Eastern Theater Unit Histories and Miscellaneous Books

Updated 5/20/06

There are many, many unit histories out here of varying quality and size. I've only just recently started a collection of these books, so my collection is scarce. I plan to add to this as time goes by.

Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865	Edward G. Longacre	New 08/18/03 This book is another of the ones I have recently purchased. A review will be forthcoming after the book has been read. 468 pp.
Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and the Army of Northern Virginia, 1862	Colonel William Allan	New 03/17/03 This book, written by a staff member, depicts the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862. This was an okay book, but I've seen better. 537 pp.
Army of Amateurs: General Benjamin F. Butler and the Army of the James, 1863-1865 <MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"> <AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <AREA COORDS="1,1,10001,10001" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/mycivilwarboo-20" > </MAP> <img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">	Edward G. Longacre	New 06/23/04 This book starts to fill a need in my collection, the history of individual Armies. I will be looking to buy other books similar to this in the near future. Edward Longacre sets out to chronicle the mostly unsuccessful (until the end!) history of the Army of the James. He mentions that this unit lost almost every battle in which it ever fought, with notable exceptions at Fort Harrison in late September 1864, and the second Fort Fisher expedition in early 1865. He follows the Army from its inception as a fighting force in late 1863 from the former VII and IV Corps (remnants of each formed the newly created XVIII Corps) and Gillmore's mostly seagoing X Corps, which had been involved in amphibious operations up and down the Carolina coast, all the way through to 1865 and final victory at Appomattox. Longacre provides good details on all of the Army's Army, Corps, Division, and sometimes even Brigade commanders, men such as Ben Butler, "Baldy" Smith, Quincy Gillmore, Edward Ord, August Kautz, Alfred Terry, and others. Longacre believes that the initial working relationship between Gillmore (X Corps), Smith (XVIII Corps), and Butler (the Army Commander) doomed the Army's efficiency from the start. Smith and Gillmore, professionals, did not believe the politician Butler was the man for the job. Butler, afraid of being caught and hung by the South, never took personal charge along the front lines. In addition, the two Corps, the XVIII and X, had totally different backgrounds, and just did not mesh well for some reason. Hence, there were debacles such as the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Longacre also tells of the reorganization of the Army, and the formation of the XXV Corps, the only all African-American Corps in the history of the U.S. Army. I had not realized this was so, and that was an interesting bit of reading. There are only five maps, with not a lot of detail. This I thought detracted a little bit from the story, but I'm already pretty well-versed with the Petersburg operations where the AotJ spent the majority of its existence, so I didn't have too much trouble following along. If you read this book, you may wish to have a few Petersburg books laying around to help in that department. The book contains 388 pages, of which 325 are text. The notes take up pages 327-373, and an interesting "Essay on Sources" follows, with an index to round everything out. One other thing which disappointed me was the lack of OOBs for certain key dates, such as at Drewry's Bluff, the major battles around Petersburg, and the Fort Fisher Expedition. I would definitely recommend this book. It was a very interesting read and I finished it in only about four sittings after work one week. The book covers an Army not nearly as famous as almost any other major Army on either side, and is an important contribution to the long list of Civil War books out there. 388 pp., 5 maps
42nd Virginia Infantry	John Chapla	New 9/15/05 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. The 42nd Virginia participated in all of the Battles of the Confederate II Corps. Chapla's writing style was fine, if a bit dry. The maps left something to be desired. However, wargamers might be interested in the numerous PFD numbers scattered throughout the book. 148 pp., 5 maps
Ashland, Bedford, and Taylor Virginia Light Artillery	Marilyn Brewer Koleszar	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.
The Fredericksburg Artillery	Robert K. Krick	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.
The Richmond Howitzers	Lee A. Wallace, Jr.	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.
The Caroline Light, Parker, and Stafford Light Virginia Artillery	Homer D. Musselman	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.
The Charlottesville, Lee Lynchburg, and Johnson's Bedford Artillery	Robert H. Moore, II	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.
Amherst Artillery, Albemarle Artillery, and Sturdivant's Battery	W. Cullen Sherwood & Richard L. Nicholas	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.
The Purcell, Crenshaw, and Letcher Artillery	Peter S. Carmichael	New 03/17/03 This book is one of the Virginia Regimental History Series. I have not yet had time to read it.