first book-length account of the retreat from Gettysburg.  I say amazingly given the extreme saturation of the market with regards to Gettysburg books.  As the subtitle mentions, Brown looks at the retreat with a great deal of time and energy spent on logistics.  He believes Lee did not necessarily need a battle to happen to make the campaign a success.  Instead, says Brown, the Southern commander simply wanted to live off of Northern land for awhile to give Virginia a break.  Brown’s book has a decidedly Confederate focus.  For a detailed and balanced look at the fighting during the retreat, I recommend One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863.

7. Gettysburg: A Journey in Time by William A. Frassanito

Longtime readers of Civil War books will recognize the name of William A. Frassanito.  The author is famous for his books on Civil War photography.  Frassanito takes famous photographs of Civil War battles (Antietam, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign) and attempts to take a modern day photograph from the same spot and in the same direction.  Frassanito’s detective work has led to many interesting discoveries about the photographs taken at Gettysburg shortly of the battle.  Perhaps his most famous discovery is that of the sharpshooter who wasn’t in the Devil’s Den area.  I highly recommend all of Frassanito’s books to anyone who is unfamiliar with this unique way to (literally) look at history.

8. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

I debated on whether or not to include The Killer Angels because (gasp!) I haven’t actually read the book.  I am a fan of fiction, and I’m a student of the Civil War, but I have never been interested in the two when combined.  With that said, I felt I needed to include this one simply because of the amazing popularity and almost universal acclaim it has received, especially in the years after the movie Gettysburg, based on the novel, was released in 1993.

9. Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg by Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi

Wittenberg and Petruzzi have written what I believe to be the best book yet on Stuart’s adventures in Pennsylvania.  The authors and fellow bloggers tapped a large number of previously unused primary sources for the book.  The result is a detailed look at Stuart’s Ride which does not get caught up in the blame game so prevalent in secondary sources.  It also covers in great tactical detail the cavalry engagements which resulted from the ride.  If you can only afford one book on the subject, this one is it.

10. Gettysburg July 1 by David Martin

I went back and forth on whether to include this title in my Top 10 Gettysburg Books list, but in the end the positives outweighed the negatives.  Martin’s book to me is a better representation of the July 1 fighting at Gettysburg than Harry Pfanz’ similarly titled book.  I wanted to include a book on the first day’s fighting, so this by default was it.  Martin’s book, especially the first edition, suffered from numerous typos and errors of fact, so much so that the book has been panned in many circles.  Get the latest edition of the book that you can (the Amazon link above leads to the paperback version), and you will not be disappointed with this one.

I cannot end a discussion of the Top 10 Civil War Books on the Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg without mentioning Gettysburg Magazine, the only magazine I am aware of which focuses solely on one campaign.  If you are deeply interested in the Gettysburg Campaign, I highly recommend you subscribe to Gettysburg Magazine.  I finally did so last year after resisting for far too long, and I haven’t regretted it.

As I mentioned earlier in this blog entry, I am not the only person giving my list of the Top 10 Gettysburg books.  Check the space below and the permanent Top 10 Gettysburg Books page I’ve set up to see what books other Civil War bloggers chose and how those lists compare to mine.  I also hope to have a combined list very soon which will rank the books on a ten points for a first place vote to one point for a 10^th place vote basis.

Links to Other Top 10 Gettysburg Books Lists

• Ethan Rafuse of Civil Warriors: Live as of June 30, 2009!
• Mark Grimsley of Civil Warriors: Live as of July 1, 2009!
• Eric Wittenberg of Rantings of a Civil War Historian: Live as of July 1, 2009!
• Drew Wagenhoffer of Civil War Books and Authors: Live as of July 1, 2009!
• John Hoptak of The 48th Pennsylvania Infantry/Civil War Musings: Live as of July 1, 2009
• Harry Smeltzer of Bull Runnings: Live as of July 2, 2009!
• Craig Swain of To the Sound of the Guns: Live as of July 2, 2009!
• Nick Kurtz of Battlefield Wanderings: Live as of July 2, 2009!
• Chris Wehner of Blog 4 History: Live as of July 2, 2009!
• Rea Andrew Redd of Civil War Librarian: Live as of July 5, 2009!
  
• Elektratig’s The Road to the Road to Gettysburg: Top 10 Books on the Period Leading to War

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

Read many Civil War Book Reviews here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog!

Check out Brett’s Civil War Books!

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Top 10 Gettysburg Books

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Gettysburg Books: Combined Civil War Bloggers’ List
2. How To Read Three Gettysburg Books At Once
3. Top 10 Civil War Books on the Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg Civil War Blogs Series

It’s July, and that means it’s time for the 78th edition of the long running History Carnival here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog!  We move from one Brett to another this month.

Historians’ Methodology and Academic History

We start this month’s carnival at Crooked Timber, where Michele Lamont discusses what constitutes quality among historians and how to recognize it.  Tenured Radical Claire Potter  takes exception to a recent New York Times article decrying the decline of “traditional” history classes on college campuses.  Historian Rachel Leow guides researchers on how to get the most out of newspapers as sources at A Historian’s Craft.

Interesting Individuals

Romeo Vitelli of Providentia discusses the strange and gruesome circumstances surrounding Jean Lanfray’s successful attempts to kill his wife and daughters. Despite heavy drinking throughout the day by Lanfray, the “Green Fairy” was singled out as the sole cause.  Elizabeth Kerri Mahon explains how “Scandalous Woman” Lizzie Siddal, Victorian supermodel, found that she couldn’t live with or without the love of her life Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  The lifelong friendship of deaf/blind Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy is examined by Kim Nielsen at her eponymous blog.  She finds that contrary to what one would think, Macy relied more on Keller than the deaf/blind woman relied on Macy.

Military Individuals

The “Good Death” of Captain Charles W. Billings, Co. C., 20th Maine Volunteers, at Gettysburg in July, 1863 is examined in a four part blog series by David S. Heald at My Morbid Obsession.  Billings’ wife Ellen suffered much tragedy in her life, missing seeing her husband alive one last time by mere hours, and living long enough to bury all three of the couples’ children.  Meanwhile, at Soldier’s Mail: Letters Home 1916-1918, Sergeant Sam Avery of the 26^th “Yankee” Infantry Division in the A.E.F. writes home to his sister “Em” about the new men coming to relieve his outfit in France in June 1918.

Military History

Scott Manning produces sobering statistics regarding the Nazi Body Count in Europe at Digital Survivors.  Manning breaks down the deaths by country and by what groups of people were killed.  Former Civil War book publisher David Woodbury criticizes a recent Wall Street Journal article on “Seven Civil War Stories You Didn’t Learn in High School” and offers up his own, more interesting anecdotes from the war.  Civil War cavalry expert and prolific author Eric Wittenberg examines exactly which cavalry units were with Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg and how Lee utilized what was available to him in the absence of J.E.B. Stuart and several of the best cavalry brigades in the army.  Author Bob Thompson dissects the confused and confusing command structure of the Army of the Potomac…and how it led to the Union disaster at Cold Harbor.  He believes George Meade and Ulysses S. Grant should shoulder the lion’s share of the blame.  Brett Holman remarks on the possible effects and use of gas attacks on the British and by the British in World War 2 at Airminded.  British worries about desperate Nazi gas attacks turned out to be unfounded.

European History

Judith Weingarten tells the interesting tale of Lorenzo De’ Medici, Louis XI of France, and St. Zenobius’ magic ring at Zenobia: Empress of the East.  Philip Wilkinson of English Buildings describes the painting of St. Christopher, “Christ’s Strongman”, in the church of St Botolph’s, in Slapton, Northamptonshire.  The painting of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, is lined up facing the door to the church, and is the first thing a traveler sees upon entering.  Roy Booth at Early Modern Whale explores an early treatise on bee-keeping, where one would do well to remain sober and chaste while killing all of your bees before collecting the honey!

Miscellaneous: Reviews, Questions, and Pictures

Natalie Bennett reviews 428AD: An Ordinary Year At The End of the Roman Empire at Philobiblon.  Penny L. Richards has been investigating the use of wheelchairs at the Bronx Zoo in the 191os and wonders whether they were used for luxury or necessity at Disability Studies, Temple U.  If you have any information on this topic, let her know!  Last but not least, Tony L. Alexander gives readers a pictorial look at Nara, one of the ancient capitals of Japan at The Soul of Japan.

As for the 78th History Carnival, that’s all folks!  The next edition of the History Carnival should appear August 1 at History Today News.  Keep reading and keep blogging!

*****

Still here?  You might want to look over the Top 10 Gettysburg Books Civil War bloggers series, starting today and running through July 3 during the anniversary of the Civil War’s most famous battle.

Read many Civil War Book Reviews here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog!

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

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History Carnival 78

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I’ve decided to do the Abraham Lincoln Amazon.com Top 10 bestsellers on a bi-monthly basis since the topic doesn’t fit this blog as well as the Top 10 Civil War bestsellers.  Check out the April 2009 Amazon.com Top 10 Civil War bestsellers if you haven’t already, and look for the next Abe Top 10 in June.  I’ve enjoyed keeping an eye on this list to see how books move over time, and the Amazon.com Top 10 Civil War Books list has become a monthly or every other monthly feature at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog.  Readers who are looking for books many people are currently reading and commenting on can’t go wrong selecting books from this list.

As in each entry in the series, I’ve taken the liberty of removing non-Civil War related books from the list.  The books below are in the Civil War Top 10 as of May 22, 2009.  Numbers in parentheses mark the book’s prior position in the Top 10 from the last time I did the list.

Note: Some of these are the Kindle edition. Kindle is Amazon’s handheld device for reading books electronically.  Since last time, Amazon has come out with Kindle 2, a sleeker version which also allows you to upload many public domain books for minimal or no cost!

1. (1) Vicksburg, 1863 by Winston Groom

Summary: Groom, the author of Forrest Gump, tries his hand at recounting the Vicksburg Campaign.  Several reviews have stated Groom uses no notes, so this is probably a book I won’t be buying now or in the future.

2. (2) This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

Summary: Faust argues that 1860s America’s familiarity with death led to massive casualty rates, acceptable by those standards but appalling when looked at through today’s lens. This book has been one of the most reviewed Civil War books I’ve seen over the past 3 or so years since I started blogging.

3. (4) Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson

Summary: Quite simply the best single volume history of the Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom should be in every Civil War buff’s collection.

4. (5) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Summary: Although obscure when initially written in the 1970s, Michael Shaara’s fictional account of Gettysburg has been a bestseller pretty much since the movie GETTYSBURG was released in 1993.

5. (3) Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History by Alan Huffman

Summary: I recently received a copy of Sultana for review, so regular TOCWOC readers should definitely find out what I thought of the book in the coming months.  Journalist Alan Huffman tells the story of America’s worst maritime disaster (for once a subtitle is not complete hyperbole) by following four Union soldiers who were present.

6. (6) The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War by H. W. Crocker III

Summary: There has been some interesting discussion lately on this one recently in the Civil War blogosphere.  The author appears to have a bit of a Southern bias judging from reading the blog entries referenced here.

7. (7) Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant

Summary: At a time when most personal memoirs were full of self-serving propaganda designed to make the memoirist look as good as possible, Grant’s memoirs have been lauded for their honesty.  Grant struggled to finish the book as he was dying of throat cancer, and narrowly succeeded, securing a nice amount of money for his family in the process.  This is another classic Civil War book which almost anyone will want to own.

8. (8) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

Summary: Jacobs was a slave, and she chronicled her experiences in this book, released in 1861.  Her attacks on slavery served to further educate the public as to the evils of the peculiar institution.

9. (-) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Summary: The autobiography of one of the most famous Abolitionists ever.  I have not yet had the pleasure of reading this one. Douglass’ book is the first on this list which focuses mainly on slavery and the life of slaves to remain near the top of the bestseller list. So much for harping on readers’ complete ignorance concerning the great racial elephant in the room, or what some corners of the Civil War blogosphere would call the ONLY reason to even study the conflict.

10. (10) Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz

Summary: This is one book I’m genuinely sorry I haven’t yet had the chance to read.  Horwitz, winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his foreign war correspondence work, here details Civil War re-enactors and the continuing hold the Civil War has on the American public. There has been some criticism from certain groups about Horwitz’ misrepresentation of typical reenactors, but I’m in no position to judge the validity of that argument.

Dropped Out This Month:

Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas by Benson Bobrick

Summary: Fellow TOCWOC blogger Jim Durney reviewed Master of War rather unfavorably awhile ago, and it received quite a few comments, including some from the author himself.  Unfortunately, this book looks to me to be an attempt to raise Thomas up at the expense of Sherman and Grant.  If you are looking for a balanced biography of George Thomas, this isn’t it.

Brett’s Final Thoughts:

Now that I’ve gone through and removed the Abraham Lincoln books from the list, we are starting to see a better representation of books focusing on the Civil War in this list.  As you can see, there was not much change in the Top 10 Civil War Bestsellers this month.  This has been atypical of the list in my past experience.  Keep in mind that “bestselling” definitely does not always mean “best”.  Instead, this is a glimpse into what is popular among Amazon’s admittedly large customer base.  In any event, whether you are new to the study of the Civil War or an experienced veteran, check out the Amazon.com Top 10 Civil War Books List and see if there is something there for you.

Previous Books in the Top 10 Prior to Last Month’s Top 10:

This section was reset last month.  Check back in June 2009 to see which books drop out and which ones take their place in the Civil War Top 10.

Look over past Top 10 Civil War Books lists to see how various books have done over time!

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Top 10 Amazon.com Civil War Bestsellers: May 2009

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I recently came up with a list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs I read on a daily basis, and inadvertently omitted Rene Tyree’s excellent Wig-Wags blog from my list.  With that omission in mind, I reflected on those blogs which narrowly missed the cut and decided to come up with another list of Top 10 Civil War Blogs, those blogs which didn’t quite make the original Top 10 Civil War blogs list, but which provide students of the Civil War with a lot of valuable information as well.  Some of these blogs are focused on areas I’m not as interested in personally, but which still deserve to be mentioned since they will appeal to many Civil War buffs.  I’m going to do this Top 10 Civil War blogs list a little differently, with no numbering system and listed in alphabetical order.  Of course, I plan to include Wig-Wags this time to make up for my earlier mistake!  If a blog didn’t make this list, it probably had a little to do with posting frequency.  Those who post more often got the nod over others who don’t keep up such a regular schedule.  Without further ado, here is the next list of Top 10 Civil War blogs.

Top 10 Civil War Blogs: 11-20

• Blog 4 History: American Civil War: Chris Wehner’s Blog 4 History not only covers Civil War topics but also other topics in American History. Chris also maintains the Civil War Top 100 list.

• Cenantua’s Blog: Robert Moore (aka Cenantua) is the author of several books in the H.E. Howard series and focuses on how Southerners remember the war and questions those who fail to note the difference between Southern History as a whole and Confederate History, one part of that whole.

• Civil War Librarian: Professor Rea Andrew Redd focuses on highlighting upcoming Civil War books and reviewing new and old books. Many posts are drawn from other sources with “CWLs” take on the book in a paragraph at the bottom. In any case, this is a good source for upcoming Civil War books.

• Civil War Memory: Kevin Levin’s Civil War Memory, like Robert Moore’s blog, focuses on remembrance, specifically how people remember the Civil War today. Quite a bit of time is spent highlighting how Confederate heritage groups remember the war and disagreeing vehemently with their views. Black Confederates and modern day uses of the Confederate flag are frequent topics of debate.

• Civil War Women: Blogger “Maggiemac” blogs about women who made their mark during the Civil War. Abolitionists, wives of Civil War generals, nurses, female soldiers, and more are given their due in a “one post per individual” format.

• Hoofbeats and Cold Steel: Author J.D. Petruzzi blogs often about the Union cavalry and Gettysburg, mainly because he has written books and articles on these subjects.

• North Carolina and the Civil War: Another author, Michael C. Hardy, runs North Carolina and the Civil War. He has authored many regimental histories of North Carolina units as well as a history of the Battle of Hanover Court House during the Peninsula Campaign.

• Teaching the Civil War with Technology: Jim Beeghley’s Teaching the Civil War with Technology provides readers (many of them presumably teachers J) with ways to teach students about the Civil War in new and exciting ways. Jim is an avid fan of Web 2.0 and is always looking for more ways to connect with the students of today.

• To the Sound of the Guns: Craig Swain’s To the Sound of the Guns is what Harry Smeltzer would call an “information compilation” blog. In this case, pictures and other information of Civil War monuments and battlefields are what is being compiled by Craig. He also frequently provides readers with updates on the Historical Marker Database project.

• Wig-Wags: Rene Tyree’s Wig-Wags, like Chris Wehner’s Blog 4 History, does not focus solely on the Civil War.  However, Rene has taken more than one Civil War course in his graduate studies, provides Civil War book reviews, original articles on interesting Civil War topics, and has made me REALLY, REALLY want to buy a Kindle 2 or Kindle DX!

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Top 10 Civil War Blogs Redux

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Mac Wyckoff is the author of A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables, a new entry in the South Carolina Regimental-Roster Set published by Broadfoot Publishing.  He has been a student of the 3^rd South Carolina Regiment for over 20 years, wrote a unit history of the 3^rd South Carolina (which is the first edition of this book), and also runs the informative South Carolina in the Civil War web site, making Mr. Wyckoff a perfect candidate to write this book in the series.  In my recent review of A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables, I called this book “arguably the best volume in the South Carolina Regimental-Roster Set written to date.”  The following interview was recently conducted with Mac Wyckoff.  Enjoy!

BRS: Mr. Wyckoff, thank you for agreeing to an interview with TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog.

MW:   Thank you for the opportunity.

BRS: Feel free to tell us a little bit about yourself.  When, where, and how did you become interested in the Civil War?

MW:  I grew up in Oregon where there is virtually no knowledge or interest in the Civil War. As a history major at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon I heard a total of one lecture on the Civil War. That was a comparison of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the Willamette Valley of Oregon where the college was located. The lecture focused on similarities such as both being farming areas and the unusual feature that in both valleys the rivers run from south to north. In the fall of 1975 I got my first job as a historian at Fort Stevens State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River. It was named after Isaac Ingalls Stevens a territorial governor of Washington (across the river from the fort), but better known to your readers as a Civil War general killed at Chantilly.  The fort was built to protect the entrance to the Columbia River from Confederate raiders in the Pacific. Ironically its gun platforms were completed on April 9, 1865, the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. During the Spanish American War, several concrete gun emplacements were constructed and named after soldiers like David Russell of Civil War fame killed at the 3^rd Battle of Winchester. I knew nothing about Civil War generals like Stevens or Russell or the battles in which they died. The forts claim to fame came in June of 1942 when it was shelled by a Japanese submarine, the only fortification in the continental United States attacked during the 20^th century.  I was the first historian at the park with the job of researching the history of the fort and supervising the restoration effort.

After the term of my employment ended I applied for jobs with the National Park Service. In the spring of 1977 I was hired at Fort Sumter National Monument. This was a perfect place for me as I had developed an interest in coastal fortifications which is a theme of Fort Sumter National Monument. I was the first civilian to live in the fort since the workers who constructed the fort.  It was a great place to live and work with my interest in coastal fortifications. However, there was not a lot to do in the evenings living along on a man-made island in the middle of Charleston Harbor.  I enjoyed the sunsets, listened to the radio and could watch all of three local television stations. That left a lot of time to read. Next to my little room was one of the park libraries which contained books written about the Civil War. Since my job involved talking to visitors about the beginning of the war, I read a lot about the beginning of the war, but still had only a faint and general knowledge of the bigger picture of the war.  On my days off I explored South Carolina which is different from my home state in almost every way.

That winter I took a week off and journeyed to the Mid-Atlantic area where I visited Civil War battlefields (Petersburg, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam, and Gettysburg) for the first time. Unlike many of my co-workers in the years to come who had grown up reading and visiting Civil War Battlefields, I was 29 years-old when I first stepped on to a battlefield.

After my appointment at Fort Sumter ended in early 1978, I was hired at Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.  By now I had developed an interest in the Civil War and had acquired books to read. I also visited Vicksburg several times.

In the fall of 1978 I was hired at the National Visitor Center in Union Station in Washington, D.C.  Six weeks later the National Park Service was basically kicked out of Union Station so that the building could be returned to a train station and shopping mall. I transferred to the National Mall. Living in Northern Virginia presented many opportunities to explore the nearby battlefields. In the spring of 1979 I left the National Park Service to get married and return to my beloved Oregon.

I continued to read about the Civil War and in the spring of 1981 I was hired by Shiloh National Military Park.  This was my first job as a historian on a battlefield. Since nearly 100% of the Shiloh is preserved, I spent much time exploring the battlefield. One of my duties was to inventory every monument, information tablet, and cannon on the battlefield. Shiloh has one of the largest collection of these things in the country. While many of these are obvious to tourists, others are more obscure, such as a cannon I found in someone’s backyard petunia garden. Although the garden was private property, technically by law the cannon occupied park property. I also explored nearby battlefields of Corinth, Tupelo, Brices Cross Roads, Fort Donelson, and Stones River.

In the fall of 1983 I transferred to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Here I became involved in a Civil War Round Table and began to lecture of the war and lead more serious battlefield tours. Two of us spent our lunch hours finding every monument, information tablet, and cannon on the battlefield. The park has so many that this took seventeen months. I believe I am the only person who has seen every monument, information tablet, and cannon at Shiloh and Chickamauga.

In the fall of 1986, I transferred to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military which contains the four battlefields around Fredericksburg. Working for Bob Krick, for the first time, I was working with a group of serious Civil War historians. It was here that I really learned how to lecture, lead tours, and conduct research. Members of our staff spent much of our days off seriously visiting the Eastern Theatre battlefields from Petersburg to Gettysburg and in visiting research libraries. It was at this time that I started researching Kershaw’s Brigade and spent several weeks a year in South Carolina as well as Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill libraries. I acquired the Compiled Service Records for the 2^nd and 3^rd South Carolina. I borrowed on intra-library loan every South Carolina newspaper that exists on micro-film from the Civil War era and some from the post-war years. I spent probably five years looking through these service records and newspapers.

I retired at the end of September, 2008 to return to my beloved Oregon.

BRS: Like Lee Sturkey, you have studied one South Carolina unit for 20+ years.  Why and how did you become interested in the 3^rd South Carolina?

MW:  When I transferred from Chickamauga to Fredericksburg in 1986, I was asked to specialize in a person or unit.  Since my goal was to broaden my background of the war, I decided that studying a person was too narrow a focus and decided a brigade was the right size unit to study. I wanted to study a unit that fought at Chickamauga and in all four major battles in the Fredericksburg area.  That limited my choices to Longstreet’s Corps. By a process of limitation I finally got down to Kershaw’s Brigade because it was closer to go to South Carolina to do research than to Alabama. Mississippi, or Texas, no one had really studied these regiments, and because at the time I lived on Marye’s Heights along the Sunken Road where Kershaw’s men had fought. I first studied and wrote about the 2^nd South Carolina. I then moved on to the 3^rd South Carolina.

BRS: This particular volume in the South Carolina Regimental-Roster Set focuses exclusively on the 3^rd South Carolina.  In a recent interview with Tom Broadfoot, the publisher mentioned that you had already had a manuscript prepared for the unit.  I also read in the book that this is the second edition of your book.  It strikes me as a particularly good idea by Broadfoot Publishing to solicit authors who have already written unit histories in one form or another to do the volumes for those units in the South Carolina Regimental Roster-Set.  How did you participation in this series come about?

MW: For several years I had been working on the complete re-writing of my book on the 3^rd South Carolina. I needed a publisher. After Mike Wadsworth told me that he had talked to Tom Broadfoot about publishing my book, I contacted Tom who told me about the new series he was publishing. Through my many contacts in South Carolina I have subsequently worked with Tom Broadfoot and Bob Krick in finding authors for the remaining books of the series. For many years I have worked with Jim Clary whose book on the 15^th South Carolina and Sam Davis whose book on the 3^rd South Carolina Battalion will be published in the next round of this series.

BRS: I thought your use of the letters and diaries of members of the 3^rd South Carolina was very well done and added tremendously to my enjoyment of A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables.  I almost felt like I knew men such as James Nance, “Drate” Rutherford, and especially Tally Simpson.  How did you go about selecting which letters and diary entries to use in the book?

MW: I had used Tally Simpson’s and James Nance’s letters in the first volume of my book. On a trip to South Carolina some friends I was staying with presented me with a huge pile of letters written by William “Drate” Rutherford. Their relative had inherited the letters and he was going to throw them away when he invited them over to see the letters before he destroyed them. They responded by showing him a copy of the first edition of my book on the 3^rd South Carolina. That led to him saving the letters and making a copy for me and a copy for the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina. It took me over six months to transcribe the huge pile of letters. The rich content of the letters convinced me that I needed to re-write my book and frame it around the story of the men of the 3^rd South Carolina. Since the publication of my first edition, my interest in the war had evolved from the story of the battles to the story of the men of the unit. Near the end of the writing process, the South Caroliniana Library presented me with a fairly large collection of letters written by Y.J. Pope. After transcribing these letters the connection between Nance, the colonel for much of the war, Rutherford, the lieutenant colonel for much of the war, and Pope, the adjutant for much of the war, became clear. I retained the story contained in the Simpson’s letters, elaborated on the story of Nance, and added the stories of Rutherford and Pope. To this I added whatever other information I could find that would personalize the story of this unit. Through additional research I had obtained additional source material. After the publication of the first edition, numerous descendants of the soldiers had learned of my interest in the 3^rd South Carolina and had sent me photos, personal information on the soldiers to add to the roster and letters and diaries which I used to expand the narrative story. More source material and a better understanding of the war allowed me to greatly expand on several campaigns of the war including the East Tennessee Campaign Overland Campaign, 1^st Deep Bottom, and the Carolinas Campaign.

The title of my book is A History of the 3^rd South Carolina, not The History of the 3^rd South Carolina. It is the story of some of the men in the regiment, not all of them. I know very little about hundreds of the men who served in the 3^rd South Carolina. If they wrote letters, dairies, or memoirs, I have not been able to find them. In most cases the documents no longer exist, but there is one major letter collection of 3^rd South Carolina letters that the family has chosen to keep to themselves. The thoughts and experiences of these other soldiers remain unknown.

BRS: The 3^rd South Carolina first saw action at Savage Station.  In what would be considered a smaller fight at Savage Station, the 3^rd South Carolina lost its third highest number of casualties of the entire war.  I seem to recall an article in one of William Miller’s three books on the Peninsula Campaign which focused on Kershaw’s Brigade at Savage Station.  Were you the author of that essay?

MW: Yes, I wrote an essay of Kershaw’s Brigade at Savage Station for one of William Miller’s books of essays concerning the Peninsula and Seven Days Campaign. Morningside Press had earlier published my essay on Kershaw’s Brigade at Gettysburg in their publication Gettysburg. I also wrote the introduction to the Broadfoot edition of D.A. Dickert’s A History of Kershaw’s Brigade. Although Savage Station was a relatively minor engagement, the four regiments of Kershaw’s Brigade supported by Kemper’s Virginia Battery fought with minimal assistance and paid a high price for their effort.

BRS: In many accounts of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Cobb’s Georgians get all of the credit for beating back the Federal assaults.  However, they had some help, including Kershaw’s Brigade (of which the 3^rd was a part).  In fact, the 3^rd South Carolina suffered its second most casualties of the entire war at Fredericksburg.  What role did Kershaw’s Brigade play there?

MW: Cobb’s Brigade held the Sunken Road along a conveniently located Stone Wall during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Two North Carolina brigades of Ransom’s Division held Marye’s Heights above the road. Soon after the battle began, Cobb was mortally wounded and Kershaw assumed command of this part of the field.  Kershaw brought initially the 2^nd and 8^th South Carolina to the Sunken Road and later the 3^rd and 7^th South Carolina took position around the Marye House. The 15^th South Carolina eventually arrived and supported the 2^nd and 8^th South Carolina, Cobb’s Brigade, and elements of Ransom’s Division along the Sunken Road. The 3^rd South Carolina Battalion guarded the southern flank of the Marye’s Heights sector of the battlefield.

While Fredericksburg is usually remembered for the slaughter of Union soldiers in front of Marye’s Heights, the 3^rd South Carolina ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Six companies of The 3^rd South Carolina rushed forward to secure a position on what I call the “killing knoll,” slightly northeast of the Marye House. Arriving at the knoll, the men immediately hit the ground under severe fire from Howard’s and Hancock’s divisions. The top seven commanders were quickly shot. Colonel James Nance despite a severe leg wound managed to pull the regiment back to a safer position in front of the house. My visit to these exact spots made it obvious why Nance initially led the regiment to the “killing knoll”, why they were shot up, and why they retreated to their second position on the heights. The unit lost 41% of their men. Five of the six companies that fought on the “killing knoll” lost between 47% and 89% of their men. A sixth company that fought on the knoll and the four companies that arrived later and did not fight on the “killing knoll” suffered much few casualties as did the 7^th South Carolina on much safer ground immediately to their right.

BRS: Experienced leadership grew to crisis levels in the later part of the war.  You mention several times how lack of experienced leaders at the regimental and brigade level severely reduced the combat effectiveness of the 3^rd and Kershaw’s former brigade after Jimmy Nance’s death at the Wilderness.  Was this a widespread phenomenon in the entire Army of Northern Virginia in 1864-1865?  How did the experience of Kershaw’s Brigade compare with those of other regiments in the ANV?

MW: While I have not studied other brigades of Lee’s army in the depth I have studied Kershaw’s Brigade, many other Southern brigades suffered a similar fate in the spring and summer of 1864. The Overland Campaign, Wilderness to the Battle for Petersburg May 5-June 19, is the bloodiest campaign in American history. Both sides were devastated especially in the loss of high ranking officers. Both sides had only a limited number of good officers. By the summer of 1864, heavy casualties among officers on both sides reduced the combat effectiveness. In my book, I make the point that Kershaw’s Brigade saved Lee’s army from disaster on May 6 at Wilderness. In doing so, the brigade suffered relatively few casualties, but among them were some of its most effective combat leaders. Importantly I argue was the loss of Colonel Nance of the 3^rd South Carolina. Holding a strong position two days later at Spotsylvania they again save Lee’s army. But after there was a sharp decline in efficiency in their next battles – North Anna on May 23, Cold Harbor on June 1, and during the 1^st Deep Bottom Campaign. In the early weeks of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign they again suffer few casualties in numbers, but they included the last of their good leaders leading to their disaster at Cedar Creek.

BRS: In my recent review of A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables, I was especially impressed with your maps, especially those drawn by Tim Belshaw and credited to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.   Are these maps for sale to the general public? If so, how would someone go about getting a copy?

MW:  Tim Belshaw made the maps for my friend Jim Clary who wrote a book on the 15^th which fought initially with Drayton’s Brigade and with Kershaw’s brigade after the Maryland Campaign.  The maps were made so that I could also use them in my book. I used some of Tim’s maps that he made for the 15^th South Carolina book and supplemented those with maps that appeared in the first edition of my 3^rd South Carolina book for the early part of the war before the 15^th South Carolina joined the brigade. I realize that created a book with a variety of quality of maps. Jim Clary’s book was initially self published and a second edition will appear in Broadfoot’s South Carolina Regimental Series.

BRS: The 3^rd South Carolina was involved in the Petersburg Campaign, one of my personal favorites to study.  You mention several times throughout the book that as the war goes on, it becomes more and more difficult to find good information on the regiment.  What kinds of obstacles did you face in this regard and how did you attempt to overcome those obstacles?

MW:  Kershaw’s Brigade was only minimally involved in the Petersburg Campaign. There are no After Action Reports providing the brigade’s basic story of what they did at Petersburg. There are few casualty lists and except for the Greensboro Surrender Rolls, there is no information in the soldier’s Compiled Service Records after June 30, 1864. But the biggest obstacle was that by the Petersburg Campaign most of the letter writers and diarists had been killed, captured, or discharged for medical reasons.  With the help of Chris Calkins and the staff at Petersburg National Battlefield, I was able to patch together a very basic narrative of what happened based upon what few accounts I could find.

A major obstacle in dealing with the 1^st Deep Bottom portion of the campaign was that my biggest source was D.A. Dickert’s A History of Kershaw’s Brigade. Dickert served in the 3^rd South Carolina and was a wonderful story teller, but he wrote his book in 1899. He often confused events and got things out of chronological order. His account of 1^st Deep Bottom is terribly flawed. With the help of Bryce Suderow we were able to figure out what really happened in that battle. Bryce kindly shared his not yet published manuscript of Deep Bottom with me and he and Bobby Krick of Richmond National Battlefield Park took me on a detailed tour of the 1^st Deep Bottom Battlefield.

My long time friend Ted Mahr author of the best book on Cedar Creek worked closely with me in understanding the Shenandoah Valley campaign and shared information with me.  Rich Kleese a local resident and Civil War student spent several days taking me to specific spots on the Hupp’s Hill and Cedar Creek battlefields. Jim Clary and I explored the routes followed by Kershaw’s Brigade in the 1865 South Carolina Campaign against Sherman and Mark Bradley (the author of the best books on the Carolinas Campaign) joined us in touring the Averaboro and Bentonville battlefield.

In fact, to accurately tell the story of the battles I spent many days touring all the battlefields in which Kershaw’s Brigade participated. I was accompanied by other Civil War historians on these tours including at least one day of each battlefield with a leading expert on that battle. For example, a group of people with the Knoxville Civil War Round Table and local relic hunters took me on a full day tour tracing the route of Kershaw’s Brigade in the Knoxville Campaign. Another historian accompanied me in driving as close as possible the exact route followed by the brigade from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg. We then walked the route followed by the brigade in the Battle of Gettysburg. I have walked the ground at Gettysburg on numerous occasions with various members of the staff at Gettysburg National Military and other Gettysburg experts. Dennis Frye, the leading expert on the Maryland Campaign, took me around Antietam and one cold December day we hiked the exact route followed by the 3^rd South Carolina in climbing Maryland Heights and examined the ground they fought on.  Mike Miller led me around the North Anna Battlefield. As mentioned above, I spent several years walking the Chickamauga and Fredericksburg area battlefields

To understand a battle, you must spend a lot of time on the actual battlefield. In reading a Civil War book it becomes obvious to me if the author had actually spent much time on the battlefield.

Another thing I did was to submit each battle chapter to at least two experts on that battle to review the chapter for historical accuracy.

BRS: As I mentioned to Lee Sturkey in our recent interview, many unit histories of those units which participated in the war in Virginia quite often “gloss over” the fighting after Gettysburg.  The typical unit history shoves the usual “Wilderness-Spotsylvania-Cold Harbor-The Crater-Five Forks-Appomattox” refrain into only one or two short chapters.  As did Sturkey’s volume in this series, your book seems to cover the actions of the 3^rd South Carolina at Deep Bottom and in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 in as much detail as possible given the sources.  What are your thoughts on the Petersburg Campaign and its relative lack of coverage in Civil War literature?

MW:  I know less about the Petersburg Campaign than other major campaign of the war. For one thing, Kershaw’s Brigade, as mentioned above, played only a minimal role in the Petersburg Campaign so in writing my books I did not need to understand all the numerous battles of the campaign. Secondly is the large number of actions of the campaign. In the last 20-30 years there have been several good books on Petersburg or specific aspects of the campaign. I would refer interested readers to the writings of Chris Calkins, Will Green, and Noah Andre Trudeau as well as Dick Sommers classic Richmond Redeemed. If Bryce Suderow gets his manuscript published, it will fill a major void in 1^st and 2^nd Deep Bottom.

A nice thing about studying the Petersburg Campaign is the battlefield land acquisition in recent years by Petersburg National Battlefield, Civil War Preservation Trust, and the establishment and expansion of Pamplin Civil War Park. Understanding a battle involves the combination of reading and walking the battlefields which are now more possible than in any previous time.

BRS: I noticed the rosters were in smaller type in your book than in the other three current titles in the series.  Was this intentional?  If so, why was this decision made?  The smaller type didn’t detract from the information, so this is more of an observation than any kind of criticism.

MW:  Each book in the series is done differently. I used the smaller type for the roster to reduce the number of pages which saves publication money.

BRS: I have been a frequent visitor to your South Carolina in the Civil War web site.  I was especially impressed with the Civil War in Charleston area.  If you could, tell us a little bit about what you do there.

MW: I developed my South Carolina in the Civil War website over ten years ago to fill what I thought was a void. I did not develop the Civil War in Charleston site which is an excellent website, I linked to it. My website was intended to be a list of links to information on South Carolina in the war including battles, soldiers, events, and research sources such as libraries and historical societies.  Today there are several similar websites to mine and I no longer update my website.

About the same time I started an annual conference on South Carolina in the Civil War. Again the purpose was to fill a void. In the middle 1990′s I wished to attend a conference on South Carolina in the war to expand my understanding of South Carolina’s role in the war and 19^th century South Carolina history in general. There was no conference so I started my own which I ran from 400 miles away in Fredericksburg. After managing the conference for seven or eight years I turned control over to South Carolinians – the staff at The South Carolina Department of Archives and History and The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. The conference is held annually on the third weekend of September at the Archives in Columbia.

BRS: A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables was actually a second edition of your original book on the regiment.  I noticed that you also have written a volume on the 2^nd Carolina as well.  Do you plan to write a second edition of that book for the South Carolina Regimental-Roster Set series?  Also, do you have any other book projects in the works or on the backburner?

MW:   I am currently working on editing the letters of a member of the 3^rd South Carolina, Thomas Shields. The University of South Carolina Press is interested in publishing the letters. For many years I have written columns for the Fredericksburg newspaper on the theme of developing the human side of the warrior. Those columns can be found in the archives of the website for the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star newspaper. As I get older it becomes harder and harder to put in the necessary work in researching, writing, and editing to produce a quality book. I spent nearly $10,000 of my own money on getting my 3^rd South Carolina book professionally edited and set up to make it print ready. I will only receive a small fraction of that amount in payments for my book. I am not sure I can afford to do another book. If my health holds up, and I can afford it, and if Broadfoot continues the Series, I will consider a second edition of my 2^nd South Carolina after I finish my current project. I have kept up in adding information to the roster, but the narrative needs a lot of work. I doubt I will make the same kind of all out effort that I put into the second edition of my 3^rd South Carolina.

I would add that I was disappointed to learn that my book had so many editing problems since about two years and over $4000 were spent in the editing process. I think what happened is that one editor believed in combining short sentences into long sentences, flipping the end of a sentence to the beginning, and was unconcerned about using inactive verbs. A second editor then wanted the sentences returned to their shorter length, flipping the sentence structure back, and turning inactive to active sentences. This ended up in creating confusion and mistakes that you mentioned in your review. I take full responsibility for the mistakes.  I appreciate your kind and fair review of my book.

BRS: Thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions Mac.  I appreciate it and I’m sure TOCWOC readers will too.

MW:  Thank you again for the opportunity.

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Interview with Mac Wyckoff: Author of A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables

Related posts:

1. Review: A History of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment: Lee’s Reliables
2. Civil War Book Review: A History of the 15th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment: 1861-1865
3. Interview with the Author of Unholy Sabbath: The History of South Mountain in Memory and History

Update: I’ve added another Top 10 Civil War Blogs list, this time focusing on blogs which just missed the cut for the initial list below.

Since I’ve been on a Top 10 kick here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog recently, I thought it might be fun to do a Top 10 Civil War Blogs list to highlight the best Civil War blogs out there.  As long time readers here know, I keep a list of ALL Civil War Blogs in my Civil War blogroll in the right sidebar.  I also plan to link to the blogs in this Top 10 Civil War blogs list and share the link juice with these very deserving candidates.  In that vein, I encourage ALL Civil War bloggers to do their own Top 10 Civil War Blog lists and share the wealth.  This is a very friendly community for the most part.  So, in looking over every Civil War blog in the blogroll, here are, in my humble opinion, the ten best Civil War blogs out there.

Top 10 Civil War Blogs

1. Civil War Books and Authors: Drew Wagenhoffer’s site focuses almost exclusively on book reviews.  Luckily for all of us, he is far and away the best book reviewer in the Civil War blogosphere.  I have learned of more new, old, and in between books at Drew’s site than anywhere else

2. Bull Runnings: Harry Smeltzer’s Bull Runnings is an effort to digitize a battle, and one which all others who hope to do the same should study carefully before beginning their own.

3. My year of living Rangerously: Mannie Gentile’s use of video and pictures  makes his efforts to relay the life of an Antietam Park Ranger and miniature wargamer somewhat unique in the Civil War blogosphere.

4. Civil War Bookshelf: The granddaddy of Civil War blogs, Dimitri Rotov’s Civil War Bookshelf was in operation before many of us knew what a blog was!  Dimitri regularly challenges the work of “Centennial” historians and asks readers to read their Civil War books carefully and with a healthy dose of skepticism.

5. Rantings of a Civil War Historian: Eric Wittenberg started blogging several years back around the same time I did.  Eric is one of the most respected non-Academic authors in the Civil War community, and he publishes books on battles and campaigns which I (and most of the public) find very interesting.

6. Civil Warriors: The trio of Mark Grimsley, Brooks Simpson, and Ethan Rafuse form the academic version to TOCWOC’s group of amateurs.  Group blogs are a great idea because they give you different perspectives.  Brooks is a U.S. Grant expert, Ethan knows a TON about George McClellan, and Mark has written one of the most important Civil War books to come out in quite some time.

7. Elektratig: Although Elektratig’s blog is more about the antebellum years, reading his blog gives one a great idea of what happened in the tumultuous years leading up to the Civil War.

8. The 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry/ Civil War Musings: John Hoptak, a Park Ranger at Antietam, provides numerous insights into the 48th Pennsylvania, the battle of Antietam, and much more at his excellent Civil War blog.

9. A Publisher’s Perspective: Even in these poor economic times, Civil War book publisher Ted Savas gets it.  Read his blog for some interesting looks into the sometimes difficult and always interesting world of Civil War publishing.

10. Draw the Sword…: Jenny Goellnitz currently covers monuments at the Gettysburg battlefield.  She also runs the web’s premier site on Confederate General A.P. Hill.

UPDATE: I completely forgot to add Rene Tyree’s excellent Wig-Wags blog as well.  It definitely deserves a spot in any Civil War Top 10 list.  I’m not going to bump anyone from this list but I will encourage TOCWOC’s readers to visit Rene daily.  You’ll learn a lot!

UPDATE 2: Elektratig was kind enough to add additions to my Civil War Top 10, and included TOCWOC in his own list.  Thanks Elektratig!  Your views are always appreciated here.  I will also include other Civil War Top 10 lists in this space if others want to join in on the fun with their own picks.

• Don at Crossed Sabers has joined the fun and posted his own Top 10 Civil War blogs list, with TOCWOC coming in at #7.  Thanks Don!

So there you have it.  This is my list of Top 10 Civil War blogs currently in business, and the ones I go back to again and again for insightful, entertaining reading.  In compiling this list I tried to make sure this was a well rounded group of blogs rather than one tailored to subjects of limited interest to most students of the Civil War.

So, how did I do?  What are your favorites?

Check out the entire list of Civil War blogs I currently know of here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog.

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Top 10 Civil War Blogs

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Civil War Blogs Redux
2. Civil War Blogs List: TOCWOC Reader Tools
3. Civil War Blogs (Blogroll)