tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:24:58 +0000BooknotesBook ReviewsBook NewsReviews - Campaigns and BattlesReviews - Theater - WestReviews - Theater - Trans MississippiReviews - Theater - EastReference Books/Research MaterialsReviews - Civil War SocietyReviews - BiographyReviews - Unit HistoriesReviews - NavalReviews - PoliticsComing SoonBook SnapshotsReviews - Diaries/ Letters/ MemoirsAuthorsReading ListsReviews - Guides and Map StudiesPublishersReviews - Indian ConflictsReviews - Theater - Far WestReviews - Essay CollectionInterviewsMagazines and JournalsReviews - Civil War EconomyFive books on ... seriesReviews - CW MedicineSnapshots from the CollectionTexas Revolution / U.S. - Mexican WarReviews - Photographic StudiesReviews - Archaeology/Material CultureReviews - Environmental HistoryNon-fiction American Civil War book reviews, commentary, industry news, interviews, reading lists, and profiles of upcoming releases.https://cwba.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)Blogger3971125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-7625096153070024224Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:22:17 +00002026-09-23T09:22:17.818-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Occupied Alexandria: How the Civil War Transformed a Southern City by Madeline Feierstein (Arcadia Pub and The Hist Press, 2026). Stretched along the right bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the city of Alexandria, Virginia had zero chance of escaping Union occupation. Indeed, once Virginia seceded the town was instantly seized by eager U.S. https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-occupied-alexandria.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4465797137245921664Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:23:00 +00002026-09-22T09:23:00.769-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw by Kevin M. Levin (UNC Press, 2026). From the description: "Robert Gould Shaw (1837–1863) is best known as the heroic colonel who led the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment—one of the first regiments of Black soldiers in the Civil War—in its famous ill-fated charge against Confederate Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-glorious-fate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-1882843417713305289Mon, 21 Sep 2026 15:14:27 +00002026-09-21T08:14:27.773-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Civil War Chaos in Texas: The Tumultuous Tenure of Governor Pendleton Murrah by Lori Duran (Arcadia Pub and The Hist Press, 2026). After Unionist Texas governor Sam Houston was removed from office in 1861, he was followed by Confederate governors Edward Clark, Francis Lubbock, and Pendleton Murrah. Murrah's involvement in the politics and strife of the period is the main subject https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-civil-war-chaos-in-texas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-8077991364291741196Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:30:39 +00002026-09-18T08:30:39.621-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Diaries/ Letters/ MemoirsReviews - Indian ConflictsReviews - Theater - Far West["When All Our Troubles Will Be Forgotten": The Civil War Letters and Recollections of Captain George Henry Pettis edited by Jerry D. Thompson (University of New Mexico Press, 2026). Hardcover, 5 maps, photos, illustrations, endnotes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:vii,194/336. ISBN:978-0-8263-6983-3. $34.95] By his own estimate, Union Army captain George H. Pettis (First California https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/review-when-all-our-troubles-will-be.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4306079079066503772Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:58:11 +00002026-09-16T08:58:11.776-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • The 54th Pennsylvania Infantry in the Civil War by Christopher A. Baran (McFarland, 2026). It's understandable that publication of Union regimental histories of units that served in the eastern theater is still heavily weighted towards those attached to the Army of the Potomac for most of the war. At the same time, eastern regiments that didn't fit that mold are still fairly wellhttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-54th-pennsylvania-infantry-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4827508508917644005Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:23:33 +00002026-09-15T08:23:33.792-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • And Rest Under The Shade Of The Trees: Essays In Honor of James I. Robertson, Jr. edited by Steven E. Woodworth, Christopher L. Jones, and Christopher J. Smith (Laurel Hill Pub, 2026). Eminent Civil War historian James Irvin "Bud" Robertson Jr. passed away in 2019 at the age of 89. If you're around my age and serious interest in the ACW blossomed during the late-80s and https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-and-rest-under-shade-of-trees.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4085643464080918299Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:59:32 +00002026-09-14T09:59:32.026-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • The Civil War in Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks by Matthew Ericson (Arcadia Pub & The Hist Press, 2026). Over their prolific (and, for the latter, ongoing) runs, The History Press's Civil War Sesquicentennial Series and Civil War Series published a number of titles covering various military events in southeastern Virginia and coastal North Carolina during 1861-62. Matthew https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-civil-war-in-hampton-roads.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-8823106115404206753Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:28:59 +00002026-09-10T08:28:59.443-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • A Michigan Cavalryman: The Life and Untimely Death of Major Noah Henry Ferry, Fifth Michigan Cavalry by Eric J. Wittenberg (Fox Run Pub, 2026). One of the publishers that the late Eric Wittenberg developed a close relationship with over his prolific writing career was Keith Jones's Fox Run Publishing. As indicated in this press release from back in late March of this year, Eric https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-michigan-cavalryman.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-7976747712353294179Tue, 08 Sep 2026 17:58:57 +00002026-09-08T10:58:57.925-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Campaigns and BattlesReviews - NavalReviews - Theater - West[Ironclad Ambush: Confederates Strike Lincoln's Mississippi River Blockade at the Head of Passes, October 12, 1861 by Neil P. Chatelain (Savas Beatie, 2026). Hardcover, 12 maps, photos, illustrations, footnotes, appendix, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xviii,209/255. ISBN:978-1-61121-795-7. $32.95] As Civil War naval historian Neil Chatelain revealed in his excellent 2020 study Defending https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/review-ironclad-ambush-confederates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4076742694119598640Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:26:34 +00002026-09-03T09:26:34.105-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • "Now I'm With the Invalids": The Veteran Reserve Corps in America’s Civil War by David A. Welker (Casemate, 2026). Returning combat disabled soldiers to the army fulfilled an acute need for the government and recovered wounded alike. The U.S. military, facing ever increasing manpower pressures as the war progressed, searched far and wide for volunteers to fill needed roles of allhttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-now-im-with-invalids.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-2861682551472083854Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:12:32 +00002026-09-02T13:12:32.937-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863 by Britt C. Isenberg (Casemate, 2026). From the description: "The second day at Gettysburg has defined what most Americans know today about 1863’s most pivotal campaign in the Civil War’s eastern theater. Two veteran armies in transition clashed desperately, in the process immortalizing sites such as Devil’s Den, the Slaughter Pen, https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/09/booknotes-second-day-at-gettysburg-july.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-2944995896440513047Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:41:03 +00002026-08-29T13:41:03.787-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Grant & Meade: An Uneasy Alliance by Bradley M. Gottfried & Linda I. Gottfried (Seminole Pr, 2026). When U.S. Grant was brought to Washington by President Lincoln to head the entire Union war effort as general-in-chief, Army of the Potomac commander George Meade assumed, as did many others, that Grant would appoint a trusted and familiar western general in his place. When Grant https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/booknotes-grant-meade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-1450899302586014573Fri, 28 Aug 2026 16:40:20 +00002026-08-28T09:43:39.081-07:00Book NewsPosting yesterday's review of Brian Burton's Forward to Richmond: The Virginia Campaign of 1862 made me wonder yet again whether we'll ever get a treatment of the Peninsula Campaign on the order of Gordon Rhea's Overland series or David Powell's multi-volume Chickamauga and Atlanta projects. Thematically similar to Burton's single-volume overview, but fleshed out over multiple books, is Ethan's https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/more-on-1862-war-in-virginia-through.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4721946309587214990Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:11:53 +00002026-08-27T10:11:53.376-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Campaigns and BattlesReviews - Theater - East[Forward to Richmond: The Virginia Campaign of 1862 by Brian K. Burton (University of Nebraska Press, 2026). Hardcover, 17 maps, illustrations, endnotes, bibliographic essay, index. Pages main/total:xiv,259/335. ISBN:978-1-4962-2971-7. $39.95] Brian Burton's Forward to Richmond: The Virginia Campaign of 1862 is the twelfth installment in University of Nebraska Press's Great Campaigns of the https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/review-forward-to-richmond-virginia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-6113330823454956222Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:16:34 +00002026-08-24T07:16:34.893-07:00Coming Soon Scheduled for SEPT 20261: • "When All Our Troubles Will Be Forgotten": The Civil War Letters and Recollections of Captain George Henry Pettis ed. by Jerry Thompson. • John M. Schofield: Soldier–Statesman of the Civil War and Gilded Age by Robert Wooster. • "Now I'm With the Invalids": The Veteran Reserve Corps in America’s Civil War by David Welker. • Texas and the Civil War: New Perspectiveshttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/coming-soon-september-26-edition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-806916812941267713Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:13:09 +00002026-08-20T08:13:09.443-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • "When All Our Troubles Will Be Forgotten": The Civil War Letters and Recollections of Captain George Henry Pettis edited by Jerry D. Thompson (UNM Press, 2026). University of New Mexico Press doesn't publish Civil War-related books very often, but when they do the release is always worthy of close attention. The essential library of the Civil War in the Desert Southwest contains https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/booknotes-when-all-our-troubles-will-be.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-6613162484808673482Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:37:52 +00002026-08-18T08:37:52.056-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Ironclad Ambush: Confederates Strike Lincoln's Mississippi River Blockade at the Head of Passes, October 12, 1861 by Neil P. Chatelain (Savas Beatie, 2026). I was excited to read news of this title's upcoming release. I've always been interested in the CSS Manassas, from its ungainly appearance resembling a surfaced whale to its managing to achieve that rarest of Confederate https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/booknotes-ironclad-ambush.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-1477876149927702231Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:12:18 +00002026-08-14T12:12:18.260-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - BiographyReviews - Indian ConflictsTexas Revolution / U.S. - Mexican War[Henry Eustace McCulloch: Texas Ranger, Legislator, Civil War General by David Paul Smith (Louisiana State University Press, 2026). Hardcover, 6 maps, photos, appendix section, endnotes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xiv,216/297. ISBN:978-0-8071-8599-5. $49.95] Brothers Henry E. McCulloch and Benjamin McCulloch inhabited closely connected frontier lives. Though both were born and raised https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/review-henry-eustace-mcculloch-texas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-1958030870117874460Mon, 10 Aug 2026 21:43:40 +00002026-08-10T14:43:40.349-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Researching Your Civil War Ancestor: A Guide to Understanding Civil War Pension Files and Legislation by J.L.D. Woodruff (Savas Beatie, 2026). "There is no better place to start researching the wartime experiences and postwar lives of your Civil War ancestors than the pension files held at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C.," and author https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/booknotes-researching-your-civil-war.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-520246788409014845Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:57:53 +00002026-08-06T16:05:21.612-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Biography[Confederate General D.H. Hill: A Military Life by Chris J. Hartley (Savas Beatie, 2026). Hardcover, 20 maps, photos, footnotes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xx,500/556. ISBN:978-1-61121-759-9. $39.95] For a very well-known Civil War officer of his rank and breadth of service encompassing key campaigns fought in both the eastern and western theaters, Confederate general Daniel Harvey https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/review-confederate-general-d-h-hill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-8965088052850910760Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:37:40 +00002026-08-03T08:37:40.580-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • In a Land of Strangers: Northern Teachers in the Slave South by Michael T. Bernath (UNC Press, 2026). By the time of the Civil War, Northern-born teachers had occupied teaching positions across the South for generations. In a Land of Strangers argues that their recorded experiences played a major role in shaping how cultural differences between North and South came to be https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/08/booknotes-in-land-of-strangers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-3470660954450544608Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:15:45 +00002026-07-31T10:15:45.698-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Essay CollectionReviews - Theater - West[The Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign: February 6–16, 1862 edited by Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear (Southern Illinois University Press, 2026). Paperback, 4 maps, table, photos, illustrations, chapter notes, index. Pages:xi,146. ISBN:978-0-8093-3997-6. $24.95] The Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign: February 6–16, 1862 is the eighth installment of SIU Press's Civil War Campaigns in thehttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/review-forts-henry-and-donelson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-3189831430467263053Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:02:15 +00002026-07-29T09:02:15.061-07:00Coming Soon Scheduled for AUG 20261: • He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860 by Jonathan Earle. • The Old Soldiers Show: Stories from the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion by Lee Vetter. • The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863 by Brett Isenberg. • Ironclad Ambush: Confederates Strike Lincoln's Mississippi River Blockade at the Head of Passes, October 12, 1861 by Neil Chatelain. • https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/coming-soon-august-26-edition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-3179512412048410609Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:53:41 +00002026-07-27T08:53:41.045-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Civil War Camps and Soldier Health: Sanitation and Military Effectiveness in the Union Army by Earl J. Hess (Kent St UP, 2026). One of the first things new students of the Civil War learn is that disease killed more soldiers from both sides than did bullets on the battlefield. With the unprecedented mobilization of vast volunteer armies, adherence to army regulations in regard tohttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-civil-war-camps-and-soldier.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-2547539453190412278Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:39:01 +00002026-07-24T08:39:01.266-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Campaigns and BattlesReviews - Guides and Map Studies[Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville: A Battlefield Guide by Brian K. Burton (University of Nebraska Press, 2026). Softcover, maps, appendix section, source list. Pages:xii,150. ISBN:978-1-4962-3620-3. $29.95] Brian Burton's Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville: A Battlefield Guide is the eighth volume in University of Nebraska Press's This Hallowed Ground: Guides to Civil War Battlefields serieshttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/review-fredericksburg-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0