Emancipating: Black Soldiers (and a Peckerwood White Boy) Free the Slaves

Charles Hammer

Createspace Publishing, 2012, 256 pp. + 5 pp. Introduction, $9.99

ISBN: 9781480089594

                There has always been a plethora of Civil War fiction throughout the study and most of them offer something new to the genre.  Every book has a different spin, every book a different approach.  This is what makes both fiction and nonfiction difficult to deal with the realm of Civil War.  However, there is a trend among Civil War fiction writers of showing families torn apart by their allegiances.  In most works, there is the northern boy who wants to aid in states rights and goes to fight for the South but this work is entirely different.  At its heart, it is a love story intertwined with the complexity of Romeo and Juliet which is alluded to throughout the text.  What this raw work has done is create an atmosphere of question and realism accompanied by a subject not usually seen in Civil War fiction.

                Charles Hammer was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1934 amidst rabid segregation.  He talks in his biography of attending segregated schools with details of local history glossed over in class including the Tulsa race riot ten years before he was born.  When he attended the University of Tulsa, it had been recently integrated.  He served in the United States Army service in Europe and upon his return, joined the reporting ranks of the Kansas City Star.  There he reported tirelessly on Civil Rights and later taught journalism at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  Not only writing on the Civil War, he co-wrote Unsportsmanlike Conduct, which was a history of collegiate sports and other youth novels. 

                One could say that Hammer’s background prepared him properly for writing a book such as this.  Upon the backdrop of Sherman’s March to the Sea, Billy Leidig, the protagonist, is searching for an escaped slave whom he loves.  It should be mentioned that Billy is a deserter from a Georgia unit and he is eventually captured by her.  Usually I would go into more depth, but I would fear that it would ruin the novel for many people.  However, the premise of this book is wholly different than what I have read in the realm of Civil War fiction.  The book is at some times action packed with not fear for details of war.  The dialogue of all those interacting was one of the major highlights of the book with all of the dialects pitching into the correct accent.  One could hear the people talking as if they were truly there due to the diction which Hammer used in the narrative.  The narrative is quick but flowing and gives the reader a sense of realism which is sometimes a bit too real.

                After reading Emancipating, I wondered for quite some time as to the message of the book.  I think that is up to the reader since I was garnering many different feelings from what I had read.  I think this would be a good read to invoke discussion of the material.  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Civil War fiction and hope that you gain something from the work.  From the narrative to the incredible dialogue, this is a book that should not be missed in the annals of fiction.  Even the descriptions of the military conflicts are well done.  Overall, this work is something to be praised for in its evocative premise to the romance which fuels the storyline.     

Belligerent Muse: Five Northern Writers and How They Shaped Our Understanding of the Civil War

Stephen Cushman

The University of North Carolina Press, 2014, 214 pp. + 14 pp. Introduction, $28.00

ISBN: 978-1-4696-1877-7

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                The premise of Belligerent Muse is quite different than anything published in recent years.  For the first time, an author has taken a certain few people and analyzed their works in order to understand how we look at the war today.  What Stephen Cushman has come up with is interesting in not only an analysis of the war, but of an analysis of the people themselves.  The five writers he looks into are Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, William T. Sherman, Ambrose Bierce and Joshua L. Chamberlain.  These five essays are pose different questions about the different authors and what we are left with is an excellent work of critical analysis.

                Stephen Cushman is the Robert C. Taylor Professor of English at the University of Virginia.  His work Belligerent Muse is part of the Civil War America series.  This series of works , published by the University of North Carolina Press, publishes historical works that explore all aspects of the war and shed new light on the great conflict.  The foreword of this work was written by Gary W. Gallagher. 

                The essays of the book talk about the many different ways in which these influential authors and officers shaped our understanding of the American Civil War outside of the realm of Lost Cause Historiography since Cushman focuses on Union voices.  His analysis of Lincoln is quite interesting in the almost song like style which he wrote his speeches.  The two main speeches which he focuses on is the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural and the reasons for which we gravitate toward them.  Cushman also talks about the influence which Emerson and his speeches had on Lincoln.  The work shines, however, during the essay about Sherman and the way in which he penned his memoirs.  This was my favorite chapter in the book and is full with intricate details on the mindset of Sherman.  He even shows research into the process of Sherman showing that the officer did not want to print anything that was not true unlike the others who were writing in the Reconstruction period.  Throughout the essay on Sherman, there are constant comparisons between Grant and his memoirs.  While Grant may have embellished some of the details, Sherman was straightforward and published the truth to the best of his abilities.  The essay of Bierce details some of the issues which plagued Civil War fiction since the end of the conflict mainly the description of the dead.  Cushman details the inaccuracies in Bierce’s work when dealing with a place such as Chickamauga.   The essays close out with the shortest entry into the book on Joshua L. Chamberlain.  Chamberlain gained much of his fame recently due to Ron Maxwell’s Gettysburg and Gods and Generals along with the works written by the Shaara family.  This essay was the most telling about the officer during the Civil War and the way in which history was written.  His analysis of Chamberlain comes off as the “Big Fish” story where the situation became more and more embellished and detailed.  The last recounting of the story is left up to the reader and the historian as to the truth of the situation.  It can be said that due to Chamberlain’s self-promotion, many historians have questioned the reality of his words over time.  This is an angle which Cushman analyzes and concludes in this essay.

                This work is interesting in the very scope of what it attempts.  For quite some time, there have been historians who have looked into the realm of Lost Cause Historiography but not many have looked into the works of Union soldiers and civilians after the war.  What Cushman has delivered here is an analysis on the ways in which the victors wrote the war and even alludes to the people outside his main five subjects.  It is quite amazing that five different ways of writing were shown here and these five different ways have even stood tall today in the study of the war.  The mindset of “primary sources must be trusted” is a good one to have, but most of them should be taken with a grain of salt as you will see within the essays written here by Cushman.  I highly recommend this book to the Civil War student and scholar who wishes to know more about the reality of the sources we trust and I praise Cushman for the scholarship which he has brought to this study.

                

“The Devil’s to Pay” John Buford at Gettysburg: A History and Walking Tour

Eric J. Wittenberg

Savas Beatie, 2014, 272 pp. + 15 pp. introduction, $32.95

ISBN: 978-1-61121-208-2

Image courtesy of amazon.com

                In his career, Eric J. Wittenberg has tackled many of the aspects of the cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign.  From the conflict at East Cavalry Field to the infamous Farnsworth’s Charge, Wittenberg gives us another outlook to the cavalry during the battle.  It was only a matter of time before he took on the subject of John Buford and his involvement during the months of June and July of 1863.  In his book, The Devil’s to Pay John Buford at Gettysburg, Wittenberg details the work of John Buford and his men in an excellent fashion and brings some new and interesting details to this famous commander. 

                Eric J. Wittenberg is the winner of the 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award for his work Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions and is the author of many other works including Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg, and The Battle of Brandy Station.  He is also the co-author of Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg and One Continuous Fight with J. David Petruzzi and Michael F. Nugent. 

                To many people, General John Buford is one of the pivotal characters of the Battle of Gettysburg and while there have been biographies of the man, there is no major work which is devoted to his actions at Gettysburg.  Not only does Wittenberg pay attention to the action of Buford during the battle, but he gives us an insight into the lives of his brigade commanders and their actions as well.  In the opening chapter, Wittenberg details the life of Buford up to the point of the Civil War and also talks of his family who were greatly divided, some of them going to fight for the Confederacy.  There is great detail also put into the few days before the battle and the night before as well.  Accompanied by maps, which are well crafted, the narrative which he offers of Buford and his men during the battle is one of the best narratives of the first day of combat I have yet read.  After his actions at Gettysburg, the book details his life and even the reunions of his men after the war.  While most books would have ended the subject with the end of the battle, Wittenberg takes it one step farther and goes all the way to the end of the story.  As it is with the Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg and Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, one of the highlights of this work is the walking tour which accompanies this work.  With pictures taken by the author himself, he gives the readers an easy to follow tour which makes the actions of Buford and his men much easier to follow.  I applaud Wittenberg and his tours which he places in these books.

                I highly recommend this book not only to the Civil War enthusiast and student, but to the Gettysburg students as well.  This book will stand out as the major study of Buford and his men at Gettysburg along with a major study of the first few hours of the Battle of Gettysburg.  I think this book not only will become the essential study, but a classic in the realm of Gettysburg and cavalry study.  Highly recommended!    

Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg – The Battles of Chaffin’s Bluff and Poplar Spring Church, September 29th – October 2nd, 1864

Richard J. Sommers

Savas Beatie, 2014 (1981 first edition),  $37.95, 661 pp. + 30 pp. introduction

ISBN: 978-1-61121-210-5

Image courtesy of amazon.com

                In 1981, the first edition of Richmond Redeemed hit the shelves and was praised for its stories of heroism, humanity and courage.  It was also considered the greatest history of the fifth offensive strategy of the Siege of Richmond by James I. Robertson Jr.  Now, for the sesquicentennial, the book has been re-released under Savas Beatie and has been revised and expanded in order to be more accessible for the Civil War student and reader.  A new addition to the already in-depth appendices is the timeline of September through October in 1864.  What is delivered in this text is a great study of the Siege of Richmond which should be in every library of the student of the war in 1864.

                Richard J. Sommers has already contributed extensively to the Civil War academia and has written more than one hundred chapters, articles, entries and reviews on the conflict.  He has recently retired as the Senior Historian of the Army Heritage Center where he had served for more than forty years.  He has won numerous awards including the Bell Wiley Prize for Best Civil War book published in 1981-1982, the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table General John F. Hartranft Award “for meritorious service,” and the Army Heritage Center Foundation General John Armstrong Award “for significant contributions.”  He still teaches at the War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

                In this year, there have been a plethora of books published about the Petersburg Campaign and much like the other works, this one shines as a testament to the study of the great campaign.  What is incredibly noticeable in this work is the great combination of the soldier and commander narrative in the text.  In the opening chapter, Sommers sets up the book by giving us an idea of where we are in the story of Petersburg by telling us what the commanders were doing at the time of the campaign.  As the text opens up later in the book, his use of primary sources give us an idea into the reality of the battles which Sommers showcases.  Also, another way the book shines is the use of maps throughout the book which not only gives us a clear idea of what the battlefield looked like, but also gives a commentary of how to interpret the map.  As stated before, the book already had a great in-depth appendices but another is added which is a timeline.  Sommers goes day by day adding our understanding of the battles and the Fifth Offensive of the Siege of Richmond.  Another appendix which is added is the Senior Officers of the Fifth Offensive Cross-Referenced by State, Grade and Command.  One of the major issues with the Civil War that new students often tell me is that there are too many commanders to keep track of.  In Richmond Redeemed, there are many commanders mentioned and this appendix helps to differentiate all of those commanders. 

                Richmond Redeemed is the most academic study into the Battles of Chaffin’s Bluff and Poplar Spring Church I have ever read by a combination of the sweeping narrative and the extensive appendices.  Much as Coddington’s work on the Gettysburg Campaign is the staple study of Gettysburg historians, Sommers’ Richmond Redeemed should be considered the greatest resource of the Fifth Offensive of the Siege of Richmond.  I highly recommend this book and it should be on the bookshelf of any major Civil War historian.  I am pleased to see that this book was not only reprinted, but was revised and expanded to give us a better understanding of the battles.  Highly recommended.