2009: Year in Books, Part 2

Continuing my look at some of the books I read in 2009, I'll start now with Why the Civil War Came, edited by Gabor Boritt, which is a very nice collection of essays about the coming of the war, including his own thoughts on how Lincoln refused to see the war coming in time to try to prevent it, some interesting discussion of the failure of the U.S. political system, and other thought-provoking essays on topics like the Northern reaction to the war, as well as the pre-war actions of women and of African-Americans. It is a bit difficult to read at times, but is well worth the effort.

All That Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South by Stephen W. Berry is a book that I found difficult to read at times, trying to understand the language and themes he used, especially when he discussed psychological and philosophical themes . For some reason, it did not fit my personal style of what I like to read, or maybe I just did not fit it. This book discusses the role of love and ambition in Southern men, discussing gender roles and how that influenced the way men handled the controversies leading to the war. I liked how he used pairs of men as examples in different sections, showing how the experiences and lives of each compared and contrasted. It is a really good subject, with a lot of potential, but I just did not find this book as readable or as easy-flowing as his next book House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War, which I read a couple of years ago.

I believe the following books (or most of them) have already been the subjects of reviews on my blog, but I will give them brief mention again here.

James P. Duffy's Lincoln's Admiral: The Civil War Campaigns of David Farragut is a very enjoyable, informative and smoothly-flowing review of the career of David Farragut, concentrating on his Civil War experiences on the Mississippi River, at New Orleans, Mobile Bay and other locals. I do wish it had included endnotes or footnotes, however.

I claim no objectivity on this one, as I do know Dr. James A Ramage and am privileged to work at the museum named in his honor, but still found his Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan to be a very informative look at the life of this famed Confederate, offering both praise and critical analysis of Morgan's actions and decisions.

Another book that I found to be absolutely outstanding, both in style of writing and, especially, for its subject and treatment thereof was Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War by Tom Wheeler. It is a concise, but informative review of Lincoln's uses of this new technology, which had not been available to any war-time U.S. President previously. Wheeler shows how Lincoln had no precedent on how to use such a tool, but how he found an effective way to employ it to his advantage.

One book which was a bit confusing at times due to the many voices used, yet still provided many unique and interesting perspectives was The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves  , edited by Andrew Ward. The confusion came from so many different sources used, yet that added to the variety and diversity of opinions and viewpoints. There were surprising views as well, such as slaves thinking of Yankees as monsters, or protecting their masters' valuables from invading Northern forces. It took me some time to get used to the format but once I did, I found this to be a very interesting look at life from the perspectives of these who had lived as slaves during the war.

1776 by David McCullough took me away from pure Civil War studies, but I actually found several themes throughout the book that reminded me of various discussions of the "2^nd American Revolution," including the one large, powerful existing government versus the upstart Rebels and some mentions of sectional discord or distrust among the American leadership and troops. It is an outstanding book to read and gives a fascinating look at this pivotal year in American history.

A Yankee Goes to Gettysburg is a series of beautiful photographs from the Gettysburg battlefield followed by original poetry by Todd Patrick Coleman, a local author whom I have been fortunate enough to meet and befriend and whose book is available at the Ramage Museum. I enjoyed these short tributes to those who fought at that Pennsylvania town – they are not the typical poems with rhyming lines, but are of a more abstract style, while still adding meaning to the wonderful pictures. This is a book that can be read in one sitting, and is well worth it.

Daniel Mark Epstein wrote a fine book entitled Lincoln's Men: The President and his Private Secretaries that provides a nice perspective at some of the background work taking place in Lincoln's White House, and how Lincoln and these young men came to rely on each other for support and developed close relationships over the years. The amount of work these men (John Nicolay, John Hay & William Stoddard) did was amazing.

I did read one collection of diary and journal entries this year, and it was another fascinating book, concentrating on the last year and 4 months of the Confederacy. No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentary & Desertion: A Composite Diary of the Last 16 Months of the Confederacy compiled by Jeff Toalson, is exactly what its long title suggests. It takes excerpts from many people and locations to provide a diverse set of views of the end of the Civil War, including comments from soldiers, sailors and people at home, including women, some of whom had very strong opinions on Confederate leadership. This work is very enjoyable and informative.

William Lee Miller's President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman is a good solid look at Lincoln during his presidential years, focusing on his new-found role as not just a local lawyer and politician, but a statesman who now had worldwide correspondents and responsibilities. It focuses mostly, though, on h is role in America as a statesman and how his personal set of values and morals guided him through the tough job of war-time leader. I found it to be very enjoyable and informative, and a fairly easy read.

Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point by Lewis Lehrman was the final book I finished in 2009, and is one of my favorites, not just from that year. It is a very detailed, organized and fascinating look at the importance and impact of the speech Lincoln gave at Peoria, Illinois in October 1854. Lehrman argues, convincingly, I may add, that this speech marked a change in Lincoln's professional life, in terms of how he prepared and delivered his speeches, and about the topics he argued in those speeches. It simply is an outstanding book that I enjoyed about as much as any other I can recall reading. It, along with White's & McCullough's works, is one of the best I read in 2009, and perhaps in my life.

Book Review: Lincoln's Admiral

I posted this earlier in the week, but could not edit a couple of mistakes, so I deleted it and am re-posting it now.

Lincoln’s Admiral: The Civil War Campaigns of David Farragut
Author: James P. Duffy
Castle Books, published in 2006 (original copyright 1997 by James. P. Duffy)


It may not be a new book to the Civil War world, but it is to me and I just finished this enjoyable, informative look at a man who played a very important role during the Civil War, Mr. David (originally James) Glasgow Farragut.

This is a very readable, enjoyable story of Farragut’s life, with most of it understandably focused on the Civil War period, when he became a national hero and the first Admiral in the history of the United States. It describes his family’s naval background in the Mediterranean Sea and its participation in the American Revolution. It tells the reader how Mr. Farragut found a military benefactor in David Porter Jr., who took the boy under his wing and showed him how to run a ship, in battle against both the British in the War of 1812 and against pirates.

The book does a fine job of showing the frustrations of Farragut’s life as he grew up into adulthood and beyond. He had poor eyesight that caused troubles, and his first wife suffered badly from health issues. Additionally, life in the peacetime navy added its own frustrations, both in the slowness of promotion and even in the difficulty of finding assignments, as there were more officers than ships available. Being off assignment and stuck in Norfolk allowed him to spend time with his wife, but also meant he was only on half-pay, making it tougher to provide the care his wife and his own health needed.

Mr. Duffy then gets into the years of Civil War, when Farragut won his fame. His first action was to leave his home in Norfolk (where the family of his new wife also lived) and move to New York when hostilities broke out – there was no question in his mind about which side he would support; he was a Union man all the way, though some people questioned his loyalty due to his southern birth and southern bride.

Eventually, Farragut was assigned to the Western Blockade Squadron, a move that led to his eventual success and fame, as he took his ships up the Mississippi River, past the forts of New Orleans and captured that key port city, one of the south’s most important trade centers. His recognition that the Union would have to bypass the forts then cut them off from behind instead of simply trying to blow them to pieces was a brilliant observation and proved to be completely accurate, the same strategy that would work in Mobile Bay two years later.

Farragut and his fleet eventually also captured Baton Rouge and moved their ships above Port Hudson, to help cut off southern trade that came up the Red River.

Once General U.S Grant and David Dixon Porter got their men and ships south of Vicksburg and captured that city, Port Hudson was doomed and the whole Mississippi River soon again went “unvexed to the sea” as President Abraham Lincoln put it.

This was a huge accomplishment for the United States, cutting the Confederacy in half, preventing it from moving supplies from the western lands across the Mississippi River to the east, and re-opening trade opportunities for United States merchants. Farragut simply was the key person in making this possible, by opening up New Orleans and blockading the Red River, while Grant, Porter and others finished off Vicksburg and Port Hudson (both of which badly missed the supplies that would have come from the Red River region had Farragut not closed it off).

Farragut was recognized as a hero for this deed, but was not done yet, as in late summer of 1864, he again took his ships past a highly-guarded and fortified area, this time Mobile Bay, ran past the forts and closed down yet another key Confederate port. This was where he gave the order that the years have twisted into “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”

Farragut lived the rest of his life as a national hero who traveled (with his wife, thanks to President Andrew Johnson) to several foreign countries in the post-war years. Farragut finally passed away on August 14, 1870. He was 69 years old and had spent almost sixty of those years in naval service to his country, including years as Admiral. His career and service did truly earn him the title of a national hero, which Duffy’s book makes clear and unmistakable.

One small issue I had with Mr. Duffy’s writing occurred on page 46, when he described Winfield Scott’s retirement as though Mr. Scott had easily and quickly recognized his own failings and retired on his own, with no mention of the struggle for control with General George B. McClellan.

This is a small flaw in this book, as those details are not necessarily needed for a discussion of this subject, but I do wonder if there are any other similar situations in the book, but on subjects with which I may not be familiar enough to recognize.

Another quibble I had is with the lack of footnotes or endnotes. This especially bothered me on page 208 when Duffy recounts a story about one of Farragut’s men (and a couple freed slaves from nearby) hid in a dug-out log, covered it with branches, and floated down the Mississippi river to deliver dispatches to the boats in the fleet that had not passed the Confederate defenses around Port Hudson. I would like to know more about this amazing idea and passage, but the lack of endnotes leads to frustration here.

The book is definitely readable and not an overly technical work where the author tries to show off his vocabulary as other books seem to do, but it may go a bit too far to the “non-academic” version of history, at least regarding the lack of endnotes and occasional statements for which more details would be helpful.

Despite the small flaws I mentioned above, however, I do recommend this book to anyone who has interest in the naval aspect of the Civil War, particularly in the western theater. David Farragut’s name is well-known, but some of the details of how he accomplished the feats that made him famous are not, as both the naval war and the western theater sometimes do not receive a lot of coverage.

Duffy’s book provides an excellent read and summary of Farragut’s life, his accomplishments and how he was able to achieve such excellent results. This is a very informative and readable biography that provides an enjoyable look at David Farragut’s life and exploits on the seas and in the rivers. This volume would be a good addition to any Civil War library.