Rod Gragg. Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher. Harpercollins; 1st edition, January 1991.
After having purchased a primarily naval account of Fort Fisher, I decided to pick up Rod Gragg’s book as well. I’m not all that familiar with the Fort Fisher Campaign, but this hardback looks pretty well done, aside from the smoky smell when I pulled it out of the package!
Chris E., Jr. Fonvielle. Fort Anderson: Battle for Wilmington. Da Capo Press, March 1999.
For whatever reason the coastal operations along the Carolinas is another area I’ve neglected for far too long. In an effort to rectify my ignorance, I’ve purchased quite a few books recently on the subject. This particular book looks at the fall of Wilmington, North Carolina late in the war. Wilmington was the last Southern port open to blockade runners, so its capture was important in that regard.
Gary W. Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, Editors. The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History. Indiana University Press, November 2000.
Discussion of the Lost Cause inevitably leads to conflict between those criticizing post-war Southern manipulation of the historical record and some native Southerners. This fact can plainly be seen in the widely divergent ratings for this book at Amazon. The Lost Cause is controversial, and controversy sells. When I saw this one on sale at Indiana University Press, I snatched it up immediately. It’s definitely different from my usual campaign studies, but after reading Kevin Levin‘s work on how the facts of the Crater were changed or obscured after the war, I have a feeling this one will be pretty interesting.
Alan T. Nolan, Editor. Giants in Their Tall Black Hats: Essays on the Iron Brigade. Indiana University Press, October 1998.
The Iron Brigade, from the moment I first learned of the unit, has held a special fascination for me. This all-Western Brigade, first led by the by-the-book John Gibbon, was widely regarded as the best combat unit in the Army of the Potomac at least through Gettysburg. Their post-Gettysburg record is spotty due to the large number of conscripts they received. Nevertheless, it should be a lot of fun sitting down and reading these essays covering this well-known group. As an aside, I also picked this book up from Indiana University press at 75% off.
Jim Leeke, Editor. A Hundred Days to Richmond: Ohio’s “Hundred Days” Men in the Civil War. Indiana University Press, November 1999.
This unit history, told almost entirely in the words of the soldiers who were there, holds particular interest for me. Some of the Ohio Hundred Days men were formed into an ad hoc division on Bermuda Hundred during the Petersburg Campaign, and I had some difficulty figuring out just when this happened. In just scanning through the notes of the book, I found that this division was created on June 19, 1864, thus helping to clarify the whole-scale changes in the Army of the James from the middle to the end of June, 1864. This was the third book that I picked up from the Indiana Press University sale.
Gary Loderhose. Far, Far From Home: The Ninth Florida Regiment in the Confederate Army. Guild Press of Indiana; 1 edition, May 1999.
This is another unit history I picked up due to the unit’s involvement in the Petersburg Campaign. Looking at the National Park Service’s Petersburg units page, the 9th Florida was engaged at Globe Tavern (the Weldon Railroad) on August 18, 1864.
Darrell L. Collins. General William Averell’s Salem Raid: Breaking the Knoxville Supply Line. Burd Street Press, January 1999.
I just recently finished Eric Wittenberg’s book The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: From Hartwood Church to Brandy Station, 1863, which concludes with the sacking of Averell. Eric mentioned Averell’s future pursuits, one of which was this raid on Salem in the southwestern portion of Virginia. Apparently Averell’s men crossed mountainous terrain in the dead of winter to pull off a spectacular success. It was fortuitous, then, when this book showed up on eBay just as I was reading the concluding chapter of Eric’s book.
Duane P. Schultz. The Dahlgren Affair: Terror and Conspiracy in the Civil War. W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st ed edition, September 1998.
Oddly enough, this is another Eric Wittenberg inspired purchase. Eric, as readers of his blog know, is fascinated by Ulric Dahlgren. Reading Eric’s continuing blog entries got me interested as well.
Marion V. Armstrong. Disaster in the West Woods: General Edwin V. Sumner and the II Corps at Antietam. Western Maryland Interpretive Association, Sharpsburg, MD, 2002.
Dimitri Rotov’s friend had a book sale recently due to his need for increased shelf space, and I benefited greatly. The first book I picked up was this one. Armstrong’s book covering Sumner’s II Corps in the West Woods is pretty scarce today apparently. I couldn’t find it at Amazon, and only one copy is at the Abebooks link above. I know very little about the book, so we’ll see when it arrives.
Kim B. Holien. Battle at Ball’s Bluff. Moss Publications, July 1996.
Edit: Oops! I didn’t get the H.E. Howard book, but rather the one written by Kim Holien. I don’t have these five in my possession yet, so it’s an honest mistake…
The second book of five from Dimitri’s friend is the H.E. Howard volume on Ball’s Bluff. This is admittedly overkill on my part since I already have James Morgan’s excellent book A Little Short of Boats.
Curt Johnson, Richard C. Anderson, Joseph Mills Hanson. Artillery Hell: The Employment of Artillery at Antietam. Texas A&M University Press; 1st ed edition, May 1995.
The third book in this haul was this one covering the artillery at Antietam. This is another book I’ve heard good things about but which I haven’t been able to purchase up until now.
Dennis Kelly. Kennesaw Mountain and the Atlanta Campaign, A Tour Guide. Kennesaw Mountain, May 1990.
I’ve always been interested in the Atlanta Campaign for almost as far back as I can remember. I first read Albert Castel’s book Decision In The West in 8th grade, and the rest is history. With that in mind, I also picked this one up from Dimitri’s friend. There is one book I know of concentrating on Kennesaw Mountain specifically, but it’s more of a coffee table book than a serious tactical look at the battle. I have no illusions that this is the tactical study I’m looking for. Instead, since there isn’t a definitive work, I’m looking to collect as many of the existing books as possible.
George R. Stewart. Pickett
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