Booknotes: Hero of Fort Sumter

New Arrival:

• Hero of Fort Sumter: The Extraordinary Life of Robert Anderson by Wesley Moody (OU Press, 2025).

Kentuckian Robert Anderson's Civil War arc is well known to readers. Handling the situation in Charleston Harbor during the secession crisis as well as anyone could have expected under the circumstances, Anderson's conduct during the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter transformed the relatively obscure U.S. Army major into the Union's first war hero. He was rewarded with a major command in the western heartland, which poor health forced him to relinquish after only a short period in charge. He returned to Charleston in 1865 in an emotional flag raising ceremony at Fort Sumter, his Civil War career ending at the very place it began. Now readers will get the full story of Anderson's life and military service in Wesley Moody's Hero of Fort Sumter: The Extraordinary Life of Robert Anderson.

From the description: Moody "charts Robert Anderson’s path from an upbringing on the Kentucky frontier to a West Point education and a military career that saw him fighting in nearly every American conflict from the Black Hawk War to the Civil War—catching malaria fighting the Seminoles, taking several bullets while serving in Mexico, writing the textbook for field artillery used by both Union and Confederate forces, mentoring William Tecumseh Sherman."

Anderson had family and personal connections to a number of figures central to American history. More: "(His) family, harking back to the nation’s founding, included William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) and Chief Justice John Marshall. His father crossed the Delaware with George Washington. And among his acquaintances were presidents ranging from the aged John Adams to seven-year-old Theodore Roosevelt."

As fully expected, the centerpiece of Moody's biography is its coverage of the leadership Anderson displayed in Charleston Harbor between South Carolina's secession and the surrender of Fort Sumter. More from the description: "Central to Anderson’s story was his deft and decisive handling of the Fort Sumter crisis. Had Major Anderson been the aggressor, as many of his command urged, President Abraham Lincoln would have been unable to rally the Northern states to war. Had Anderson handed his command over to the Confederate troops, a demoralized North would have offered little resistance to secession." I don't know about that last point, but in upholding national honor Anderson surely did have to walk a fine line between provocation and showing strength.

If you are wondering about how much of the study addresses the remaining balance of Anderson's Civil War experience, around fifteen pages are devoted to his return to duty, promotion to brigadier general, his brief departmental command in 1861, and triumphal 1865 return to Fort Sumter. It will be interesting to get Moody's take on which factor, deteriorating personal health or lost favor with the Lincoln administration, was the principal driving force behind Anderson's replacement by William T. Sherman as Department of Kentucky commander. A handful of pages cover the final years of Anderson's life, from the end of the war to his death in 1871.

Another dormant series revived: Great Campaigns of the Civil War

Last month, I posted [here] some news regarding the impending return of the This Hallowed Ground and Civil War Campaigns in the West series from University of Nebraska Press and SIU Press, respectively. Now there's even more good news. Ten years after the publication of Perry Jamieson's Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War (2015) comes word that the long-awaited next installment of the Great Campaigns of the Civil War series will be released in July of 2026. I've long known that an 1862 Peninsula Campaign addition to the series was in the works and was pleased to learn that it will finally be coming to fruition next year. Like the new This Hallowed Ground guidebook title from the same publisher, Forward to Richmond: The Virginia Campaign of 1862 is authored by Brian Burton. I don't know anything more about it than what's found at the link provided, but having Burton, best known for his Seven Days work, behind it is a plus in my book.

Review - "Fred Grant at Vicksburg: A Boy’s Memoir at His Father’s Side During the American Civil War" by Albert Nofi, ed.

[Fred Grant at Vicksburg: A Boy’s Memoir at His Father’s Side During the American Civil War edited and annotated by Albert A. Nofi (Savas Beatie, 2025). Softcover, 2 maps, photos, illustrations, footnotes, appendix section, bibliography, index. Pages:x,146. ISBN:978-1-61121-741-4. $16.95]

Perhaps hearkening back to the melancholy he experienced during his Old Army postings on the frontier (those feelings contributing to his decision to resign his commission in 1854), U.S. Grant arranged for the headquarters presence of close family members on numerous occasions during his celebrated Civil War service. Son Frederick Dent Grant was the frequent beneficiary of this chance of a lifetime opportunity for being present at the making of history, and, with the fulsome consent of mother Julia Dent Grant, the boy spent extensive periods of time with his father in the field. Perhaps the most event-filled of those interludes was when young Fred (12 years old at the time) joined the Grant headquarters family for the most active and decisive months of the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign. His most lengthy and detailed remembrance of that adventurous time is reproduced in editor Albert Nofi's Fred Grant at Vicksburg: A Boy’s Memoir at His Father’s Side During the American Civil War.

According to Nofi, more than a dozen versions of Fred Grant's speeches and interviews pertaining to his time in Mississippi can be viewed in print. The most comprehensive version of his wartime remembrance, and the one that forms the basis of this book, is the 18,000-word memoir account serialized by the National Tribune in 1887. In addition to organizing and transcribing that Tribune account in full, Nofi annotates the material. His footnotes identify or clarify persons, places, and events mentioned in Fred's memoir while dutifully pointing out errors in the account as well as noteworthy differences with, or omissions from, other versions. A selection of important people and places mentioned in the text are addressed at greater length in a pair of appendices as well.

It's easy to see why Fred Grant was a prize get for the Gilded Age speaking circuit. Beyond the obvious appeal of being the son of the Union Army's greatest war hero, Fred, a West Point graduate himself (Class of 1871) who eventually reached the rank of major general, was well informed on military matters in his own right. His Tribune account is a mixture of serious observation balanced by more lighthearted remembrances of boyish antics and adventures near the enemy (sometimes too close for comfort). Though obviously pro-Union in sentiment, the memoir treats friend (even comrades with whom his father sharply conflicted, such as John C. McClernand) and foe alike with an even keel.

Fred's Vicksburg account was developed well after the war ended and apparently without the fact-checking benefit of any additional source material or personal notes. As Nofi mentions, that led to a lot of mistakes in identifying persons, places, and especially dates. Events were also occasionally conflated or mistaken altogether. So what value is there to be had? The memoir definitely provides Civil War readers with a unique perspective in terms of its author being the son of the commanding general, a position that afforded him ready access and opportunity for observing and interacting with the army's high command in the middle of a critically important campaign. The boyish adventures that young Grant engaged in on multiple occasions might also interest many readers. Some anecdotes are uniquely Fred's. For instance, his account of General Grant and Admiral David Porter personally involving themselves with a shipboard test firing of a coffee mill gun, the unfortunate result of which was a fairly severe (by Fred's estimate) accidental injury to the general's hand that took some time to heal. According to Nofi, that incident, though very specific and vividly described by Fred, is mentioned nowhere in Grant's own writings nor could the editor find the incident described in any other books about Grant.

By his own account (which spans the period, with some interruption, from the end of March 1863 to just after the fall of Vicksburg), Fred seemed to have had the ability to freely attach himself to any of Grant's subordinate generals, and he apparently shared company with all the army's corps and division commanders at one time or another, witnessing most in action. He claims to have been adopted as a special "pet" by some of the Grant's officers (ex. James McPherson) and befriended an orderly that joined him on many escapades.

Fred's high command access allowed him to gain the measure of Grant's lieutenants, at least in retrospect, and he freely shares his perceptions of them in the memoir. His impressions of the personalities and abilities of important generals such as Sherman, McClernand, and McPherson closely align with the most common descriptions of those qualities passed down through history all the way to today. Of the division commanders in the Army of the Tennessee, John Logan inspired exceptional curiosity and admiration from Fred. It's interesting that he repeatedly refers to the general as "Fighting Jack," with no mention of the "Black Jack" nickname that today's students are much more familiar with in their own reading.

The absence of extensive discussion related to the Vicksburg operation's siege phase is explained by the fact that the writer was sent away during that time to recover from a festering flesh wound received earlier in the campaign. Given that camp diseases and stray bullets had no regard for rank or youth (ask Sherman about the deadly risks involved in exposing one's own child to that), it is somewhat startling to learn just how enthusiastic Julia was about continually sending Fred to be with her husband at the front, even after the boy was shot and also caught a life-threatening case of dysentery. She even amusingly justifies Grant having Fred around on campaign as being akin to Philip of Macedon mentoring a young Alexander.

This is a fine memoir of the Vicksburg Campaign written from a wholly distinctive perspective, made even more valuable through the prodigious enhancements and supplements provided by the editor.

Booknotes: From Ironclads to Admiral

New Arrival:

• From Ironclads to Admiral: John Lorimer Worden and Naval Leadership by John V. Quarstein & Robert L. Worden (Naval Inst Press, 2025).

Most Civil War readers remember John L. Worden as the first commander of the U.S.S. Monitor, which he led during the most famous naval duel of the Civil War—the ironclad clash between his ship and C.S.S. Virginia at Hampton Roads in March 1862. During that engagement, Worden was badly wounded, and he largely fades from more general treatments of the naval conflict. However, it was the case that Worden had many more contributions to make, and his entire life and career are examined in John Quarstein and collateral descendant Robert Worden's From Ironclads to Admiral: John Lorimer Worden and Naval Leadership. According to Craig Symonds's jacket blurb, this the first full biography of Worden.

From the description: "Throughout his 52-year career, Rear Adm. John Lorimer Worden was always the right officer for the job. The epitome of an innovative commander who helped move the U.S. Navy out of the age of sail and into the era of ironclad technology, Worden’s contributions extended beyond the Battle of Hampton Roads and shaped the future of the Navy. He demonstrated exceptional leadership in both combat and peacetime."

In April 1861, Worden, employed as a secret messenger for the government, was arrested on his way back to Washington and held captive by Confederate authorities for more than half a year. Upon release, Worden's antebellum sea experiences and scientific background [he led "a successful rescue mission" and captured "a prize ship during the Mexican-American War," and later served "(t)hree tours at the U.S. Naval Observatory"] placed him in good stead when a commander was sought for the U.S. Navy's Monitor, a new and untried technological wonder.

Upon recovery from his Hampton Roads battle wounds, Worden played a major role in the U.S. Navy's further refinements in ironclad design, use, and technology. More from the description: Worden "returned to command the USS Montauk, where his unparalleled expertise in ironclad design and combat tactics continued to set him apart. From testing ships in battle to overseeing the innovative production of ironclads at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, he consistently refined his craft. Confronted with multiple ship design failures, he relentlessly drove improvements, pushing the boundaries of naval technology and securing lasting progress in the development of modern warships."

When the Civil War ended, Worden's professional career was far from over. He "became superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he trained the next generation of naval officers and co-founded the U.S. Naval Institute." He "capped his career by ably serving as commander-in-chief of the European Squadron during a time of upheaval on that continent. Displaying courage, commitment, and diplomacy, Worden skillfully led U.S. European naval forces from 1875 to 1877."