​The Generals of Shiloh: Character in Leadership, April 6-7, 1862
Larry Tagg
Savas Beatie, 2017, 256 pp., $32.95
ISBN: 978-1-61121-369-0
Image courtesy of amazon.com
 
There are certain volumes within Civil War scholarship that are well known to the masses, and some campaign specific studies tend to go along with that notion.  The Generals of Gettysburg is one of those well known books specifying itself on intense campaign study.  Now, Larry Tagg has offered a new study much in the same vein as The Generals of Gettysburg but with a different campaign.  The Generals of Shiloh is a new work that gives the reader information regarding the commanders of the previous mentioned engagement and their actions while there.  Once again, Mr. Tagg has given us a fine reference book that will be remembered and used for scholarship for the Shiloh Campaign.    
                Larry Tagg graduated from the University of Texas and is well known as a bass player and singer.  He co-founded “Bourgeois Tagg” and enjoyed great success with the group in the mid 1980s.  He also played bass for Tood Rundgren, Heart, Hall and Oates, and other musical groups.  He has also taught High School English and drama while in Sacremento at the Humanities and International Studies Program.  He is also the author of The Generals at Gettysburg and The Battles That Made Abraham Lincoln. 
                As stated in the introduction, The Generals of Shiloh is a fine reference book to the campaign that any student, or even master, of Shiloh should own.  The format of the book is much like its predecessor and allows an ease of use to the researcher.  As a book to read, some of the biographies of the commanders are quite interesting.  Some of the commanders are well known while others have flown under the radar for years.  That, in my opinion, is one of the nice things about this book.  The war in the west has often been too ignored by many and therefore, many of the commanders who fought in this engagement are often too easily forgotten.  Tagg, by using this format he used in his Gettysburg book, has brought to light some of the more interesting characters of this war I have only briefly read about.  On top of the biographies about the generals, there are many sections in the book that give details on the army and brigade level of what occurred during battle.  Right after the biography of the commander is a narration as to what their branch performed during the conflict.  There is no doubt in my mind that this book gives me a larger appreciation for the Battle of Shiloh.
                I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the War in the West, in particular, the Battle of Shiloh.  The format gives many researchers and ease of use and if one is going through the text to read it, they will find some fascinating, well written narrations of what occurred at this conflict.  Overall, I hope to see more books like this in the future from Mr. Tagg and some of the other major battles throughout the Civil War.  Highly recommended!

​A Vast Sea of Misery: A History and Guide to the Union and Confederate Field Hospitals at Gettysburg: July 1 – November 20, 1863
Gregory A. Coco
Thomas Publications, 1988
Savas Beatie, 2017, 210 pp., $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-61121-406-2
Image courtesy of amazon.com
 
As many who tour the battlefield notice, there are a number of signs delineating where the field hospitals of Gettysburg were located.  However, while there have been a number of books talking about the field hospitals of Gettysburg, they usually focus on a few of the locations and what they did there.  In A Vast Sea of Misery, Gregory A. Coco chronicles the location of each field hospital and some of the interesting cases which came from them.  In this printing of Coco’s work, the reference of the field hospitals throughout the town are a welcome sight to see back in print once again.
                Gregory A. Coco lived in Gettysburg for nearly thirty-five years.  He served in the United States Army and also earned a degree in American History from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.  While he was in the army, he served as a prisoner of war military interrogator and also served as an infantry platoon radio operator with the 25th Infantry.  He received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.  While living in Gettysburg, he served as a Park Ranger for the National Park and was a Licensed Battlefield Guide.  He has written many other articles and books on the Civil War, but his most famous is A Strange and Blighted Land.  Gettysburg: the Aftermath of Battle.
                This book is separated into six parts all chronicling the field hospitals throughout Gettysburg.  The first is the hospitals in the borough of Gettysburg, the second is the Union controlled hospitals, the third is the Confederate controlled hospitals, the fourth are other important medical sites, the fifth being the field hospitals of nearby towns, and the last being Camp Letterman.  Overall, the entirety of the book is comprehensive when it comes to the study of what these hospitals performed.  Going  through the text are intricate details on the location of the hospital, who served there, who most likely was healed due to regimental position, and even a short narrative on what happened.  In the end, what I’m getting at is, this is one of the most comprehensive books on Gettysburg hospitals I have ever read.  Since this is a new printing of the book, I should mention that I had not read the first edition since I could never seem to get a copy.  But this printing of the book is quite gorgeous, just as well done as Savas Beatie’s reprint of A Strange and Blighted Land.  Even after the six parts are completed, the appendices are something to behold as they are a wealth of even more information.
                I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Battle of Gettysburg.  Especially since the new printing is out, the accessibility of this work has reached even more than before.  I will forever enjoy this reference material of the medical work which was done in the aftermath of battle and I thank Gregory Coco for writing it.  While  A Strange and Blighted Land is his most famous work, I find A Vast Sea of Misery to be just as important and a great companion book to the former.  Highly Recommended.