• "The Bloody Fifth" The 5th Texas Infantry Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia - Volume 2: Gettysburg to Appomattox by John F. Schmutz (Savas Beatie, 2017).
by John F. Schmutz (
In a recent ACW magazine review, the elder Krick expressed some pretty profound disappointment in finding the omission of numerous known primary sources in Volume 1, but even with that research criticism in mind it would be difficult to argue that Schmutz's bibliographies aren't far meatier than those found in the typical Civil War regimental study. The first book ended with the Suffolk Campaign, and Volume 2 "continues the regiment’s rich history from its march north into Pennsylvania and the battle of Gettysburg, its transfer west to Georgia and participation in the bloody battle of Chickamauga, operations in East Tennessee, and the regiment’s return to Virginia for the overland battles (Wilderness to Cold Harbor), Petersburg campaign, and the march to Appomattox Court House. The narrative ends by following many of the regiment’s soldiers on their long journey home."
The book is well-stocked with photos and maps. For the latter, it almost seems like one appears every handful of pages. The appendix section has four parts. The first is a list of non-combat deaths organized by year and company, the second battle deaths arranged in the same manner, the third a head count of Texans that served in the 5th, and the fourth is an author interview.
Krick the Elder reminds me of some hockey coaches I've known. You can come off the ice thinking you've just played a great game and then you learn about all of the bad decisions and missed chances you accumulated. He is one tough taskmaster and I think we all respect that.
ReplyDeleteHis books are great (I'm thinking Cedar Mtn and Port Republic in particular). I wish he had published more original studies in addition to his editing work. He would have been the perfect person to do a Peninsula Campaign series of battle studies.
DeleteAmen to that regarding the Peninsula Campaign (which still lacks any great monographs on its component battles). As we've discussed, Krick the Younger's Gaines's Mill project seems to have evaporated but O'Reilly's Malvern Hill appears to still be breathing and kicking (sans publisher, however). I fully concur on the Cedar Mpuntain and Port Republic books, which IIRC are his only battle studies.
ReplyDeleteJohn, O'Reilly does not have a publisher? How do you know this?
DeleteTed: That is my (speculative) surmise from the fact that I've seen mentions by him or by others of this project sporadically over the past few years but there's never a reference to a contract, publisher, date, etc. I've also seen nothing on the various internet forums which focus on these things. As someone who has an admitted obsession with the Peninsula Campaign, I've been looking out for that. The following is a May, 2016 statement from a description of a talk he was delivering: "He is currently researching a book on the Battle of Malvern Hill and the Seven Days’ Campaign around Richmond." I haven't seen anything referring to this project in connection with the LSU Press, which as you know published the Fredericksburg book. There's a lot more to this battle than the standard story which has been in place for 150 years and it needs a thorough modern study, IMHO.
DeleteThanks John. Would sure love to publish that one. Of course, we would give him a lot more free rein than a university press on just about everything.
DeleteYou had to START with the Krick quote, huh Drew? :)
ReplyDelete(Thanks for posting this. It is a hell of a study.)
Bob the Elder stayed over at my place when I lived in San Jose in 1991 right before my daughter was born. We didn't know whether she would be a boy or a girl. He asked about names. I told him a boy would be Demetrious James Longstreet Savas. He stopped eating his sandwich, looked at me over his glasses and said, "Theo, let's just say our opinions on THAT man must differ." [They do]. (It was a girl born on July 2, so she was named Alexandra after E. P. Alexander.)
Yes, he should have written substantially more. He once told me he file draws of material on A. P. Hill and of course, so much else.
Onward.
He must have storage sheds of raw material. Prefaces/introductions to books seem to invariably mention the author accessing Krick files on one thing or another. I can only imagine his take on the cause of A.P.'s recurring "indisposition".
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