A bunch of used books were left by the mailboxes in my building. One was James McPherson’s 2001 3rd edition. The price was right. This is a more academic text than his prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom. And that’s OK with me. It has more charts and such. You won’t get any scenarios out of this book, but if you’re looking for a deep dive into the causes, combat and after-effects of the American Civil War then this is the book for you. He has a long look at things, such as the number of weapons each side produced and procured.
The festering sore of plantation slavery vs. burgeoning industry is well covered. There are some interesting revelations about the war. After the Union victories of 1863, Vicksburg, Gettysburg and Chattanooga, it seemed the curtain was ready to be drawn in early 1864. He notes that the Union’s 2-year enlistments were already up, many of the 3-year ones too and the remainder coming soon. Bonuses and furloughs induced something more than half of these veterans to re-enlist. But a lot of blue-coat units were new regiments or those that had sat in cushy rear area camps for a long time and had no combat experience.
On the other hand, Confederate soldiers were not allowed to quit, regardless of what their terms of enlistment were. The only way out for them was death, disabling wounds or illness, or desertion. As invading columns moved deeper into Dixie, some rear area units fought, but the main armies were mostly veterans. This is something that hadn’t occurred to me before.
It ends with the truly unfortunate travail of
reconstruction. a combination of corruption, terrorism and economic depression that ended the experiment of Black suffrage. I’m pleased to have read this book. Worth the detour.
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