Often, when studying a battle, I pick up a unit history to see if the author can help me understand what took place. Zack Waters' book on the Florida Brigade of the Huger-Anderson-Mahone Division of the Army of Northern Virginia, A Small But Spartan Band, surpassed all my expectations when I bought it to see what information it could provide about the events of late June 1864. The book draws upon original sources from not only Florida soldiers bur from other troops belonging to the division. I intend to write more about this book, which I plan to read from cover to cover.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Chris Mackowski
Tonight I attended a meeting of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Round Table in Alsip, Illinois. Chris Mackowski gave an excellent presentation on his new book, The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson. If you ever get the chance to hear Chris speak about the Civil War, by all means go and hear him.
Praise for "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864"
Ralph Peters is the author of several excellent novels about the Civil War, including Cain at Gettysburg, Hell or Richmond, and Valley of the Shadow. Soon he will be out with The Damned of Petersburg. Mr. Peters has this to say about The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864:
"In the course of writing my Civil War
novels, there’s always a book that proves especially resonant for a given
subject. This time, John Horn’s The Siege of Petersburg, The Battles for the
Weldon Railroad, August 1864,
drew me back again and again. It was a
true labor of love for Mr. Horn to write about three battles in which the rest
of us, wrongly, have shown but little interest: Second Deep Bottom, Globe
Tavern and (Second) Reams Station. His
recently revised and expanded edition is, as my old drill sergeant used to say,
'Mighty fine, mighty fine…'"
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Book Signing at Petersburg National Battlefield, December 26, 2015
On December 26, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, I'll be at Petersburg National Battlefield Park to sign copies of The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864. I'll also sign any other title I've authored, such as The Petersburg Campaign, or any other title I've helped edit, such as Civil War Talks: The Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard and His Fellow Veterans.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
NOTICE: No Name Calling and Similar Forms of Incivility
Name calling and similar forms of incivility will not be tolerated in this blog. Comments engaging in them will be deleted. I reserve the right to deal with the substance of those comments. For example, someone who fashions himself "Jubilo" recently commented after some name calling:
"Hardenburg is now thought to have captured the color of a Georgia not an Alabama regiment. This was the subject of much discussion between Bill Rambo of Confederate Memorial Park in Alabama and Greg Biggs of the Clarksville,TN C.W. R.T. Supposedly no Alabama colors were taken at that engagement althought the offical records declare otherwise. The discussion goes on for those who care !"
[This comment refers to Private Henry M. Hardenbergh, Company G, 39th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry, color bearer of the 39th Illinois on August 16, 1864 in an assault on Confederate fortifications above Fussell's Mill, about ten miles southeast of Richmond. After being wounded and having the colors taken from him by an officer, Hardenbergh pressed on and captured the flag of an Alabama regiment after killing its bearer. Hardenbergh was awarded a Medal of Honor and a commission for his achievement.]
My response is that I sympathize because the breakthrough took place on the front of a Georgia brigade, but the only evidence is that Hardenbergh captured the flag of an Alabama regiment in the adjacent Alabama brigade. The evidence is in Hardenbergh's service record and Clark's history of the 39th Illinois. There is no evidence whatsoever that Hardenbergh captured the flag of a Georgia regiment. What people think, what they discuss, and what they suppose are not evidence.
"Hardenburg is now thought to have captured the color of a Georgia not an Alabama regiment. This was the subject of much discussion between Bill Rambo of Confederate Memorial Park in Alabama and Greg Biggs of the Clarksville,TN C.W. R.T. Supposedly no Alabama colors were taken at that engagement althought the offical records declare otherwise. The discussion goes on for those who care !"
[This comment refers to Private Henry M. Hardenbergh, Company G, 39th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry, color bearer of the 39th Illinois on August 16, 1864 in an assault on Confederate fortifications above Fussell's Mill, about ten miles southeast of Richmond. After being wounded and having the colors taken from him by an officer, Hardenbergh pressed on and captured the flag of an Alabama regiment after killing its bearer. Hardenbergh was awarded a Medal of Honor and a commission for his achievement.]
My response is that I sympathize because the breakthrough took place on the front of a Georgia brigade, but the only evidence is that Hardenbergh captured the flag of an Alabama regiment in the adjacent Alabama brigade. The evidence is in Hardenbergh's service record and Clark's history of the 39th Illinois. There is no evidence whatsoever that Hardenbergh captured the flag of a Georgia regiment. What people think, what they discuss, and what they suppose are not evidence.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Ralph Peters to Write a New Novel about Petersburg
I recently read Valley of the Shadow by Ralph Peters. Valley of the Shadow deals so vividly and perceptively with the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864 that I could scarcely set the book down. It appears that Mr. Peters is currently at work on a novel about combat at Petersburg. I for one am enthusiastically looking forward to reading this new novel, reportedly entitled The Damned of Petersburg. If Valley of the Shadow is any indication, Mr. Peters' new novel about Petersburg will be a real page turner.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
More Value for Your History
Recently I've undertaken a study of "The Petersburg Affair" of June 22, 1864, where three brigades of Mahone's division routed three divisions of the Federal II Corps. What inspired me to begin such a narrow study? Destroy the Junction by Greg Eanes and A Melancholy Affair on the Weldon Railroad by David Cross, two humble, narrowly focused histories, the Eanes book on the Wilson-Kautz Raid of June 22-July 1, 1864, and the Cross book on the bite taken out of the Vermont Brigade of VI Corps by Mahone's Division on June 23, 1864. I found both these books delightful and I wanted to emulate them.
As I studied "The Petersburg Affair," I found many though not all the histories of the units involved on the internet and at great websites such as Brett Schulte's www.beyondthecrater.com. Dornbusch's fine bibliography of Civil War histories is online at http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007027136.
A wonderful, thought-provoking book is Fox's Numbers and Losses in the American Civil War, also online at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t9b57591b;view=1up;seq=20. This book is a treasure trove of information. It sets forth the Union formations with the highest numerical and percentage losses in terms of killed and wounded. The Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army are described in this book, the criteria for selection being either 130 killed in action or mortally wounded or more than ten percent killed or dead of wounds. The forty-five Union infantry regiments with more than 200 killed or mortally wounded also have a chart.
I learned from Fox's book that the Richardson-Hancock-Caldwell-Barlow-Miles division endured more casualties than any other division in the Union army. Ibid., 115-116. Eighteen of its twenty-five regiments belonged to Fox’s Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army. Ibid., 122-424. II Corps, which included that division as well as the former III Corps, had forty-eight of the U. S. Army’s 190 regiments that Fox identified with more than ten percent of their enrollments killed or dead of wounds. Ibid., 10-14. II Corps had seventeen of the forty-five regiments Fox identified that had lost 200 or more killed or mortally wounded. Ibid., 3. II Corps had nine of the twenty-three Union regiments with the highest percentage killed in action or dead of wounds. Ibid., 8. It had among its ninety-two regiments (some consolidated into others) seventy-two of the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army, and that did not include three more transferred or mustered out before the beginning of the Campaign of 1864. Ibid., 122-424. This extraordinary corps thus contained at one time a full quarter of the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army in the Civil War.
My increased respect for II Corps in turn magnified my respect for Mahone's Division, which often whipped II Corps during the 1864 and 1865 campaigns (yes, they were two campaigns, not one--but that's another blog post!) My history of the 12th Virginia Infantry awaits publication at SavasBeatie. Fox has helped me rate this regiment as a fighting unit. Given that its own members styled it a "Saratoga trunk regiment" and "Kid Glove Boys" I did not expect much, and indeed its 10.4% casualties exceeded only by a little the "nearly" ten percent casualties suffered by the average Confederate unit according to Fox. Ibid., 555. (The average Union regiment lost five percent. Ibid.) But if the 12th Virginia had fought for the Union, it would have merited a place in the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments on both criteria, 159 killed or mortally wounded, and more than 10 percent killed or died of wounds. Ibid., 122.
The 12th Virginia, also known as the Petersburg Regiment, underwent its baptism of fire against the 5th New Hampshire at Seven Pines on June 1, 1862. The 5th New Hampshire was the Union infantry regiment that suffered the most in killed and mortally wounded. In their last battle together, Cumberland Church April 7, 1865, the 5th was trounced and lost its colors.
I also follow the 39th Illinois the "Yates Phalanx"), which to my surprise also qualified as one of the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments. (My law office is in Tinley Park, where the 39th's Company G, "The Preacher's Company," enlisted.) I was surprised because even though the 39th participated in the March 1862 battle of Kernstown, the only battle Stonewall Jackson lost in the Shenandoah, as well as the 1863 Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, the 39th's men did not consider themselves to have been in a real battle until Second Drewry's Bluff on May 16, 1864. Their moment of glory occurred at Second Deep Bottom, August 16, 1864, where their color bearer Pvt. Henry H. Hardenbergh (a Hoosier) earned a Medal of Honor by, after suffering a shoulder wound, capturing the banner of an Alabama regiment.
A look at Fox's book will give you a sense of the quality of troops you are writing about, as well as instant color. The 40th New York was the "Mozart Regiment" and contained companies from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the 61st New York was the "Clinton Guard," the 52nd New York the "German Rangers," the 64th New York the "Cattaraugus Regiment," the 86th New York the "Steuben Rangers," the 124th New York the "Orange Blossoms," the 93rd New York the "Morgan Rifles," the Fourth Brigade of the Third Division, the "Escelsior Brigade," the 42nd New York or "Tammany Regiment," the Second Brigade of the Second Division the "Philadelphia Brigade" or "California Brigade," the Second Brigade of the First Division or "Irish Brigade," Let's give every great Union and Confederate unit its due--there were more than the Irish Brigade, Iron Brigade, Stonewall Brigade and Light Division.
So go for it! Give your regiments their due. Make your history more colorful.
As I studied "The Petersburg Affair," I found many though not all the histories of the units involved on the internet and at great websites such as Brett Schulte's www.beyondthecrater.com. Dornbusch's fine bibliography of Civil War histories is online at http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007027136.
A wonderful, thought-provoking book is Fox's Numbers and Losses in the American Civil War, also online at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t9b57591b;view=1up;seq=20. This book is a treasure trove of information. It sets forth the Union formations with the highest numerical and percentage losses in terms of killed and wounded. The Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army are described in this book, the criteria for selection being either 130 killed in action or mortally wounded or more than ten percent killed or dead of wounds. The forty-five Union infantry regiments with more than 200 killed or mortally wounded also have a chart.
I learned from Fox's book that the Richardson-Hancock-Caldwell-Barlow-Miles division endured more casualties than any other division in the Union army. Ibid., 115-116. Eighteen of its twenty-five regiments belonged to Fox’s Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army. Ibid., 122-424. II Corps, which included that division as well as the former III Corps, had forty-eight of the U. S. Army’s 190 regiments that Fox identified with more than ten percent of their enrollments killed or dead of wounds. Ibid., 10-14. II Corps had seventeen of the forty-five regiments Fox identified that had lost 200 or more killed or mortally wounded. Ibid., 3. II Corps had nine of the twenty-three Union regiments with the highest percentage killed in action or dead of wounds. Ibid., 8. It had among its ninety-two regiments (some consolidated into others) seventy-two of the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army, and that did not include three more transferred or mustered out before the beginning of the Campaign of 1864. Ibid., 122-424. This extraordinary corps thus contained at one time a full quarter of the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments of the United States Army in the Civil War.
My increased respect for II Corps in turn magnified my respect for Mahone's Division, which often whipped II Corps during the 1864 and 1865 campaigns (yes, they were two campaigns, not one--but that's another blog post!) My history of the 12th Virginia Infantry awaits publication at SavasBeatie. Fox has helped me rate this regiment as a fighting unit. Given that its own members styled it a "Saratoga trunk regiment" and "Kid Glove Boys" I did not expect much, and indeed its 10.4% casualties exceeded only by a little the "nearly" ten percent casualties suffered by the average Confederate unit according to Fox. Ibid., 555. (The average Union regiment lost five percent. Ibid.) But if the 12th Virginia had fought for the Union, it would have merited a place in the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments on both criteria, 159 killed or mortally wounded, and more than 10 percent killed or died of wounds. Ibid., 122.
The 12th Virginia, also known as the Petersburg Regiment, underwent its baptism of fire against the 5th New Hampshire at Seven Pines on June 1, 1862. The 5th New Hampshire was the Union infantry regiment that suffered the most in killed and mortally wounded. In their last battle together, Cumberland Church April 7, 1865, the 5th was trounced and lost its colors.
I also follow the 39th Illinois the "Yates Phalanx"), which to my surprise also qualified as one of the Three Hundred Fighting Regiments. (My law office is in Tinley Park, where the 39th's Company G, "The Preacher's Company," enlisted.) I was surprised because even though the 39th participated in the March 1862 battle of Kernstown, the only battle Stonewall Jackson lost in the Shenandoah, as well as the 1863 Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, the 39th's men did not consider themselves to have been in a real battle until Second Drewry's Bluff on May 16, 1864. Their moment of glory occurred at Second Deep Bottom, August 16, 1864, where their color bearer Pvt. Henry H. Hardenbergh (a Hoosier) earned a Medal of Honor by, after suffering a shoulder wound, capturing the banner of an Alabama regiment.
A look at Fox's book will give you a sense of the quality of troops you are writing about, as well as instant color. The 40th New York was the "Mozart Regiment" and contained companies from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the 61st New York was the "Clinton Guard," the 52nd New York the "German Rangers," the 64th New York the "Cattaraugus Regiment," the 86th New York the "Steuben Rangers," the 124th New York the "Orange Blossoms," the 93rd New York the "Morgan Rifles," the Fourth Brigade of the Third Division, the "Escelsior Brigade," the 42nd New York or "Tammany Regiment," the Second Brigade of the Second Division the "Philadelphia Brigade" or "California Brigade," the Second Brigade of the First Division or "Irish Brigade," Let's give every great Union and Confederate unit its due--there were more than the Irish Brigade, Iron Brigade, Stonewall Brigade and Light Division.
So go for it! Give your regiments their due. Make your history more colorful.
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