Booknotes IV (Apr '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Lee's Army During the Overland Campaign: A Numerical Study by Alfred C. Young III (LSU Pr, 2013).

Few historians in the Civil War field embark on the type of serious number study that can convincingly confirm, revise, or even completely overturn accepted figures associated with significant military events. In this book, Young does so for the Army of Northern Virginia in the Overland Campaign. He claims that Lee's command "stood far larger in strength and size and suffered considerably higher casualties than previously believed". His is a thick study, divided evenly between (a) a narrative examination of the actions, and losses sustained, of each infantry and cavalry brigade (and artillery battalion) in the campaign, and (b) a series of supporting tables, maps, and notes.

2. Heaven's Soldiers: Free People of Color and the Spanish Legacy in Antebellum Florida by Frank Marroti, Jr. (Univ of Ala Press, 2013).

From the publisher description: "Heaven’s Soldiers chronicles the history of a community of free people of African descent who lived and thrived, while resisting the constraints of legal bondage, in East Florida in the four decades leading up to the Civil War" ... "Marotti surveys black opportunities and liabilities under the Spaniards; successful defenses of black rights in the 1820s as well as chilling statutory assaults on those rights; the black community’s complex involvement in the Patriot War and the Second Seminole War; black migration in the two decades leading up to the US Civil War; and African American efforts to preserve marriage and emancipation customs, and black land ownership."

Arkansas Late in the Civil War: The 8th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, 1864-1865

One of the great things about The History Press's Civil War Sesquicentennial series is its willingness to embrace subject matter that most publishers wouldn't even consider. Sure, they do many titles of a commercial nature, but they also release more narrow interest histories like this West Point battle study. A book that should raise the antennae of Trans-Mississippi students is David Casto's soon to be released Arkansas Late in the Civil War: The 8th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, 1864-1865 (May 2013). Message board postings are my only exposure to the author, but he strikes as a serious and diligent researcher. Modern Union Missouri cavalry regimental studies are rare, as are glimpses at late-period Civil War Arkansas, so the book intrigues me on more than one level.

Cook, Barney & Varon: "SECESSION WINTER: When the Union Fell Apart"

[Secession Winter: When the Union Fell Apart by Robert J. Cook, William L. Barney, and Elizabeth R. Varon (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Softcover, notes, reading guide, index. Pages main/total:98/127. ISBN:978-1-4214-0896-5 $19.95]

Secession Winter is a publication spawned from three Cunliffe Lecture Series [University of Sussex's Marcus Cunliffe Centre for the Study of the American South] presentations by historians Robert Cook, William Barney, and Elizabeth Varon. The introduction establishes the big picture, but the essays drill down to either specific events or smaller segments of broader themes, all significantly associated with the controversial five-month period surrounding the winter of 1860-61.

By providing numerous examples from the private writings of religious leaders and wealthy slaveowners, the opening essay by William Barney highlights the Upper and Lower South divide over the moral implications of slavery. Unlike the Upper South, which had more acceptable outlets for anxiety, doubt, and debate, the Lower South's guilt over slavery (conscious or not) could only be expressed through a form of "denial, repression, and projection that so distorted their perception of reality, ... the whites in the Lower South ignored all the risks involved" (pg. 10) in secession. For Cotton Belt planters, secession was the only relief from being constantly peppered with northern abolitionists assaults on the moral foundations of their society. One always treads on shaky ground when attempting to psychoanalyze previous generations, but there is surely something to the idea. One's own life experiences find retrenchment in the face of withering criticism, whether the target recognizes he or she is in the wrong or not, to be a far more universal human response than one of reflection, openness to opposing views, and commitment to change.

Elizabeth Varon's piece on Robert E. Lee's decision to resign from the U.S. Army makes several interesting points. In it, she interprets Lee's public and private justifications for his action (only defense of Virginia and family are mentioned in his statements) as rebukes of both northern and Confederate radicals. The qualification is such that many newspapers questioned his loyalty well into the war, at least until the Seven Days. According to Varon, Lee as committed southern nationalist developed later, with the binding effects of the war's bloodshed and shared sacrifice on and off the battlefield. This probably accurately describes the transformation of many Upper South conditional unionists. She also notes the secessionist propaganda value (unintended by Lee, of course) of Lee's resignation and acceptance of the leadership of Virginia state forces. It was a significant demonstration that the separatist movement, so resoundingly rejected by Virginians a short time earlier, had a place for well respected moderates.

Robert Cook's final chapter examines the use of selective historical memory in the promotion of causes, both for the Union and for secession. Both sides promoted self-serving interpretations of the meaning of the American War of Independence, with northerners emphasizing shared history and nationalization and Deep South secessionists trumpeting the right of revolution. Republicans and their allies constantly raised the specter of a Slave Power conspiracy as reason to reject further compromise in the issue of extension of slavery in the territories. On the other side, southern partisans proclaimed the existence of a popular northern led war on slavery, while not mentioning the Kansas-Nebraska Act nor the fraudulent Lecompton Constitution that a northern Democratic president endorsed. Throughout, Cook uses an apt term, the "grievance narrative", to characterize the use of synthetic history -- selection of politically useful supporting elements while discarding "inconvenient facts" -- as a means of marshaling popular support for a cause.

Readers seeking all encompassing treatments of events from this period would be best advised to consult seminal works such as those authored by William Freehling, Kenneth Stampp, David Potter, and Russell McClintock [Secession Winter's reading list considers Stampp, Potter, and McClintock to be the Big 3 on the subject], but those already intimately familiar with the literature should still be able to find points of interest in the three essays comprising this collection^*.

* - Varon, especially, considers her views expressed in her essay to be different from all previous interpretations of Lee's resignation. At the two poles lie Douglas Southall Freeman's influential opinion that it was a decision Lee was "born to make" and Alan Nolan's much more recent view that it was one of base treason. In Varon's opinion, the mass of other published explanation attempts can all be ultimately traced back to Freeman's emotional foundation. In contrast, Varon lends the most weight to a calculated thought process on Lee's part.

Booknotes III (Apr '13)

New Arrivals:

1. The Big Divide: A Travel Guide to Historic and Civil War Sites in the Missouri-Kansas Border Region by Diane Eickhoff and Aaron Barnhart (Quindaro Pr, 2013).

This is a natural, historical and cultural site register and driving tour guide to the MO-KS border. For our purposes here, there are large sections devoted to the Bleeding Kansas and Civil War periods.

2. Civil War Battlegrounds: The Illustrated History of the War's Pivotal Battles and Campaigns by Richard Sauers (Zenith Pr, 2013).

Synopses of battles selected from all three theaters, complemented by photos, maps (contemporary and modern), and drawings.

Snapshots from the Collection: "About Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, U.S. Army Volunteers and Wilson's Creek"

Before I came across About Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, U.S. Army Volunteers and Wilson's Creek by Hardy A. Kemp (Author, 1978) in a recent visit to my favorite local bookstore, I thought I was familiar with all the modern book length treatments of the campaign. No publisher or even a publishing date is mentioned in its pages, so the assumption is that it is self-published with the given date corresponding to the one attached to an author appreciation piece inside written by a Missouri state senator. Initially, as Hardy does not mention Bearss's work, I thought the manuscript was written much earlier, but the notes do cite works from the early to mid 1970s. Online used book outlets and bibliographical listings confirm the 1978 date so that's good enough for me, I guess.

As the title suggests, the book is a combination Lyon biography and examination of the general's role in the 1861 Missouri Campaign. The study does not go as far as Lyon biographer Christopher Phillips went in attempting to drill inside their subject's psyche, but Kemp does offer a portrait of Lyon's volatile personality using contemporary sources (salient among these the writings of Thomas Snead, James Peckham, and Drs. Ashbel Woodward and William Hammond).  The picture of Lyon that emerges is the fairly typical one of an officer with rigid beliefs in the areas of slavery, military duty, and federal supremacy, while at the same time unabashedly insubordinate and entirely intolerant of dissenting views.

Kemp also studies the ways that Lyon's West Point education and his experiences in the Mexican War and antebellum Far West Indian conflicts informed his Civil War generalship.  The most helpful professional development section deals with practical lessons learned from the Mexican War, although the author's criticism of Lyon's artillery deployments at Wilson's Creek as not indicative of best practices learned from that conflict is strikingly unpersuasive.  It's a small part of the book overall, but the discussion of Lyon's tactical and command failings at Wilson's Creek is where I found the study's freshest material and most trenchant analysis. Kemp favors comparison via excerpts from some translation of Jomini, but the principles cited are common sense observations of military history and practice more than anything else.

The choice of constructing the book as a hybrid of sequential thematic analysis with narrative makes it a structural mess, and better books exist in the arenas of Lyon biography and Wilson's Creek battle history, but there are more than enough thoughtful bits and pieces spread throughout Kemp's study to recommend it to those with a special interest in both subjects (if a copy can be found!).

Booknotes II (Apr '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War by David C. Keehn (LSU Pr, 2013).

Finally, a modern study dedicated to the KGC, hopefully offering a compelling case for the true size, power, and influence of this shadowy organization mentioned in the pages of so many Civil War era history books. The blurbs on the back cover make it pretty clear the author believes that the KGC was a widespread organization that should be credited with an even more forceful Civil War presence than previous scholars have allowed.

2. Milliken's Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory by Linda Barnickel (LSU Pr, 2013).

This is the first book length history of Milliken's Bend, with equal emphasis on the battle and its larger meaning to the soldiers themselves, the newly formalized emancipation war aim, and attitudes toward the use of black soldiers in the field.

Kohl: "THE PRAIRIE BOYS GO TO WAR: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865"

[The Prairie Boys Go to War: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865 by Rhonda M. Kohl (Southern Illinois University Press, 2013). Hardcover, maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:260/317. ISBN:9780809332038 $39.95]

With no spotlight performances during any major western battle or famous raid, the 5th Illinois Cavalry's labors in obscurity over vast areas of Union occupied Arkansas and Mississippi were nonetheless essential in their own way. Additionally, western cavalry regimental histories with keen military and cultural insights remain rare, making Rhonda Kohl's The Prairie Boys Go to War: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865 well worthy of attention.

On the face of it, many readers will be unimpressed with the 5th's military pedigree, but students of counter-guerrilla operations in the Trans-Mississippi and post-Vicksburg Campaign scouting and raiding in Mississippi will be treated to impressive accounts of events only lightly touched upon in the existing literature. Organized in August 1861, the "prairie boys" spent the balance of the year training in their home state. February 1862 saw them enter neighboring Missouri, where they did pacification duty in the extreme SE part of the state and eventually joined the Union invasion of NE Arkansas. It was during this time that the 5th received their first taste of guerrilla warfare. From July through October, sickly Helena, Arkansas was the regiment's home. Here, clashes with both regular and irregular Confederate opponents frequently occurred. The next month, the Illinoisans crossed the Mississippi River and participated in the Grenada Expedition, a mounted raid launched in conjunction with U.S. Grant's overland approach on Vicksburg. The men returned to Helena but became a permanent part of Grant's army during the final 1863 campaign to capture the Hill City, operating primarily in the Mechanicsburg Corridor, where they screened the rear of the besieging Union army and kept an eye out to the east for Joseph Johnston's Confederate relief army. After Vicksburg's fall, the regiment took part in the recapture of Jackson and a raid to the north that promised much but delivered little. The author goes into some detail reciting the cavalry's role in the ensuing Meridian Expedition, where the 5th fought at Jackson, Hillsborough, and Meridian itself. The unit reorganized with enough reenlistments to qualify for veteran status, but, with the exception of Osband's Raid, the rest of the war was spent in mostly uneventful occupation duty. Overall, Kohl does an excellent job of documenting these more obscure military happenings in Arkansas and Mississippi, many of the latter having received little attention in the decades since park service historian Ed Bearss first covered them in print.

But there is more to The Prairie Boys Go to War than tales of military exploits. Given the 5th regiment's geographical area of operation, bad water and deadly mosquito-borne diseases were constant companions. With Helena, Arkansas's reputation as one of the most pestilential postings in all of the South, it is no surprise the Illinoisans's overall health declined greatly during their extended tour there. Oddly enough, the regiment suffered far more disease deaths around Vicksburg in 1864, than Helena in 1862, although there is little doubt that many of the Mississippi dead had their constitutions previously comprised in Arkansas.

Culture at the command level and in the ranks, and it's effects on the cohesion and performance of the regiment, is one of the best developed themes of the book. Companies were drawn from all over Illinois, with a large contingent hailing from the conservative Democratic bastion of southern counties known as "Egypt". Ideological tensions were only enhanced when the field grade officer appointments went predominantly Republican. According to Kohl, the volatile situation was worsened by the fact that the officers were collectively a poor lot with a high rate of turnover. In the Civil War, regiments situated thus often performed unevenly on the battlefield and exhibited discipline problems such as widespread plundering, an apt description of the 5th's reputation. What did unite the men, however, was their zeal for the Union. While many did not approve of the Emancipation Proclamation, men of all political stripes had little patience for those on the home front that actively opposed the war.

The book's bibliography is certainly consistent with the work of a dedicated scholar with ten years of research and published articles dealing with the 5th Illinois behind her. Within the volume are a good number of maps conveying useful detail, but the choice to make them schematic rather than accurate renderings to scale was a bit disappointing. Also, more drawings tracing the paths of some of the lesser known raids that were covered in the text would have been very helpful. It should also be mentioned that the book is not a roster history, and the fact that the study ends abruptly is not a problem as the author plans another volume covering the post-war experiences of the veterans.

The Prairie Boys Go to War does in excellent fashion what so many Civil War regimental histories continue to do poorly, namely strike a satisfactory balance between a detailed military record of a unit's service and a critical exploration of the societal values brought to it by those that fill its ranks. In addition to pleasing demanding students in those two areas, the book's contributions to Civil War medical history, occupation studies, and guerrilla warfare are also significant. Add to that the overall scarcity of modern treatments of western cavalry units serving in the Union army, and we really have something of award worthy mention in Rhonda Kohl's study.

[ed. 4/4: the roster is hosted by the publisher's website and available for download as a .pdf]

More CWBA reviews of SIUP titles:
* The Chattanooga Campaign
* Mending Broken Soldiers: The Union and Confederate Programs to Supply Artificial Limbs
* An Illustrated Guide to Virginia's Confederate Monuments
* The Notorious "Bull" Nelson: Murdered Civil War General
* The Chickamauga Campaign
* Chicago's Irish Legion: The 90th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War
* The Shiloh Campaign

Booknotes (Apr '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Secession Winter: When the Union Fell Apart by Robert J. Cook, William L. Barney, and Elizabeth R. Varon (Johns Hopkins UP, 2013).

A variety of perspectives on this important period continue to emerge in the scholarly literature, and I always enjoy learning from them. Some of my favorite books from the past decade, like those from Russell McClintock and William Cooper, deal with the subject. This slim volume has three sections, each written by one of the co-authors: "Barney contends that white southerners were driven to secede by anxiety and guilt over slavery. Varon takes a new look at Robert E. Lee's decision to join the Confederacy. Cook argues that both northern and southern politicians claimed the rightness of their cause by constructing selective narratives of historical grievances".

2. The 14th Brooklyn Regiment in the Civil War: A History and Roster by Frank Callenda (McFarland, 2013).

This unit history, which also includes an extensive roster, provides a complete narrative rundown of the 14th's Civil War military service from First Bull Run through Spotsylvania Court House.

3. Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy by Roger Pickenpaugh (U of Ala Pr, 2013).

If there was ever a publishing lull in the arena of Civil War prisons, Pickenpaugh has surely picked up the slack. His other recent works include Camp Chase and the Evolution of Union Prison Policy and Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union. In this study, he "tackles issues such as the ways the Confederate Army contended with the growing prison population, the variations in the policies and practices in the different Confederate prison camps, the effects these policies and practices had on Union prisoners, and the logistics of prisoner exchanges. Digging further into prison policy and practices, Pickenpaugh explores conditions that arose from conscious government policy decisions and conditions that were the product of local officials or unique local situations. One issue unique to Captives in Blue is the way Confederate prisons and policies dealt with African American Union soldiers. Black soldiers held captive in Confederate prisons faced uncertain fates; many former slaves were returned to their former owners, while others were tortured in the camps. Drawing on prisoner diaries, Pickenpaugh provides compelling first-person accounts of life in prison camps often overlooked by scholars in the field".

4. James F. Jaquess: Scholar, Soldier and Private Agent for President Lincoln by Patricia B. Burnette (McFarland, 2013).

This guy had a pretty colorful life. On the one hand, he was the chaplain of the 6th Illinois Cavalry, colonel of the 73rd Illinois infantry, and a personal emissary of Lincoln, but on the other he was tried for murder, failed at business, and served time in prison.

"Blood on the Streets: The Civil War Comes to Jackson County, Missouri, August 1862"

Ralph Monaco's Blood on the Streets: The Civil War Comes to Jackson County, Missouri, August 1862 (Jackson County Historical Society, 2012) is a very brief treatment of the the battles of Independence (August 11) and Lone Jack (August 15-16). Both clashes occurred during the turbulent 1862 period of sweeping Confederate recruitment operations across Missouri covered so well by Michael Banasik's multi-themed study Embattled Arkansas, and both were Union defeats with little in the way of lasting consequences. One might view these battles as emblematic of the difficulties of retaining Confederate influence in Missouri from 1862 onward, where even impressive tactical victories only led to subsequent evacuation and retreat. At scarcely more than 60 pages of text [the balance of the 102 pages comprising appendices (consisting of O.R. reports), bibliography, and index], the accounts of Independence and Lone Jack are reasonably good but very brief. Well selected photos and drawings are present throughout the book, but no battle maps were included, although an altered reproduction of a later period bird's eye view of Independence provides some perspective. Overall, those familiar with the published literature on both battles will not find anything that builds significantly upon existing works like those of Banasik and Joanne Eakin on Independence and the excellent Lone Jack magazine article written by Kip Lindberg and Matt Matthews. On the other hand, there is nothing really wrong with the book and its accessible brevity and reasonable price should make it attractive to local museum and historical society gift shop patrons.

Bogart & Ambrose: "RAILROAD DEFENSES OF THE BLUE GRASS: The Defenses of the Kentucky Central Railroad, Lexington & Frankfort Railroad and Kentucky River during the Civil War (1861-1865)"

[Railroad Defenses of the Blue Grass: The Defenses of the Kentucky Central Railroad, Lexington & Frankfort Railroad and Kentucky River during the Civil War (1861-1865) by Charles H. Bogart and William M. Ambrose (Yellow Sparks Press, 2012). Softcover, maps, drawings, photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. 188 pp. $25]

Count me among those with a great fondness for books like these.  Railroad Defenses of the Blue Grass by Charles Bogart and William Ambrose is not a narrative history, its text instead is directed toward creating patchwork descriptions of the widespread Union defense system devised to protect the army's railroad logistics network in central Kentucky from fast moving Confederate raiders.

The book does provide background material, beginning with a brief summary of the Kentucky "neutrality" period, centering on the federal government's establishment of strategically located military camps, but the main focus is on the forts, redoubts, and blockhouses constructed to defend the Kentucky Central, Lexington & Danville, and Lexington & Frankfort railroads. The type and extent of earthworks located at Kentucky River crossings convenient to raiders, like Clay's Ferry and Hickman Bridge, are also described.  Wherever possible, contemporary maps showing the locations of these fortifications are included, as are detailed drawings of the blockhouses and earthen fortifications. Reports written by those stationed at these posts, or the officers in charge of their construction [Major J.H. Simpson, Chief Engineer of the Department of the Ohio, is quoted throughout], offer first person insights. While the Union perspective predominates, very brief summaries of various Confederate raids and campaigns that at one time or another directed their attention toward these particular defenses are offered.

Appendices A through K comprise nearly half the book.  Located here is more background history and information pertaining to the business practices of the three railroad companies mentioned above.  Additional maps, photos, and drawings were placed in this section, as well as detailed tables of milepost markings for stations, tunnels, and bridges.  The illustrations relating to the Kentucky Central RR are especially useful.  Highlights from the rest of the appendices include an extensive collection of military correspondence and information about the Police Guard (a special unit of 26 companies raised specifically to protect the Kentucky Central, and later disbanded with the manpower used to create the 18th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment).

The profusely illustrated guidebook Railroad Defenses of the Blue Grass should appeal to both students of Civil War Kentucky and those interested more generally in the study of fortifications. Also, while the book is not designed as a touring tool, nor does it provide site location data as specific as GPS coordinates, the information and visual aids therein do comprise a useful reference for the outdoor adventurer.


For more information:
Yellow Sparks Press, 201 Pin Oak Pl, Frankfort, KY 40601
$25 + $4 shipping. Contact: frankfortrail@fewpb.net

Booknotes V (Mar '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Gettysburg: The Graphic History of America's Most Famous Battle and the Turning Point of The Civil War by Wayne Vansant (Zenith Pr, 2013).

A full color history of the battle and aftermath, formatted in the popular graphic novel style.

2. A Confederate Englishman: The Civil War Letters of Henry Wemyss Feilden edited by W. Eric Emerson and Karen Stokes (USC Pr, 2013).

Feilden was an English officer who resigned and traveled to Charleston, SC with the intent of obtaining a staff position in the Confederate army. He joined Beauregard's military family and even married a local girl, his letters to her comprising A Confederate Englishman. The collected writings, annotated by Emerson and Stokes, recounts his experiences in the department during the war as well as reminiscences penned in the early twentieth century.

3. The Civil War: The Third Year Told by Those Who Lived It edited by Brooks D. Simpson (Library of America, 2013).

This is the third (but the first I've seen) of a four volume set of contemporary Civil War writings. Vol. 3 covers January 1863 to March 1864 and "brings together more than 140 contemporary letters, diary entries, speeches, articles, messages, and poems by more than eighty participants and observers." Also, from the publisher description: "Each volume features a detailed chronology of events, biographical notes about the writers, textual and explanatory notes, and original hand-drawn endpaper maps by expert Civil War cartographer Earl McElfresh".

Big Red acquires Potomac Books

University of Nebraska Press announced their acquisition of Virginia-based Potomac Books today. Potomac doesn't do a lot of Civil War publishing, but it is at least a small part of their overall military history catalog so still having it around is a good thing for us.  It's fairly common for university presses to handle distribution and marketing for local and regional publishers, but outright purchasing of a small to mid-sized private outfit located as far from home base as possible is a new one for me.  The pressures on some UPs (most notably Missouri's) and new debates over the role of academic presses in a rapidly changing publishing landscape have been in the news lately, and maybe this fits into some kind of long term survival strategy for Nebraska.

Etulain: "LINCOLN AND OREGON COUNTRY POLITICS IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA"

[Lincoln and Oregon Country Politics in the Civil War Era by Richard W. Etulain (Oregon State University Press, 2013). Softcover, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:178/222. ISBN:978-0-87071-702-4 $19.95]

Richard Etulain is a prominent scholar associated with the study of Abraham Lincoln's connections with the Far West. He recently edited a series of essays under the title Lincoln Looks West: From the Mississippi to the Pacific (SIUP, 2010), and his new narrative history study, Lincoln and Oregon Country Politics in the Civil War Era, draws elements from his earlier work. As one can see from the cover art, the "Oregon Country" referred to in the book comprises the state of Oregon and the territories of Washington, Idaho, and the western part of Montana.

One of the main points Etulain wishes to impart to readers is his contention that the citizens of the Oregon Country were far more involved in the Civil War and the issues surrounding it than earlier scholars (including Robert Johannsen) believed. While this is difficult to conclusively demonstrate in a brief, top down political study like this one, one might draw some indirect conclusions. For instance, while Lincoln won the state of Oregon in the 1860 election, he did so with scarcely more than one-third of the vote (with almost two thirds going to the two Democratic tickets). By 1864, Lincoln won an outright majority, showing that many Democrats who opposed the administration on matters of the Emancipation Proclamation, wartime civil liberties, and the draft, nevertheless were willing to support a war for the preservation of the Union.  Of course other factors were involved, but, at some level, the political fusion that existed implies a deep investiture in the nation beyond regional concerns.

Another major theme of the book is its examination of Lincoln's part in establishing a Republican Party base in the Pacific Northwest, both through maintaining correspondence with politically influential friends residing there and with patronage appointments to state and territorial posts. The four men most closely profiled are Illinois friends David Logan, Dr. Anson Henry, Simeon Francis, and Oregon latecomer Edward Baker. These men didn't always agree with Lincoln on the issues (popular sovereignty being one of the more significant ones) and Logan essentially disappeared from the scene, but, all through the 1850s, they kept Lincoln apprised of the goings on in the region. Baker became a senator, and, during the war years, Dr. Henry (appointed surveyor-general for Washington Territory) was the most active in advising the president on friends and enemies, appointments, and the political situation in general.

According to Etulain, where Lincoln fell flat was in his high level patronage appointments at the territorial level.  Particularly in Montana and Idaho, a string of territorial governors were so stridently partisan and politically inept that they could not deal with the Democratic majorities that prevailed at the legislative level. Due to this failure, the author describes the territories as administratively unstable throughout the war years. While Lincoln was interested in maintaining communications with the Oregon County in the 1850s, according to Etulain, he became less and less engaged during the Civil War, with his time and energies directed closer to home. This frustrated some of his friends. Dr. Henry dearly wanted the national post of commissioner of the Indian Bureau, and believed he had a right to expect it given his longstanding loyalty and work on Lincoln's behalf, but the president repeatedly rebuffed his requests. The author also characterizes the president as essentially unengaged on the touchy issue of relations with the local Indian population.

The actions of chief Democratic figures in antebellum and Civil War Oregon Country, like Senator James Nesmith and Governor Isaac Stevens, are recounted in the text, but I would like to have seen more coverage of how the administration handled or mishandled dissent in the Oregon County during the Civil War. While the draft was not instituted in the Oregon Country and the Republican administration had a friend in the editor of the influential Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Democratic newspapers up the Willamette River were administration critics and several were suppressed during the war. Military appointments in the Oregon County, and how those officers in charge interacted with local government officials and the civilian population, are also only addressed in passing.

The final chapter of the book offers a useful historiographical summary of Lincoln's connections with the Oregon Country and how they are recognized today, if at all. In addition to his bibliography, Etulain also includes a very good bibliographical essay. At least in terms of books, the latter is fairly all encompassing, and those interested in further reading will find the essay a good starting point for their efforts. New releases dealing with the Civil War in the Pacific Northwest remain rare, but Lincoln and Oregon Country Politics in the Civil War Era is a fine addition to the existing scholarly literature. It is also gratifying to see Oregon State University Press willing to publish on the subject. Hopefully, others in the region will take note.

Booknotes IV (Mar '13)

New Arrivals:

1. President Lincoln's Recruiter: General Lorenzo Thomas and the United States Colored Troops in the Civil War by Michael M. Eggleston (McFarland, 2013).

A biographical treatment of Adjutant-General Thomas, concentrating both on his efforts at raising black troops during the Civil War and his involvement at the heart of the Johnson impeachment crisis [Thomas was selected by Johnson to replace Stanton as Secretary of War, and his testimony at the trial was controversial].

2. This Distracted and Anarchical People: New Answers for Old Questions about the Civil War-Era North edited by Andrew L. Slap and Michael T. Smith (Fordham UP, 2013).

A compilation of scholarly essays on a variety of subjects, including the Democratic press, masculinity in political culture, secret societies, peace movements, ethnicity in the Union army, black flag warfare, and more.

3. The Goose Creek Bridge: Gateway to Sacred Places by Michael J. Heitzler (Authorhouse, 2012).

Goose Creek Bridge is just north of historic Charleston, SC and three chapters are devoted to the Civil War (1) and Reconstruction (2) years.