tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:56:23 +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 - Essay CollectionReviews - Theater - Far WestInterviewsMagazines 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)Blogger3959125tag: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)8tag: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)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-7557366514881373323Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:44:16 +00002026-07-22T08:44:16.744-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Shenandoah Valley to the Surrender at Appomattox by Adolfo Ovies (Savas Beatie, 2026). This book marks the conclusion of a trilogy (Volume 1 and Volume 2) that began in 2021. In it, the "turbulent events of the closing months of the Civil War serve as a backdrop for the https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-boy-generals-v3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-5446701796298302895Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:46:23 +00002026-07-20T08:46:23.364-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Crimewave: Murder and Mayhem in the Far West, 1850-1900 by Matthew Bernstein (UNT Press, 2026). When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California in 1848, a veritable tidal wave of domestic and foreign prospectors descended upon the U.S.'s newly acquired territory looking to strike it rich. The criminal activity that accompanied that mass influx in population and persisted https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-crimewave.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-7608263848120865649Sun, 19 Jul 2026 01:54:59 +00002026-07-20T09:01:02.871-07:00Book NewsSomething brought up in Friday's book review needs to be corrected. On the matter of Jonesboro battle studies that are in the works, I've just heard direct from the most reliable source (Gary Ecelbarger himself) that he is not working on a Jonesboro book either independently or in partnership with anyone else. It's funny how the author rumor mill gets momentum. I don't know how many times I read https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/correction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-3287545187803486750Fri, 17 Jul 2026 13:38:22 +00002026-07-18T18:26:24.446-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Campaigns and BattlesReviews - Theater - West[A Summer of Battles - The Final Weeks of the Civil War's 1864 Atlanta Campaign, Volume 2: Jonesboro, Lovejoy's Station and the Capture of Atlanta by David Allison (Author, 2025). Paperback, 3 maps, photos, endnotes, appendix section, index. Pages main/total:vi,242/438. ISBN:9798273780811. $19] David Allison's A Summer of Battles - The Final Weeks of the Civil War's 1864 Atlanta Campaign, https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/review-summer-of-battles-final-weeks-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-5771373080133300916Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:02:29 +00002026-07-15T10:02:29.153-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • The Federal Signal Service at Antietam: Stations, Officers and Battlefield Intelligence on America's Bloodiest Day by Cory M. Pfarr (McFarland, 2026). If you are a dedicated reader of Civil War military history you pick up bits and pieces of information about the U.S. Army Signal Corps service on a fairly regular basis, but if I had to pick a single publication that impressed me https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-federal-signal-service-at.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-3524042563449475996Mon, 13 Jul 2026 23:59:35 +00002026-07-13T16:59:35.578-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Unparalleled Horror: The Battles of Jerusalem Plank Road and the Crater, June 19-July 31, 1864 by Sean Michael Chick and John F. Schmutz (Savas Beatie, 2026). Sean Chick's A Grand Opening Squandered: The Battle for Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864 (2025) marked the start of a five-volume ECW sub-series that will trace the entire 1864-65 Richmond-Petersburg Campaign from beginning tohttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-unparalleled-horror.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-5952755690393456008Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:01:28 +00002026-08-26T09:39:07.734-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • Forward to Richmond: The Virginia Campaign of 1862 by Brian K. Burton (Univ of Neb Press, 2026). University of Nebraska Press and imprint Bison Books started the Great Campaigns of the Civil War series back in 1999 with Steven Woodworth's Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns. These are not detailed microhistories, the focus being more on broader https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-forward-to-richmond.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-6243771491668122349Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:17:10 +00002026-07-06T10:17:10.766-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Naval[This Great Contest Afloat: The Civil War on the Seas, Coastline, Rivers, and Oceans by Neil P. Chatelain (Savas Beatie, 2026). Softcover, maps, photos, illustrations, appendix section, reading list. Pages main/total:xxv,147/192. ISBN:978-1-61121-777-3. $16.95] Adequately summarizing the Civil War naval component's enormous impact on Union victory and Confederate defeat requires not only the https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/review-this-great-contest-afloat-civil.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-3496724660640386335Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:44:51 +00002026-07-02T08:44:51.044-07:00BooknotesNew Arrival: • An Officer of Six Navies: The Life of Confederate Commander Hunter Davidson by John M. Coski & Charles T. Jacobs (Savas Beatie, 2026). Born at Georgetown in the District of Columbia but possessing Virginia family roots, Hunter Davidson (1826-1913) lived a long life that included a long and eventful naval career. Even though Confederate naval officers and their Civil War https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/07/booknotes-officer-of-six-navies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-8926619594067794300Tue, 30 Jun 2026 21:40:48 +00002026-06-30T14:40:48.720-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Photographic Studies[Civil War Photo Forensics: Investigating Battlefield Photographs Through a Critical Lens by Scott Hippensteel (University of Tennessee Press, 2026). Hardcover, 128 photos, tables, appendix section, endnotes, index. Pages main/total:xi,179/211. ISBN:979-8-89527-087-5. $39.95] Thousands of Civil War battlefield photographs have survived the ravages of time, gifting researchers and enthusiasts https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/06/review-civil-war-photo-forensics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-5497849877167871090Sat, 27 Jun 2026 18:29:42 +00002026-06-27T11:29:42.597-07:00Coming Soon Scheduled for JULY 20261: • Forward to Richmond: The Virginia Campaign of 1862 by Brian Burton. • Civil War Chaos in Texas: The Tumultuous Tenure of Governor Pendleton Murrah by Lori Duran. • An Officer of Six Navies: The Life of Confederate Commander Hunter Davidson by Coski & Jacobs. • Unparalleled Horror: The Battles of Jerusalem Plank Road and the Crater, June 19-July 31, 1864 by Chickhttps://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/06/coming-soon-july-26-edition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-4711400687182117457Thu, 25 Jun 2026 19:33:51 +00002026-06-25T13:58:44.918-07:00Book ReviewsReviews - Biography[Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend: Reconsidering Lincoln as Commander in Chief by Kenneth W. Noe (Louisiana State University Press, 2026). Hardcover, 7 maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xix,278/420. ISBN:978-0-8071-8521-6. $49.95] Civil War readers raised on the vast body of post-Centennial publications can be forgiven for assuming that profound admiration for https://cwba.blogspot.com/2026/06/review-abraham-lincoln-and-heroic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DW@CWBA)6