Booknotes: The Fenian Empire

New Arrival:

• The Fenian Empire: A Hemispheric History of Irish Republican Nationalism by Patrick J. Mahoney (NYU Press, 2026).

Most visitors to this site have at least some notion, vague as it might be, of the impact of those involved in the Fenian Movement and their activities in North America during the Civil War era. The war itself produced a large body of experienced fighters, but where would they be deployed in service of the cause?

From the description: "In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the Fenian movement stood at a crossroads. Thousands of demobilized Irish soldiers held the power to reshape history. Inspired by a popular desire to expel monarchical and aristocratic influence from the New World, many American Fenians began to align their efforts to establish an independent Irish Republic with the wider aims of American republican expansion. In doing so, the Fenians’ fight for Irish liberation became more than a single cause. It was a web of alliances, contradictions, and ambitions, carried out under a common banner of republicanism."

Irish historian Patrick Mahoney reminds us that that common banner was raised in the western hemisphere over a wide geographical area, involving many peoples and groups. His book, The Fenian Empire, "uncovers the untold story of how Fenianism intersected with race, colonialism, and internationalist solidarity across North America and the Caribbean at a time of intense political turmoil." Mahoney's examination unfolds across four major fronts: the Reconstruction South, the American frontier, Mexico, and Cuba. More from the description: "Fueled by the cause of republican expansion, the period saw the unlikely emergence of Black Fenian volunteers, attempts to land Fenian troops into Mexico and Cuba, and the participation of many Fenians in the subjugation of Native peoples along the western plains of North America. While their views and strategies varied, their aim remained clear: Irish freedom."

Utilizing an "expansive range of archives and sources across multiple languages," Patrick Mahoney's The Fenian Empire "delivers a fresh take on the Fenian story, guiding readers through a world of clandestine meetings, personal networks, propaganda, and long-forgotten military operations."

Booknotes: Retreat From Victory

New Arrival:

• Retreat from Victory: The Battle of Malvern Hill and the End of the Seven Days, July 1, 1862 by Francis Augustín O’Reilly (Savas Beatie, 2026).

With book-length popular and scholarly histories detailing Civil War battles of all sizes and significance released in great numbers over the years, one might have expected that all of the big fights of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, and perhaps most of the smaller ones, would have been the objects of one or more standalone studies by now. Oddly enough, though, that has not been the case. However, two long-anticipated projects, R.E.L. Krick's Gaines's Mill study and now Frank O'Reilly's Retreat from Victory: The Battle of Malvern Hill and the End of the Seven Days, July 1, 1862, are finally in our hands.

From the description: "Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862, marked the climax of the Seven Days’ Battles around Richmond, Virginia. For the first time since the Civil War began, the full might of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia met on one field. The world watched and wondered as this high-stakes combat played out on the doorstep of the Confederate capital. The Union army emerged victorious with its superior positions and overwhelming artillery firepower, yet McClellan retreated from victory to establish a safe base on the James River. Lee’s army secured a default victory simply by holding the battlefield and saving Richmond from capture."

Prior to O'Reilly's work, the best overall account of Malvern Hill sat inside Brian Burton's excellent Seven Days campaign study Extraordinary Circumstances (2001). Of course, in describing one of many major battles fought during that week, the space devoted to Malvern Hill coverage was necessarily limited. Now, in O'Reilly's book we get "the first book-length treatment of this critical and pivotal combat."

Indeed, O'Reilly's book, with its nearly 400 pages of main narrative supported by 20 original maps, offers a comprehensive portrait of the battle that's unprecedented in detail and scope. More from the description: O’Reilly's Retreat from Victory "examines the singular struggle at Malvern Hill in depth and from a wide variety of perspectives, including its implications for the war, the armies, the opposing governments, the people, and slavery. He pieces together the tactical movements of troops on the battlefield and the intentions of leaders on the front lines and in the halls of government in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia. Above all, he gives voice to the soldiers, sharing their experiences in combat and on campaign."

In the larger picture, Malvern Hill, the bloody conclusion to the Seven Days epic, "elevated General Lee’s career and marked the beginning of the end of General McClellan’s. It was a watershed moment when the Civil War transformed from a rebellion into a revolution."

Fall/Winter University Press Catalogs '26

It's that time of year again when the university presses roll out their upcoming seasonal catalogs. Overall numbers aren't terribly high (they would be higher if we include Civil War-adjacent stuff), but I am really liking the range of topics spread out across the board.

LSU:

• How Lincoln Won: The 1860 Presidential Election and the Origins of the Civil War by DeWitt & Schwartz.
• Lee’s Army During the Petersburg Campaign: A Numerical Study by Albert Young.
• Louisiana’s Tigers: The Men of Wheat’s Confederate Battalion by Ross Brooks.
• Managing the Union Army: Scott, McClellan, Halleck, and Grant as General-in-Chief by Earl Hess.

UNC:

• A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw by Kevin Levin.

Nebraska:

• Gettysburg Cavalry Commander: The Rise and Fall of General Alfred Pleasonton by Edward Longacre (Potomac).
• A Prisoner in Dixieland: The Civil War Memoir of Stephen French by Gregory Lawrance, ed. (Potomac).

Oklahoma:

• John M. Schofield: Soldier–Statesman of the Civil War and Gilded Age by Robert Wooster.

TAMU Consortium:

• Texas and the Civil War: New Perspectives by Carl Moneyhon (UNT).
• Texas Cotton and Confederate Finance: Blockade Runners, Border Merchants, and Government Agents by Ellis & McCaslin (UNT).

Tennessee:

• Fighting with Stonewall in the Valley: The Diary of John Henry Stover Funk by Foster & Mortenson, eds.
• Imprisoned at Camp Douglas: The Diary and Art of Knoxville Confederate Samuel Bell Palmer by Michael Van Ness, ed.
• Texas Secedes: A Documentary History by Dwight Pitcaithley.

Georgia:

• From Blood to Ink: How the Press Covered the Gettysburg Campaign by Matthew Larson.
• Hard Women, Hard War: How Southern Women Shaped U.S. Policy During the Civil War by Laura Mammina.

South Carolina:

• Smoke on the Battery: Charleston and the Longest Siege of the Civil War by Stephen Wise.

Kansas:

• Napoleon’s Long Shadow: How French Military Genius Shaped the American Civil War by Timothy Smith.
• From the Valley to the Tidewater: The War in Virginia, May 21–June 12, 1862 by Ethan Rafuse.

Southern Illinois:

• Grant and His Generals by Henry Laver.

Kent State:
(forthcoming)

Booknotes: The U.S. Navy Medical Department in the Civil War

New Arrival:

• The U.S. Navy Medical Department in the Civil War by Guy R. Hasegawa (McFarland, 2026).

During the Civil War, the United States Navy sustained active operations in some of continent's most dangerously unhealthy climes, those extreme challenges to personnel fitness under extended periods of close confinement being one of the more understudied aspects of the service.

From the description: "The Civil War U.S Navy--charged with blockading the Southern coast, controlling the Mississippi River and participating in Army-Navy operations--faced daunting medical difficulties. These included not only combat injuries but also malaria, yellow fever and other infectious diseases that all hampered the Navy's ability to wage war."

Content inside Guy Hasegawa's new book The U.S. Navy Medical Department in the Civil War is similar in nature and structure to that of a pair of his earlier works, Matchless Organization: The Confederate Army Medical Department (2021) and The Confederate Navy Medical Corps: Organization, Personnel and Actions (2024). All explore key matters such as departmental administration, organizational hierarchy, procurement, personnel assignments and duties, and hospital management.

As was the case with the army, U.S. Navy medical services were initially overwhelmed but soon adapted to the scale of the conflict. More from the description: "The tremendous wartime expansion in naval personnel and vessels outpaced the ability to provide sufficient qualified medical personnel, and the initial absence of Union naval hospitals in the South forced officials to improvise care for the most seriously ill or injured sailors and marines. The wide dispersal of vessels and facilities necessitated changes in the distribution of supplies. The U.S. Navy Medical Department responded to these challenges creatively, transforming their methods, calling on other government entities for assistance and applying political maneuvers."

Booknotes: The Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign

New Arrival:

• The Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign: February 6–16, 1862 edited by Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear (SIU Press, 2026).

Southern Illinois University Press's Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland essay anthology series, edited by Steven Woodworth, opened its doors in 2009 with the publication of The Shiloh Campaign. From the start, planning was very ambitious (see series roadmap), and pacing challenges have produced some wide gaps between releases, but it is great to see that the wheels are still turning. Changes over the years include the addition of a series co-editor, Charles Grear, and the renaming of the series to Civil War Campaigns in the West. Releasing hardcover and paperback versions at the same time is a new development. The eighth and newest installment, the first in six years, is The Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign: February 6–16, 1862. It addresses a series of military events that not only resulted in the "first major strategic breakthrough of the war" but "signaled a dramatic shift in momentum and elevated Grant’s national profile."

From the description: In the volume's seven essays "leading and emerging scholars provide in-depth analyses of previously overlooked aspects of the Forts Henry and Donelson campaign. Contributors examine how ecological forces influenced the campaign, the effectiveness of the joint command between the Union army and navy, and Union brigadier general Charles F. Smith’s assault that doomed Fort Donelson. They also explore the battle’s impact on the military career of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the effects of surprise during the Confederate breakout attempt from Fort Donelson, Confederate colonel Gabriel Wharton’s memoir, and how the loss of the forts showed Texans that the fight to preserve the enslaved South would cost them more than they had imagined."

Here's the full Table of Contents:

Introduction - Steven E. Woodworth
1. Natural Chaos: Ecological Forces and the Struggle for Forts Henry and Donelson by Michael Burns.
2. Joint Command: The Union Gunboats at Forts Henry and Donelson by Blakeney K. Hill.
3. Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Fort Donelson Dilemmas by Brian S. Wills.
4. Surprise and Security: Launching and Resisting the Confederate Breakout at Fort Donelson by Jonathan M. Steplyk.
5. C. F. Smith's Attack at Fort Donelson by Steven E. Woodworth.
6. Justifying Surrender: Colonel Gabriel C. Wharton at Fort Donelson by Sheilah R. Elwardani.
7. “This Time of Our Ill Success and Defeat”: Texans' Reaction to the Battle of Fort Donelson by Charles D. Grear.

All of the previous series volumes have been covered on the site, the full reviews easily found using the search bar.

Booknotes: Rebels and Regimes

New Arrival:

• Rebels and Regimes: The Nature of Violent Resistance in the Nineteenth Century edited by Andrew Fialka & Aaron Sheehan-Dean (LSU Press, 2026).

From the description: Rebels and Regimes "presents a global view of the nature of violent resistance throughout the nineteenth century. The volume’s breadth and scope reveal commonalities and differences among regimes and insurgents in their different contexts, offering a view that the participants themselves never had."

More from the description: "Using a comparative approach to show how established regimes fought rebels, the volume emphasizes the importance of race, political rhetoric, and historians’ paradigms in understanding nineteenth-century violence."

In pursuit of that, volume editors Andrew Fialka and Aaron Sheehan-Dean assembled ten essays "each focused on a specific conflict or period of colonial overreach: imperialist efforts against Caribbean maroons, the Peninsular War, the Second Seminole War, the Taiping Rebellion, the American Civil War, Russian imperial expansion, British imperial expansion in both India and South Africa, the War of the Triple Alliance, and the Dutch-Aceh War."

The American Civil War essay, from historian Joseph Beilein, offers a "short biography" of the irregular warfare aspect of the conflict. In it, Beilein "carefully tracks the origins of the regular/irregular dichotomy to one of the American conflict's chief thinkers, Henry W. Halleck." In documenting this part of the ACW, "participants crafted an archival record and a language of war to valorize or demonize, and later generations of historians adopted or ignored those labels at their own peril" (pg. 4).

Review - "Decisions on Western Waters: The Twenty-Seven Critical Decisions That Defined the Battles" by Michael Becker

[Decisions on Western Waters: The Twenty-Seven Critical Decisions That Defined the Battles by Michael D. Becker (University of Tennessee Press, 2026). Softcover, 10 maps, photos, illustrations, driving tour, orders of battle, glossary, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xv,142/290. ISBN:979-8-89527-045-5. $24.95]

Naturally enough, the major land campaigns and battles fought in the eastern and western theaters have been the primary focus of University of Tennessee Press's prolific Campaign Decisions in America's Civil War series. However, there has been some shift in direction over the past year and a half or so, with the subject matter of two volumes [Decisions of the Galveston Campaigns (2024) and Decisions of the Red River Campaign (2025)] finally crossing into the Trans-Mississippi theater of operations. Naval orientation is also on the rise, another welcome development. As was the case with Edward Cotham's Galveston book, Michael Becker's Decisions on Western Waters: The Twenty-Seven Critical Decisions That Defined the Battles centers naval and combined operations in its analysis while also departing significantly from the established structural format of addressing only a single, sharply defined campaign. Indeed, Becker's book covers a series of interconnected land and naval operations played out over an extended period of time (1861-64), the unifying theme of which was the bitterly contested strategic struggle for control over the mighty Mississippi River and its major tributaries. Both Cotham and Becker's contributions demonstrate that the format of the series can be adaptable without losing the core elements of its character and identity.

Many readers of this review will already be familiar with the series and its structure, at the center of which is the concept of the "critical decision." For those new to the series, critical decisions, as distinct from mere important decisions, not only have major consequences in their own right but possess the key added feature of substantially shaping those decisions and events that follow it over the course of the rest of the campaign and beyond. For each critical decision, identification and analysis unfolds in the following sequence: Situation, Options, Decision, and Result(s)/Impact. Situation describes a particular state of politico-military affairs (categorized as strategic, operational, tactical, organizational, personnel related, or logistical in nature) at a moment pivotal enough to prompt a critical decision. That decision framework provides readers with the background context necessary to recognize and evaluate the Options (two or more in number) available to the decision-maker. The historical Decision selected from those options by a critical decision-maker is then briefly described. The ensuing Result(s)/Impact section recounts what happened and outlines the ways in which the decision's outcome shaped the historical events that followed. An Alternative Decision/Scenario section is optional for contributors (some go deep into alternate history conjecture while others omit it altogether). In this case, Becker ventures into that territory selectively.

Each of the six categories of critical decisions are represented at least twice in Becker's analysis. While operational and tactical decisions comprise the majority, their sources (both military and civilian leaders) and categorical diversity are emblematic of the range of key actors and factors involved with the initial conception, support, and conduct of Civil War military campaigns. The expansive time interval and geographical space involved with the events of this particular volume are uniquely broad, but the author is up to the challenge when it comes to connecting the decisions in coherent fashion.

The twenty-seven critical decisions involved in securing control over the key waterways of the inland West are organized into four chapters by year: 1861 (9 decisions), 1862 (14), 1863 (2), and 1864 (2). That the great majority are concentrated in the first two years of the war really highlights the exemplary foresight, urgency, determination, and flexibility of Union planners, who built a vast squadron of river gunboats of various types from scratch and quickly put them to highly effective use without any prior experience in the areas of design and tactics from earlier wars. The great rapidity with which that process occurred denied their much more resource-strapped and disorganized Confederate opponents the breathing space needed to coordinate an effective response. The result was that squadron-scale Confederate naval resistance on the western rivers was effectively destroyed by mid-1862. In terms of assessing the campaign to control the western waterways, it might be argued that there were no more critical decisions to had after Vicksburg and Port Hudson were both secured by Union forces in July 1863, but the Red River Campaign of the following spring placed a large proportion of Mississippi River Squadron capital ships at great risk, making Becker's two 1864 decisions (both related to that campaign) worthy of consideration. Nevertheless, even if the entire Union naval contingent was lost it is difficult to imagine the Confederates gaining the capacity to seriously threaten Union control of Mississippi River navigation at that late stage of the war.

Becker's discussion demonstrates strong awareness and appreciation of recent contributions to the literature. His presentation and analysis of critical 1861-62 Confederate decision-making aligns closely with the mistakes and challenges so astutely identified and examined in Neil Chatelain's insightful 2020 study Defending the Arteries of Rebellion: Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River Valley, 1861-1865. Among these were inefficient resource allocation, dispersal of effort through debilitating competition over scarce resources, strategic indecision, and lack of unified command. Becker usefully reminds us that, at one point, five different civilian and governmental entities had jurisdiction over fighting vessels in the region, and the single professional naval officer given the most authority, George Hollins, was relieved of command at the worst possible moment. As the author outlines in the book, all of those factors impacted critical decision-making in ways that directly contributed to epic disaster for the Confederate defense of the Upper and Lower Mississippi River Valley during the early war period. In similar vein, the critical decision involving staff officer Lewis B. Parsons's reorganization of theater transportation resources demonstrates keen appreciation of the recent literature's assessment of Union rail and river logistics.

Books of this type are always going to have a subjective element to them. Some readers will point toward possible omissions or differ with the author in identifying certain decisions as being truly critical. One of the latter might be the decision surrounding Union construction of a mortar boat flotilla for shore bombardment. While these vessels were deployed during a number of important ship vs. shore actions fought along the Mississippi River Valley, it would be difficult to maintain that they had a critical impact on any of them. In the area of possible omissions, Becker makes strong cases for designating a number of naval administration matters as critical decisions, but one might also suggest that promoting David Dixon Porter to command the new Mississippi River Squadron was a critical personnel related decision. Compatible personalities mattered a very great deal when any and all naval assistance provided to army operations had to be framed as an interservice request. The personal and professional harmony that existed between Porter's navy and Grant and Sherman's army was instrumental to Union victory on a multitude of occasions, not least of which during the very difficult Vicksburg Campaign. In terms of actual complaints, the Decision and Results/Impact sections of some situations draw significant elements from more than one Option choice, which is a practice not typical of the series. Given that that pops up most often in situations with option numbers as high as four and five, option consolidation would have been one way to address that occasional source of confusion.

A major feature of every book in the series is the driving tour appendix tied to the main text's critical decision analysis. This is achieved through a combination of additional support text from the author and focused excerpts from official reports and military communications. As one might imagine, Becker's task was an especially challenging one given the vast size of the Mississippi River Valley area of operations. Even with careful organization, the twelve tour stops between Cairo, Illinois and Bailey's Dam on the Red River in Louisiana take the user on a journey of 1,300 miles! The appendix section also contains vessel orders of battle for each of the major actions discussed in the text.

A novel variation on the typical subject matter of the Campaign Decisions in America's Civil War series, Michael Becker's Decisions on Western Waters successfully applies the critical decision analysis structure to one of the war's longest running and most geographically extensive military contests, effectively framing the opening of the Mississippi as a single campaign of critical significance. With available land campaigns of major status dwindling in number, it will be interesting to see what other unusual pathways the series might take.

Booknotes: Out of This Strife Will Come Freedom

New Arrival:

• Out of This Strife Will Come Freedom: Free People of Color and the Fight for Equal Rights in the Civil War Era by Warren Eugene Milteer, Jr. (UNC Press, 2026).

In the introduction to his book Out of This Strife Will Come Freedom: Free People of Color and the Fight for Equal Rights in the Civil War Era Warren Eugene Milteer argues that his fellow historians "have done little to examine the lived experiences of free people of color in a way that highlights their distinct position in Civil War-era society." Spread across the entire breadth of the country and numbering almost half a million, with just over half concentrated along the Atlantic Seaboard, the experience of freedom held by these individuals molded "(t)heir understandings of the importance of national unity, slavery and emancipation, military participation, equal rights, and other issues..." (pg. 2).

From the description: "Their unique status as already free persons before emancipation shaped their experiences of military service, political activism, and community life in ways distinct from those newly freed from slavery and affected how they navigated the pursuit of equal rights."

Milteer recognizes these already free persons as a "diverse lot," his study group including both persons born free and those who "had gained their liberty at some point in their lives through the legal process of manumission." Others "obtained their freedom through purchases, gifts, court cases, and the last wills and testaments of masters" (pg. 2-3).

Out of This Strife Will Come Freedom "brings the stories of free people of color to the forefront, revealing that freedom was not simply the absence of enslavement but a powerful foundation of identity, rights, and belonging. Their determined struggles and strategies before, during, and after the war helped redefine what it meant to be a citizen in a nation grappling with democracy and equality."

Booknotes: Henry Eustace McCulloch

New Arrival:

• Henry Eustace McCulloch: Texas Ranger, Legislator, Civil War General by David Paul Smith (LSU Press, 2026).

Parlaying his considerable antebellum frontier military service into a position in the Confederate high command typically reserved for West Pointers, Texan and brigadier general Ben McCulloch led southern armies in the two most prominent early-war battles fought west of the Mississippi, Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge. His Civil War career was cut short by a sharpshooter's bullet in the opening stages of the latter fight, leaving us to wonder what might have been, but the McCulloch name and influence carried on in the form of his lesser-known brother, Henry McCulloch, who was in his own right a significant Texas military figure both before and during the Civil War.

From the description: "In his military career, Henry McCulloch served with his brother Ben in one of the first Texas Ranger companies after the Texas Revolution of 1836, defended settlers during the Great Comanche Raid of 1840, and helped to defeat Mexican forces that reoccupied San Antonio in 1842. He also served as a captain in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War." David Paul Smith's Henry Eustace McCulloch: Texas Ranger, Legislator, Civil War General offers the first full account of the younger McCulloch's life in politics and the military.

Directing Confederate troops throughout the Civil War, Henry McCulloch eventually led a brigade in Walker's Texas Division and commanded large administrative sub-districts in Texas. More from the description: McCulloch "commanded a regiment of Rangers that became the first unit sworn in by the Confederacy. McCulloch later served as the temporary commander of the Department of Texas, directed regiments defending territory around San Antonio, briefly led the Texas Division, and participated in the attack at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana."

As referenced earlier, Henry McCulloch was also a noteworthy Civil War-era politician. More: "In the 1850s, voters in Texas elected McCulloch to the state legislature, where he advocated for creating additional Ranger units to defend settlers on the frontier." "After the Civil War, McCulloch remained active in politics, leading a group supporting Richard Coke during the Coke-Davis imbroglio in 1873 and running as the Populist Party’s candidate for governor in 1892."

Those primarily interested in McCulloch's Civil War military career will be not be disappointed at the level of attention paid to that period. Roughly half the book examines that prominent phase of McCulloch's life, with the first four chapters covering his antebellum life in Texas and two additional chapters addressing his pre-war and post-war political activities. Smith's biography "reveals McCulloch’s involvement in events that shaped nearly all of nineteenth-century Texas history, restoring his legacy as one of the state’s most important military leaders and politicians."