Booknotes: Boy General of the 11th Alabama

New Arrival:

• Boy General of the 11th Alabama: John C.C. Sanders and Company C in the Civil War by Donald W. Abel, Jr. (McFarland, 2023).

From the description: "In the spring of 1861, John Caldwell Calhoun Sanders, a 21-year-old cadet at the University of Alabama, helped organize a company of the 11th Alabama Volunteer Infantry. Hailing primarily from Greene County, the 109 men of Company C, "The Confederate Guards," signed on for the duration of the war and made Sanders their first captain. They would fight in every major battle in the Eastern Theater, under Robert E. Lee."

You might be wondering from the title, Boy General of the 11th Alabama: John C.C. Sanders and Company C in the Civil War, where greatest emphasis is placed in the volume, on Sanders biography or company history. From my admittedly only cursory glance through the text, it looks like much more the latter. For a full-length modern regimental history, author Donald Abel recommends Ronald Griffin's The Eleventh Alabama Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War [also published by McFarland, in both hardcover (2008) and paperback (2012) editions]. In this study, the battle history of the "Confederate Guards" is recounted at length by Abel, supported by numerous detailed maps and abundant photographs.

Ultimately, Sanders himself, though he experienced a meteoric rise in rank and responsibility for such a young man, suffered a tragic fate. More from the description: "Leading from the front, Sanders was wounded four times during the war yet rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming one of the South's "boy generals" at 24. By Appomattox, Sanders was dead [he was killed in action at Globe Tavern on August 21, 1864] and the remaining 20 men of Company C surrendered with what was left of the once formidable Army of Northern Virginia."

In addition to the narrative history, Abel includes a company roster and a set of extensive individual profiles. The latter biographical compilation fills over 85 pages and is accompanied by a multitude of grave site photos as well as other images.