Comments Sought on Why Lee Didn't Sack Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill

I've reached the conclusion that Lee didn't sack Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill either because Lee didn't think Hill was as unfit for corps command as Ewell, or because there was no place to put Hill out to pasture commensurate with his rank.  

Ewell lost his composure at Spotsylvania.  Hill allowed a subordinate to blunder into an undesired general engagement at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863; failed to inform his subordinates of his whereabouts on July 2, thus hundering reinforcement of his corps' attack on Cemetery Ridge; failed to recommend his freshest, strongest brigades for the first wave of Pickett's Charge on July 3; launched an inadequately reconnoitered attack at Bristoe Station on October 14 that ended in a bloody repulse; failed to strengthen up his lines on the night of May 5-6 in the Wilderness, resulting in their collapse on May 6; was too ill to lead his corps at the beginning of Spotsylvania; launched a piecemeal attack that failed at Jericho Mills on May 23; and impaired execution of Mahone's plan that routed II Corps on June 22.

Ewell got the Department of Richmond when he lost his corps in May.  Early remained in command of the Army of the Valley District with a division of infantry and two of cavalry in December.  There was no place to park Hill commensurate with his rank.

I contend that if Hill's position had opened up, there was no reason not to promote Mahone to fill it after his contribution to victory at Jerusalem Plank Road (June 22-23) and First Reams Station (June 29), and certainly after the Crater (July 30).  Lee had the gumption to promote Mahone's staffer Girardey from captain to brigadier general over several colonels after the Crater; why would Lee have lacked the nerve to promote Mahone over Heth and Wilcox?

Please prove me wrong.

Thanks,

John Horn

Inscribed Copies of "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864" for Sale at a Discount to Amazon's Price

I have for sale at a discount to Amazon's price a few brand new copies of The Siege of Petersburg:  The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  This acclaimed book is currently the only volume focused entirely on the dramatic August 1864 fighting around Petersburg. 

Grant's Fourth Offensive at Petersburg...is excellently covered in John Horn's The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  This revised, expanded edition of his original 1991 book ranks as the foremost study of the Fourth Offensive.  It belongs in every Civil War Library.

--Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg


A superior piece of Civil War Scholarship.

--Edwin C. Bearss, former Chief Historian of the National Park Service and award-winning author of The Petersburg Campaign: Volume I, The Eastern Front Battles and Volume II, The Western Front Battles 

My profits from my 2024 sales of "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864" will go toward my fellow author Eric Wittenberg's medical bills.

Amazon's best price for a new book is $24.39 plus $3.99 shipping, a total of $28.38.

My price for a new book is $20.00 and shipping (media mail USPS) is free in the USA.

Plus I'll inscribe the copies I sell. 

Those interested in purchasing a copy should contact me at johnedwardhorn@gmail.com.

Or just send a check for $20 and your address to John Horn at 16710 Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477-2716 and I'll send you an inscribed copy.

The dust jacket is from a Keith Rocco painting that hangs in the Tinley Park, Illinois, Historical Society, just down the street from my law office.  The painting depicts the charge of the 39th Illinois on August 16, 1864.  The 39th was the only regiment from Illinois in Grant's army group at the time.  The 39th and its brigade broke through an entrenched Confederate line.  The 39th's color bearer, Henry Hardenbergh, was wounded in the charge but picked himself up, charged down the line and captured the colors of an Alabama regiment.  For this he earned a Medal of Honor and a battlefield commission.  He received them posthumously, being killed on August 28, 1864, in the Bermuda Hundred trenches.  He is buried about six miles south of Petersburg, Virginia, in Poplar Grove National Cemetery.

My next book (working title:  Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864) may be published as early as 2025.  The last proofreader has delivered the manuscript to me.  The last document I needed to review arrived today.  The manuscript goes off to Savas Beatie by the end of this month!

Coming in North & South Magazine--"William Crawford Smith: From C.S.A. Private to U.S.A. Colonel."

I expect the next issue of North & South Magazine to include my article, "William Crawford Smith:  From C.S.A. Private to U.S.A. Colonel."  Smith was the last color bearer of the 12th Virginia Infantry.  After the war, he moved to Nashville where he designed the city's Parthenon for Tennessee's Centennial.  In 1898, he mustered in as colonel of the 1st Tennessee Infantry United States Volunteers.  In 1899, he died in the Philippines while leading his regiment near Manila.  His photo graces the cover of my last book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War:  A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019), winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History.

Courtesy of William Turner

My next book, Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864, should be out next year and covers the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road and the Wilson-Kautz Raid.  The result of the last proofreading is in my hands.  

Inscribed Copies of "The Petersburg Regiment" for Sale at a Discount to Amazon's Best Price

I have for sale at a discount to Amazon's price a few brand new copies of The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865, winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History.

My profits from my 2024 sales of this book will go toward my fellow author Eric Wittenberg's medical bills.

Amazon's best price for a new book is $29.47 plus $3.99 shipping, a total of $33.46.

My price for a new book is $30.00 and shipping (media mail USPS) is free in the USA.

Plus I'll inscribe the copies I sell. 

Those interested in purchasing a copy should contact me at johnedwardhorn@gmail.com.

Or just send a check for $30 and your address to John Horn at 16710 Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477-2716 and I'll send you an inscribed copy.   

My next book (working title:  Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864) may be published as early as 2025.  The last proofreader is putting the manuscript in the mail to me today!

"Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans" Will Be Issued in Paperback This Year

Today the good news came that Civil War Talks will be reissued in paperback this year:

"Dear Professor Newsome, Professor Horn, and Professor Selby—

"I am pleased to report that we are planning to issue your book, Civil War Talks, in paperback in our fall 2024 season. Congratulations on your book’s continuing sales!

 

"Your book will be announced as “New in Paper” in our spring 2024 catalog, so that libraries and our sales representatives will be reminded of its continued availability.

 

"We are delighted at the continued success of your book. Many thanks for your help.

"Best,

"Wren 

"Wren Morgan Myers

"Senior Project Editor

"University of Virginia Press"

Civil War Talks:  Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans (Charlottesville, 2012) will be reissued this year by the University of Virginia Press, this time in paperback.  

Civil War Talks is the George S. Bernard's War Talks of Confederate Veterays (Petersburg, 1892).  

Highlights of War Talks include Bernard's article on the Maryland Campaign of 1862, William Evelyn Cameron's article on Chancellorsville, John R. Turner's article on The Wilderness, and Bernard's article on The Crater.  Bernard, Cameron and Turner all belonged to the 12th Virginia Infantry, called the Petersburg Regiment because six of its 10 companies hailed from the Cockade City.

The manuscript of Civil War Talks was ready for publication in 1896.  Highlightss include articles by Bernard on Seven Pines, the Seven Days, the Gettysburg Campaign, the battle for the Weldon Railroad, focused on August 19, 1864, and the battle of Burgess Mill, October 27, 1864.

Somehow the manuscript of Civil War Talks disappeared before it could be published.  My fellow author Hampton Newsome, Esq., and I were reconstructing it from old newspapers when the manuscript reappeared at a flea market in 2004, was purchased for fifty dollars and was sold for fifteen thousand dollars to the Museum of Western Virginia History.  Hampton and I signed on to edit it with Professor John G. Selby.  The University of Virginia Press published it in 2012 but it has been out of print recently.

But now it will be returning in paperback.

Civil War Talks is one of the most important books on the siege of Petersburg since...War Talks of Confedeerate Veterans.  Both belong on the shelf of every student of the Petersburg Campaign.  

Bernard was the first historian of the 12th Virginia Infantry, the Petersburg Regiment.  I, as the most recent historian of the regiment (The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War:  A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox (Savas Beatie, 2019) (winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History), drew heavily on Bernard's work.

My Royalties from Sales of My Books in 2024 Are Pledged toward Fellow Author Eric Wittenberg's Medical Bills

I'm pledging the royalties from sales of my books in 2024 toward my fellow author Eric Wittenberg's medical bills.  My friend Ted Savas of Savas Beatie inspired my pledge with his contribution toward Eric's medical bills.  The royalties are from the following three books::

The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019).

This book won the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History.

"This is a model of its kind," said Noah Andre Trudeau, author of The Last Citadel: Petersburg, June 1864 - April 1865

The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2015)

This is the only book covering the critical August 1864 battles around Petersburg in detail.

"This revised, expanded edition of [Horn's] original 1991 book ranks as the foremost study of Fourth Offensive," wrote the late Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg.  "It belongs in every Civil War library," 

The Petersburg Campaign: June 1864 - April 1865 (Combined Books, 1993)

This is the only single volume history of the Petersburg Campaign.

The late Edwin C. Bearss, former chief historian, U. S. National Park Service, said this book "provides an excellent overview of the Petersburg siege and campaigns, and their relation to battle actions in the Shenandoah and on the approaches to Washington."

My royalties from the 2024 sales of these books will go toward my fellow author Eric Wittenberg's medical bills.  I only regret that I cannot pledge royalties as co-editor of Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans (University Press of Virginia, 2012), but I waived those royalties prior to that book's publication.

 

Difficult Predictions About the Past

As I slog toward the completion of my next book, Grant Lays Siege to Lee:  Petersburg, June 20-July 1, 1864, my researcher and I are trying to determine the number of casualties at the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, June 21-24, 1864 and during the Wilson-Kautz Raid of June 22-July 1, 1864.

Box of Records from 3rd Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac (National Archives)

We're finding out how difficult predictions about the past are.

Such predictions are called "estimates."

One would think predictions about the past would be easy, but we don't know all that happened in the past, particularly the details.

An example of a prediction about the past that proved difficult was my estimate of casualties in the two brigades from V Corps that participated in the fighting at Jerusalem Plank Road on June 21-23.

I had figures on three of the seven regiments in Sweitzer's brigade of Griffin's division and no figures on any of the five regiments of Dushane's brigade of Ayres' division.  

According to two regimental histories and an official report, one of Sweitzer's seven regiments had lost four men, another five, and the third, seven.  Extrapolating from that information, I figured that Sweitzer's brigade had lost a total of about 37 and that Dushane's brigade had lost around 27.

Luckily, I researched further because my prediction about the past was wrong.  Examining regimentals and state rosters that are available online, I found that Sweitzer's brigade had lost seven on June 21, 21 on June 22, and five on June 23.  I found from a brigade history and a state adjutant general report that Dushane's brigade had lost four on June 22.  The actual total was thus 37 rather than 64, as I had estimated.

My researcher once published ar article estimating the losses of Sanders' and Finegan's brigades at First Reams Station on June 29, 1864, a fight during the Wilson-Kautz Raid, at 140.  Fortunately, Al Young shared his research on Confederate casualties with me.  Al reviews compiled service records (CSRs) to determine casualties.  According to CSRs, Sanders' brigade lost 53 while Finegan's brigade lost 38, a total of 91.  A memoir informed me that Sanders' brigade had lost at least 32 more in the morning as prisoners, but they all were freed by the end of the day.

So don't guestimate, look.  The figures are almost certainly there.  Even the routed, shattered Federal cavalry regiments of the Wilson-Kautz Raid left lists of casualties that made their way into the National Archives and figure in the rosters of those units published by their state adjutant generals.  I'm plodding through the 404 pages of such a roster now!