Booknotes (Dec '14)

New Arrivals:

1. The Confederate Hospitals of Madison, Georgia: their records & histories 1861-1865 by Bonnie P. Harris (Author, 2014).

The author of this massive, well researched, and meticulously sourced history and document collection of Madison's wartime medical facilities (the Asylum, Blackie, Stout, and May hospitals) received a Georgia Archive Award for Excellence. The book also offers a grave and Army of Tennessee patient register, along with a host of appendices comprised of additional valuable reference material.

2. To Retain Command of the Mississippi: The Civil War Naval Campaign for Memphis by Edward B. McCaul Jr. (Univ of Tenn Pr, 2014).

This is the first book length study of the struggle for control of the Upper Mississippi between Union naval forces and the Confederate River Defense Fleet. In it, the author "argues that the Battle of Memphis was pivotal in the Union’s efforts to control the Mississippi River. The Union command, by narrowly escaping defeat at Plum Point, learned invaluable lessons about the Confederate River Defense Fleet and masterfully enacted those lessons in decisively defeating the Confederate fleet at Memphis. With the Confederacy’s river forces severely crippled after the Battle of Memphis, the Union fleets pushed onward to eventual victory at Vicksburg." I better get to it on this one if I expect to squeeze it in before my year end list comes out.

3. Lincoln and Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages edited by Lucas E. Morel (UP of KY, 2014).

A new collection of Lincoln essays, they explore his character, politics, war leadership, and connections to modern America -- a pretty broad sweep.