The January 2006 issue is the first issue of America’s Civil War that I’ll be reviewing for this blog. ACW is of a little lower quality than North & South and Blue & Gray. It is virtually identical to Civil War Times Illustrated at this point, because both magazines are published by Primedia. There are no endnotes for the articles, although the maps are definitely improving over the quality of even a few years ago. I’m not particularly fond of the lack of footnotes. Despite this generally lower quality, some good authors still find their way into ACW’s pages. Eric Wittenberg, who guest blogs for me from time to time, is just one example. Some of the articles which look particularly interesting include Joseph C. Meyer’s look at the command vacuum in the Army of the Cumberland just after Stone’s River, and William Marvel’s personal examination of possible flank marches for Burnside at Antietam.
| Page 10 |
| Personality: Herman Melville by Wayne Kingseed |
| Herman Melville is best known for his famous novel Moby-Dick. What many don’t know is that Melville also wrote some Civil War poetry entitled Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War. |
| Page 16 |
| Eyewitness to War: Captain John H. S. Funk by J. D. Haines |
| Captain John Funk’s diary holds some possible clues to support a claim of negative connotation for Stonewall Jackson’s famous nickname. |
| Page 18 |
| Men and Materiel: Federal Haversacks by Frederick C. Gaede |
| Frederick Gaede covers the development, construction, and use of the haversack. |
| Page 22 |
| An Uncommon Partnership by Paul F. Bradley |
| Paul Bradley covers the ascension of former V Corps staff officer Alexander S. Webb to the command of the notoriously unruly Philadelphia Brigade. This brigade, made up of the 69th, 71st, 72nd, and 106th Pennsylvania regiments, had originally been raised by Col. (and former U.S. Senator) Edward Baker as the California Brigade. Webb was assigned to command of the brigade on June 28, 1863, only a few days before the Battle of Gettysburg. He and his men played a critical role in the repulse of Pickett’s Charge on July 3. |
| Page 32 |
| ‘The Deserter Binns Proved of Great Assistance’ by Stevan F. Meserve |
| Charles Binns apparently deserted from John Mosby’s Partisan Rangers and helped lead efforts against his former comrades. Meserve attempts to sort through various claims of Binns’ whereabouts and conduct in late 1863 through early 1864. Naturally enough, Confederate and Union sources view Binns in very different ways. |
| Page 38 |
| Cockfight in the Army of the Cumberland by Joseph C. Meyer |
| After the Battle of Stone’s River, General Phil Sheridan’s Division of the army of the Cumberland had lost many good leaders, especially in the 1st Brigade, where Brigadier General Joshua Sill and Colonels Frederick Schaefer and George Roberts had all been killed. To make matters worse, Colonel Nicholas Greusel, Sill’s replacement, resigned due to poor health not long after the battle. Into this power vacuum stepped two men, Colonels Francis T. Sherman and Charles H. Larrabee. Larrabee outranked Sherman, but had been on leave due to sickness. When he returned, Sherman refused to turn over command of the brigade to Larrabee. Rosecrans found a solution by appointing the formerly captured Brigadier General William H. Lytle to the command of the brigade. I found the blurb on author Joseph C. Meyer to be most interesting. It indicates that he is working on a two volume study of the Army of the Cumberland. Let’s hope it is more evenhanded than Larry J. Daniel’s book on that topic. |
| Page 46 |
| More Than Water Under Burnside’s Bridge by William Marvel |
| In I Rode With Stonewall, Henry Kyd Douglas claims that Ambrose Burnside could have easily forded Antietam Creek at any point on September 17, 1862, telling readers to try it for themselves. Historian William Marvel, a known supporter of Burnside, decided to do just that on June 5, 1994. In a very interesting article, he proves (at least to me) that the Antietam was a much greater obstacle than Douglas makes it out to be. I cringed a little, however, when MArvel calls Stephen Sears’ study on Antietam an “objectively analyzed” study of Antietam. Dimitri Rotov and his McClellan Society Website, among others, have shown that Sears has a negative bias against McClellan. |
| Page 54 |
| Reviews |
| Books reviewed in this issue:
1. The Holiday Gift Guide Editor Dana B. Shoaf gives readers some gift ideas in his Holiday Gift 1. A |
| Page 62 |
| Commands: Bureau of Military Information by Russell J. Alberti |
| Colonel George H. Sharpe and his Bureau of Military Information took over for George Pinkerton and his detectives as the head intelligence gathering operation for the Army of the Potomac in 1863. Sharpe and his men focused more on military matters, and proved to be a useful organization for the various commanders of the Army of the Potomac, and also for General Grant in his role as General-in-Chief. Alberti points out that the BMI was an ancestor of today’s Central Intelligence Agency. |
| Page 74 |
| Preservation by Heidi Campbell-Shoaf |
| The Save Historic Antietam Foundation (or SHAF), is doing good work in not only preserving the land around and near the Antietam Battlefield, but is also saving other historical sites in Maryland which played a role in the Maryland Campaign of 1862. |
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