Review - "Hundreds of Little Wars: Community, Conflict, and the Real Civil War" by Schieffler & Stith, eds.

[Hundreds of Little Wars: Community, Conflict, and the Real Civil War edited by G. David Schieffler and Matthew M. Stith (Louisiana State University Press, 2025). Hardcover, chapter notes, index. Pages:xii,271. ISBN:978-0-8071-8220-8. $45]

Beginning most prominently with 1995's Seasons of War, historian Daniel E. Sutherland has had a profound impact on the field through his exploration of the many ways in which local history enriches and expands our modern understanding of the American Civil War. Developed in another line of study headlined by 2009's A Savage Conflict, Sutherland's sweeping reinterpretation of the character, scale, and larger meaning of the war's vast irregular component has also proved to be highly influential. Additionally, as editor of University of Arkansas Press's The Civil War in the West series (now sadly defunct), Sutherland played a significant part in promoting and conveying to readers new scholarship dealing with the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West. In appreciation of Sutherland, as person, scholar, and mentor, is the essay anthology Hundreds of Little Wars: Community, Conflict, and the Real Civil War, edited by G. David Schieffler and Matthew M. Stith.

Given Daniel Sutherland's stature as one of the leading proponents of the idea that the local experience of the Civil War was the "real war" for most of the population, this set of essays written in his honor grabs onto that central concept and branches off from it far and wide. The traditional understanding of Civil War "community" as being tied to static local geography (i.e. cities, towns, and counties) is explored in fresh directions such as temporary POW and refugee camps. Entering into other spaces (including more figurative-level ones) are those essays that address community in the context of race, gender, regular and irregular military organizations (ex. volunteer regiments and partisan ranger units), and intersections between the natural and built environments. The resulting dozen essays are organized into pairs assigned to six themed sections: (1) Regimental Communities, (2) County and Environmental Communities, (3) Border Communities, (4) Hybrid (in terms of race and demography) Communities, (5) Irregular Communities, and (6) Transnational and Comparative Communities. To get a taste of what to expect, one chapter from each pairing will be commented upon below.

Through works such as Gerald Prokopowicz's All for the Regiment and others, the Civil War regiment, always seen to have been closely representative of the community or communities from which it was recruited, has also come to be viewed as a community in and of itself within the larger structures of the Union and Confederate armies. Similar to how she approached the topic in other writings dealing with the 16th Connecticut, 11th New York, and 2nd Texas, Lesley Gordon examines issues of alleged cowardice and the quest for redemption in her essay exploring the 128th New York, a regiment that was singled out as the worst of the "Harpers Ferry Cowards"—the context being alleged misbehavior that contributed to the entire garrison's disgraceful surrender on September 15, 1862. Interestingly, Gordon finds that the men of the 128th, unlike their fellow New Yorkers of the 11th, fully redeemed themselves in subsequent campaigning, yet (unlike other Harpers Ferry regiments collared with the same label) during reunions and for the decades after the war bitterly clung to a victim mentality that remained one of the central unifying elements of their communal memory. It's a testament to the far reaching power and endurance of such accusations.

Paired with an occupation study of Virginia's Fauquier County emphasizing the local irregular conflict and gender relations between civilians and occupiers is an examination of the prison community established at Camp Ford (Smith County, Texas, located a few miles outside Tyler) from 1863-65. In it, volume co-editor Matthew Stith explores the camp's interactions with the local population along with the natural (including area wildlife of various kinds) and man-made environments. With good water and wood for shelter-building widely available and given the opportunity to forage liberally from the resource-rich countryside, Camp Ford prisoners (even after overcrowding resulting from the breakdown of the exchange system and influx of new arrivals from the 1864 Red River Campaign) experienced much lower morbidity and mortality rates in comparison with the war's more infamous POW facilities.

As developed fully in The Rivers Ran Backward, his sprawling 2016 study of the nineteenth-century West's so-called Middle Border, the essay authored by Christopher Phillips again frames that vast multi-state region occupying both sides of the Missouri and Ohio Rivers as being not a distinct line of demarcation between northern and southern identities but rather a place, a region-sized "community" if you like, of integrated economies and mostly shared political and social values. As Phillips explains, the harshest and most enduring divisions within the Middle Border were not of a longstanding North versus South nature but rather were a product of mid-1850s political violence, the Civil War itself, and postbellum politics.

Co-editor G. David Schieffler's contribution expands the concept of Civil War community to the black refugee camp, one of the largest in the South, that was established at Helena, Arkansas after the Union Army of the Southwest entered the area and set up a permanent and heavily fortified garrison in the river town. As Schieffler shows, the reciprocal relationship that developed between the army and refugees, the former providing protection, employment, and limited supplies and the latter camp and military labor, forged a community of mutual assistance. However, those benefits to the refugees were also accompanied by inconsistent policies and support, much of which was dependent upon the attitude and priorities of the military officer who happened to be in overall command of the post at a given moment. That capriciousness, the frequent abuses, and the naturally unhealthy conditions at Helena that felled soldiers and freedpeople alike in alarming numbers, together rendered uncertain both life and freedom for the refugees.

The Barton Myers essay identifies a community of similarly skilled and motivated partisan officers who led irregular units in different parts of the border and southern states during the Civil War. In addition to offering fresh recognition of obscure figures, their commands, and their activities, Myers points toward commonalities among the leaders, with many having served in conventional forces before the appeal of independent action and of engaging in local defense led them to enter partisan service. The divide between regular and irregular service was also significantly blurred, as these officers frequently returned to the conventional war by directly cooperating with regular forces. In addition to their local knowledge, most possessed aggressive streaks and a high tolerance for risk that made them effective raiders and scouts. However, as evidenced by a number of violent deaths among these men long after the war ended, those qualities valuable during wartime could also negatively impact their relations with others off the battlefield and upon their return to civilian life. As Myers makes clear, among the host of factors that scholars have developed in recent years to explain the 1862 Partisan Ranger Act's mostly disastrous outcome, the lack of strong and effective leadership from officers such as these was not among them.

As recounted by Michael Shane Powers, Confederate veterans Edward Burke of Louisiana and members of Virginia's Imboden family represented international actors forging mutually beneficial links between Gilded Age America and the country of Honduras, with the added dimension of key involvement with British sources of capital. Powers's essay is not a tale of fleeing the country to escape postwar persecution or renewal of antebellum-style filibustering activities but rather one of successful entrepreneurs expanding New South economic ties with Central America. In the 1880s, Burke and the Imbodens utilized British investment to fund large-scale mining operations, and they became instrumental figures in developing Honduran mineral extraction industries and national infrastructure. Much of their success was owed to their integration into Honduran society in ways that previous foreigners failed to do, and as experienced soldiers they also played an active part in Honduran internal conflicts in support of the legitimate government.

Certainly, you can expand the definition of a word or concept like "community" so far and wide as to run the risk of losing its value as an object of reference or study, but the larger point of these essays, that of recognizing the abundant insights that localized (even microscopic-level) points of view can offer in both isolation and in sum, certainly holds true. A handful of men dying in a remote guerrilla ambush far behind the front lines barely merits mention, but a thousand of such forgotten incidents spread across the landscape of war can have the same impact on a combatant side's friends, families, and local communities as the Battle of Gettysburg. In similar fashion, the "hundreds of little wars" that this volume touches upon and that collectively fill in the innumerable gaps and crevices between and behind the major campaigns and battles that garner the lion's share of attention were often the war for a great many of those who participated in them.

Booknotes: Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia

New Arrival:

• Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia by Michael C. Hardy (Savas Beatie, 2025).

The ill-clothed and half-starved southern 'scarecrow' fighting man as myth or reality has been the subject of some debate, but no one can discount the vital link between food and fighting capacity. From the description: "Although seldom studied, food (or the lack thereof) and the logistics behind it played a critical role during the war, contributed mightily to the success and failure of campaigns, and affected the overall outcome of the conflict. Understanding how soldiers prepared their food, how they ate and, very often, went hungry, is a vital tool to understanding their individual experiences and the larger history of supply and logistics within the Confederate army."

Rather than take on the entire Confederate Army, Michael Hardy adopts the more manageable task of examining a single army. His Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia is based upon a "unique study on more than 300 sets of letters and diaries that closely examine the importance of sustenance in the day-to-day life of the soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia. Various chapters examine food issued by the army, food sent from home to the front, and food carried, collected, and eaten during campaigns. These accounts dispel many misconceptions and assumptions about food during the war and provide a rich and complex picture of the arduous journey various meats, grains, and other foodstuffs underwent to reach hungry soldiers in the field."

The common soldier perspective in camp and on the march is not the only lens through which Hardy scrutinizes his subject. More from the description: Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia also "examines what the Confederate high command ate and explores the relationship between hospitals and food, demonstrating the importance of proper nutrition in the recovery and care of the wounded. Hardy also examines the vital role played by camp servants, as well as the critical connection between proper nutrition and morale. The voices of the men themselves provide a multifaceted examination of this central, but often overlooked, field of history."

Booknotes: Lincoln's Campaign Biographies

New Arrival:

• Lincoln's Campaign Biographies by Thomas A. Horrocks (SIU Press, 2024).

This is the 2024 paperback reissue of the original 2014 hardcover edition, which is part of SIU Press's long-running Concise Lincoln Library series.

In pre-modern American political history, campaign biographies provided a great way to for a presidential campaign to expose its candidate to a wide audience while at the same time controlling the message. From the description: "During the 1860 and 1864 presidential campaigns, Abraham Lincoln was the subject of over twenty campaign biographies. In this innovative study, Thomas A. Horrocks examines the role that these publications played in shaping an image of Lincoln that would resonate with voters and explores the vision of Lincoln that the biographies crafted, the changes in this vision over the course of four years, and the impact of these works on the outcome of the elections."

According to Horrocks, Lincoln's campaigns were more adept than most when it came to using the campaign biography as an effective election tool. More from the description: "Horrocks investigates Lincoln’s campaign biographies within the context of the critical relationship between print and politics in nineteenth-century America and compares the works about Lincoln with other presidential campaign biographies of the era. Horrocks shows that more than most politicians of his day, Lincoln deeply appreciated and understood the influence and the power of the printed word."

Campaign biographies were also useful when it became necessary, or simply advantageous, for a candidate's public face to shift and evolve. That was certainly the case between 1860 and 1864. More: "The 1860 campaign biographies introduced to America “Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter,” a trustworthy, rugged candidate who appealed to rural Americans. When Lincoln ran for reelection in 1864, the second round of campaign biographies complemented this earlier portrait of Lincoln with a new, paternal figure, “Father Abraham,” more appropriate for Americans enduring a bloody civil war."

In the end, Thomas Horrocks's Lincoln’s Campaign Biographies "provides a new perspective for those seeking a better understanding of the sixteenth president and two of the most critical elections in American history."

Booknotes: A Campaign of Giants - The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 2

New Arrival:

• A Campaign of Giants - The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 2: From the Crater's Aftermath to the Battle of Burgess Mill by A. Wilson Greene (UNC Press, 2025).

The long-awaited second installment of A. Wilson Greene's epic three-volume series A Campaign of Giants - The Battle for Petersburg has arrived. The excellent from top to bottom A Campaign of Giants - The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater arrived on our doorsteps back in 2018, so powers of recall will have to be sharp in order to pick up on the full range of recurring themes (and hopefully the Volume 1 review linked just above will assist in that area to some degree).

As stated in the Preface, A Campaign of Giants - The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 2: From the Crater's Aftermath to the Battle of Burgess Mill covers the period "between August 1 and the end of October." Thus, it encompasses the "Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Petersburg Offensives, all entailing concurrent efforts south of the Appomattox River and north of the James River. August also witnessed one of the war's greatest acts of sabotage, while in September the Confederate cavalry conducted a spectacular raid behind Union lines" (pp. xii-xiii). "But as winter approached, Grant had captured one of Lee’s primary supply routes and extended the lines around Petersburg and Richmond to some thirty-five miles."

If the past few decades of Petersburg Campaign scholarship haven't already disabused you of the common notion that its ten months were generally lacking in operational and tactical-level features of interest, Greene's series should be thoroughly convincing. As was the case with Volume 1, Volume 2 enhances its narrative through extensive map coverage, too. From the description: "Supported by thirty-four detailed maps, Greene’s narrative chronicles these bloody engagements using many previously unpublished primary accounts from common soldiers and ranking officers alike. The struggle for Petersburg is often characterized as a siege, but Greene’s narrative demonstrates that it was dynamic, involving maneuver and combat equal in intensity to that of any major Civil War operation."

In a nice touch, Greene dedicates this volume to Richard Sommers, who passed away the year following Volume 1's release. Grant and Lee were the giants who actually fought the campaign, but Sommers was also a giant, albeit of a different sort. Through his masterwork Richmond Redeemed and beyond, Sommers established himself as the dean of Petersburg Campaign historians, his work influencing all who followed in his footsteps.

Booknotes: The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War

New Arrival:

• The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War: The Biography of a Regiment by James Marten (UNC Press, 2025).

The Sixth Wisconsin was, as we all know, an integral component of one of the most celebrated infantry brigades produced by either side, the Iron Brigade. "One of the core units of the famed Iron Brigade, the Sixth was organized in July 1861 and mustered out in the summer of 1865, playing major roles at Second Manassas, Antietam, and Gettysburg, and in the Overland campaign of 1864." The unit's service history has been well documented in that integrated context (and in field grade officer Rufus Dawes's well-used memoir based on his wartime writings), but I am not aware of any prior full-length regimental history. According to James Marten, author of The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War: The Biography of a Regiment, that might still be the case, as he categorically states that his book "is not a regimental history," but rather, as he calls it, a "regimental biography." Like a biography covering an individual's life, Marten's book "traces the birth, education, maturation, aging, and decline of its subject" (pg. 3).

From the description: "Reimagining one of the oldest genres of Civil War history," Marten's own brand of regimental study does not aim to recount in detail the Sixth's part in the various campaigns and battles. From the author's point of view, "the regiment’s full history is found in the stories of its men learning to fight and endure far from home amid violence, illness, and death, and in the lives of families that hung on every word in letters and news from the front lines. Those stories also unfolded long after the war’s end, as veterans sought to make sense of their experiences and home communities struggled to care for those who returned with unhealed wounds." Marten branches off from modern Civil War community, memory, and veteran studies by following "a single regiment through the entire gamut of experiences, from peace to war and back again" (pg. 4).

In his introduction, Marten explains his main goals for the book at some length. The first is to present the veteran lives of the Sixth's surviving members as being just as important as their soldier lives. This gets into the "long Civil War" part of the title. Most inspired by the focus and style of soldier studies from Gerald Linderman, Earl Hess, and Peter Carmichael, the second of Marten's goals is to "enrich and complicate the way we think about common soldiers' experiences." The third central intention is to explain, through the eyes of Sixth Wisconsin soldiers along with their loves ones and home communities, "how the Civil War generation invented the very idea of war" in the sense of "inventing a vocabulary, a series of acceptable responses," and "a way of explaining it to others and themselves." Finally, Marten uses his biography of the Sixth to develop the idea of "the Civil War regiment as a particular kind of constructed community" (pgs. 5-6). Through all of this, it is hoped that "readers will understand the long history of the Civil War" in a new way.