Another Good Early Review for Lee Besieged on the Anniversary of One of the Fights the Book Describes.

Booknotes gave Lee Besieged a good early review today.  It's June 23, the anniversary of the bite Mahone took out of the Vermont Brigade on this date in 1864.  For a glance at the review, please click the link above and when it appears on the redirect notice as well.

Finest Hours, Darkest Hours: How I Talk About "Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864"

When I talk about one of my books at a Civil War Round Table, I like to talk about a soldier from the round table's state, if possible.  I also like to approach the components of my forthcoming book from Savas Beatie, Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864, in that fashion, because each of those components possesses a challenging complexity for a 45 minute talk.  Those components are principally the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road and the Wilson-Kautz Raid.  Recently I added a refinement and approached the Wilson-Kautz Raid at Raleigh Civil War Round Table by discussing the raid in terms of "Barringer's Finest Hours." I plan to approach the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road in a similar fashion.

Brigadier General Rufus C. Barringer (Finest Hours) was the outstanding brigadier of the entire offensive.  He was ironically nicknamed "Aunt Nancy" because he was a martinet. He fought magnificently against infantry on the first day of the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road on June 21, then saved the Confederate horse artillery batteries at the battle of The Grove (aka Nottaway Court House, aka Black's and White's) on the second day of the Wilson-Kautz Raid on June 23.  His arrival at the battle of Staunton River Bridge persuaded the Federals to call it a day, and with 300 of the 2,000 men and mounts that he had begun the fighting with on June 21, hounded the bluecoats on their way to their disasters at Sappony Church and First Reams Station on June 28 and 29.

Rufus C. Barringer (Library of Congress)

I plan to approach the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road similarly, in terms of "Mahone's Finest Hours," when talking to Civil War Round Tables in the future. Mahone made his mark on June 22, when with three brigades he routed three divisions of the crack II Corps, taking four guns and around 1,700 prisoners.  On June 23, he took his whole division, all five brigades, and mauled VI Corps, seizing about 500 prisoners.  On June 29, he took two of his brigades and joined in trapping the Wilson-Kautz raiders at First Reams Station, capturing guns and prisoners.

William Mahone (National Archives)

Of course, one soldier's finest hour is often another soldier's darkest hour.  Just as Barringer and Mahone had their finest hours during Grant's Seccond Petersburg Offensive, so other soldiers had their darkest hours during the same period.

Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow (Darkest Hours) had a terrible time. On June 21, Barringer's cavalry brigade stopped Barlow's hard-fighting division within a mile of the Weldon Railroad, its objective. On June 22, Mahone's rout of Barlow's division became known as "Barlow's Skedaddle" even though it was army commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's impatience that caused the stampede.  In the following month, Barlow would lose his wife to disease and in August he would show how profoundly the experience of June 22 had affected him.  Ordered to proceed with two divisions to the Darbytown Road crossing of Bailey's Creek without guarding his left flank, he dispersed four of the six brigades at his disposal to do exactly that, leaving him with only two to attack at the designated point.  He used them successively and unsuccessfully.

Francis C. Barlow (Library of Congress)

Brigadier General James H. Wilson (Darkest Hours) led two divisions of cavalry raiders against the railroads emanating southward and southwestward from Richmond and Petersburg. On June 23 he wrecked his primary objective, Burkeville, junction of the Richmond & Danville and South Side railroads, but failed to put icing on the cake by destroying High Bridge on the South Side Rail Road or Staunton River Bridge on the Richmond & Danville. Things became worse when Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry halted the Federal raiders at Sappony Church on June 28.  They became stull worse when Wilson led his troopers into a trap at Reams Station, where Confederate forces under Mahone and Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee routed them on June 29, capturing all their guns and hundreds of prisoners.

James H. Wilson (National Archives)

General Meade had some of his darkest hours during the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, June 21-24, 1864. He had the good idea of moving II and VI corps together but events intervened; VI Corps could not pull two of its three divisions out of the trenches until the evening of June 21.  It was not his fault but he moved II Corps largely along that day. II Corps failed to reach the Weldon Railroad and forfeited the element of surprise. Things got worse on June 22.  He lost patience and ordered II Corps to move independently of VI Corps, most of which did not wake up and eat till midday.  Mahone piled into the gap thus created and routed II Corps, taking about 1,700 prisoners.  On June 23, Meade as usual tolerated insubordination from one of his corps commanders.  This time it was not Warren but Wright, and as a result Mahone mauled a division of VI Corps and took about 500 prisoners.  These were some of Meade's darkest hours of the war.

George G. Meade  (Library of Congress)

Taking the above approaches to the two actions that take up most of Lee Besieged should permit composition of a 45-minute talk that will not overwhelm either my audience or me.  

I'm prepared to talk to any Civil War Round Table that asks me to appear before it, either by ZOOM or in person.  Click on Lee Besieged if you want to purchase a copy.

Shouldn't Those Who Insist on "P. G. T. Beauregard" Insist on "Hiram Ulysses Grant"?

G. T. "Gus" Beauregard (National Archives)

General Beauregard reportedly grew up as Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard.  As a young man at West Point, he altered that to Gustave Toutant Beauregard.  For the rest of his life, he signed himself “G. T. Beauregard.”  He appears as G. T. Beauregard in the Official Records.  He authored his many publications as G. T. Beauregard.  His friends called him “Gus.”

General Grant reportedly grew up as Hiram Ulysses Grant.  His political sponsor mistakenly signed Grant in at West Point as Ulysses Simpson Grant.  For the rest of his life, he signed himself “U. S. Grant.”  He appears as U. S. Grant in the Official Records.  He authored his publications as U. S. Grant.  His friends called him “Sam.” 

U. S. "Sam" Grant (Library of Congress)

Hiram disappeared as completely in Grant’s case as did Pierre in Beauregard’s case.  Why should Beauregard be treated any differently than Grant.  Both were great generals.  Each defeated the other once.  Grant defeated Beauregard at Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862).  Beauregard defeated Grant at Petersburg (June 15-18, 1864).

Those who tolerate “U. S. Grant” should tolerate “G. T. Beauregard” as well.

Give "Gus" his due!

Hampton Newsome, Pathfinder

A good time was had by all at the Chicago Civil War Round Table last night as Hampton Newsome gave a thorough and witty overview of his award-winning book, Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond (University Press of Kansas, 2022). 

Hampton has also authored the award-winning Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864 (The Kent State University Press, 2013) and the award-winning The Fight for the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina, January-May 1864 (University Press of Kansas, 2020).

Hampton also co-edited Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans (University of Virginia Press, 2013), one of the most important books on the siege of Richmond-Petersburg in the last hundred years.

Hampton is a pathfinder. He goes where no author of a booklength study has gone before: besieged Richmond and Petersburg in October 1864 (Richmond Must Fall), coastal North Carolina in January-May 1864 (The Fight for the Old North State), and now the York-James Peninsula in June-July 1864 (Gettysburg's Southern Front).

Read and enjoy! Get off the beaten track! Much of the Civil War remains unknown. Authors such as Hampton Newsome bringing these matters to light.

He is one of our most thoughtful, adventurous authors. I greatly admire his comprehensive, judicious work.

Dust Jacket Stories: "The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864"

The Siege of Petersburg:  The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2015) was the revised edition of my first book, The Petersburg Campaign:  The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad, Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern and Reams Station, August 14-25, 1864 (H. E. Howard, 1991). 

The Howard book was part of The Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders Series. It had the generic dust jacket of the series, the book's title and the shield of the state of Virginia, both in gold on a white background.

Ted Savas, the publisher of the Savas Beatie book, deserves credit for the dust jacket on that edition. The image on the cover of the Savas Beatie book comes from a Keith Rocco painting, which depicted the charge of the 39th Illinois Veteran Volunteers ("Yates Phalanx") against Confederate fortifications near Fussell's Mill, around 10 miles southeast of Richmond, Virginia. The painting focused on Pvt. Henry Hardenbergh, the color bearer of the 39th. Wounded in the charge, which broke through the Confederate lines. he picked himself up and earned a Medal of Honor by capturing the colors of an Alabama regiment.

The book covered the battle of Fussell's Mill, but that is not what got the painting on the cover of the revised edition. What got the painting on the dust jacket was that Hardenbergh and part of his company (G, The Preacher's Company) had enlisted in the 39th in Tinley Park, Illinois, where I have my principal law office. 

There was also a significant coincidence. As the revised edition proceeded toward publication. Keith Rocco produced a painting of the 39th's charge for the Village of Tinley Park. As I recall, publisher Ted Savas encouraged me to approach Keith about obtaining the rights to the picture for the dust jacket of the revised edition. At the presentation of the painting to the village, a deal was struck and the rest is history.

My next book, Lee Besieged:  Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864, is in production at Savas Beatie and is due at the printer March 15, 2025.

Donald Richard Lauter, Rest In Peace

Monday I learned that my friend and fellow student of the Petersburg Siege died last March.  I had thought that might be the situation when my emails to him met with no response.  I searched the internet for an obituary but found none.  My Christmas card to Don prompted the lawyer handling his estate to write me a note.

Don was 77 when he died, about four years older than I.  He was a veteran, having served in the 101st Airborne Division.  He had been hospitalized intermittently with a heart problem for a few years before he died.  

I met Don at Petersburg National Battlefield Park in December 2015. I gave a little talk there after Christmas about my first book, republished by Savas Beatie that year as The Siege of Petersburg:  The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  After the talk Don introduced himself and led me out to his pickup truck, where he showed me a plaster wall and some bullets he had salvaged.

Arabella Barlow (findagrave.com)

Don was somewhat of a legend.  I had heard of him for years but it was only as I worked on my current book, Lee Besieged:  Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864, that I got to know him.  He was a researcher, an author, and an archaeologist, who was very unselfish with his knowledge.  As my book proceeded, he shared with me his research on maps of the area where the Federals and Confederates clashed during the period covered by my book; he sent me copies of articles he had written about Arabella Barlow, the wife of Brig. Gen. Francis Barlow, who figures prominently in Lee Besieged, and about the famous painter Winslow Homer, a friend and aide-de-camp to Frank Barlow; and he showed me the results of his battlefield digging, especially a Mississippi button that helped me place Harris' Mississippi Brigade on June 22, 1864, my book's critical day.

Prisoners from the Front (1866) Winslow Homer (Metropolitan Museum of Art) 

This picture depicts General Barlow confonting prisoners after the fight of June 21, 1864.  Homer reportedly posed the head of the scrawny Barlow on the more robust body of his subordinate, Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles

He gave me more bullets, too.  I didn't check the most recent batch carefully enough.  It contained a live round from 1864 (probably) or 1865 and of course the Transportation Safety Agency confiscated it from me as I boarded a plane for home at Richmond airport.

Ave atque vale, Don!  Hail and farewell!

  

Dust Jacket Stories: Lee Besieged (2025) and Winslow Homer

Prisoners from the Front, by Winslow Homer (1866), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

    I had planned to write this blog entry last month, but the galleys arrived near the end of that month for the book connected with the entry--Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864. The book is due out in spring 2025 and I'm still working on the galleys.

    Before my publisher Savas Beatie did its vastly superior job on the dust jacket, I had intended to use Winslow Homer's Prisoners from the Front in the dust jacket. Homer sometimes served as an aide to his friend, Brig. Gen. Francis Channing Barlow, a New York lawyer educated at Harvard. Circumstantial evidence indicates that Homer accompanied Barlow during Barlow's misadventures during the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, June 21-24, 1864. 

    Barlow was a very brave but unlucky general. After the war, he demonstrated that he was a great lawyer. He helped clean up the New York bar, which at the time was notoriously corrupt.  He also proved to honest for the Grant Administration. Barlow, though a Republican, supported the Democrat vote count in Florida during the contentious aftermath of the 1876 presidential election. He was New York's Attorney General at the time but soon withdrew to private practice.

    The painting depicts Barlow confronting prisoners on what in my opinion is June 21, 1864. Barlow looks down on them imperiously. The only thing that indicates that the prisoners and not Barlow won the fight of June 21 is the cocky attitude of the Rebel closest to Barlow. My idea was thus a little too arch and plainly too static, compared to the excellent dust jacked produced by Savas Beatie.

    I like to start my presentation on the Wilson-Kautz Raid (June 22-July 1, 1864), with an amusing though possibly apocryphal story about Prisoners from the Front because of its connection with the raid. The Confederate cavalry that halted Barlow's vaunted division on June 21 belonged to Barringer's North Carolina Cavalry Brigade, which played a very significant role in the Southern response to the Wilson-Kautz Raid.  

    That allows me to observe that Homer posed Barlow to resemble Washington crossing the Delaware in an earlier painting by another artist. But Barlow was a scrawny fellow. To make the image of him in the picture more imposing, Homer reportedly painted Barlow's head atop the more robust body of Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, one of Barlow's subordinates in June 1864.

    After Savas Beatie produced the more dynamic dust jacket below, Prisoners from the Front declined to a mere illustration within the book.