June 2023 MBR The Civil War Shelf

The Civil War Shelf

"If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania"
Scott L. Mingues Sr., author
Eric J. Wittenberg, author
Savas Beatie
www.savasbeatie.com
9781611216110, $34.95, HC, 456pp

https://www.amazon.com/If-Are-Striking-Pennsylvania-Gettysburg/dp/1611216117

Synopsis: Award-winning co-authors Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg are back with the second and final installment of "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania". Volume 2 is " The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg, June 22-30, 1863". A compelling study that is the first to fully integrate the military, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies during the inexorably march north toward their mutual destinies at Gettysburg. Gen. Robert E. Lee's bold movement north, which began on June 3, shifted the war out of the central counties of the Old Dominion into the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac, and beyond.

The first volume "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania": The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg - Volume 1: June 3-21, 1863" carried the armies through the defining mounted clash at the battle of Brandy Station, after which Lee pushed the head of his army into the Shenandoah Valley and achieved the magnificent victory at Second Winchester on his way to the Potomac. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, who was caught flat-footed by the move, used his cavalry to probe the mountain gaps, triggering a series of consequential mounted actions.

The second volume "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania": The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg. Volume 2: June 22-30, 1863" completes the march to Gettysburg and details the actions and whereabouts of each component of the armies up to the eve of the fighting. The large-scale maneuvering in late June prompted General Hooker to move his Army of the Potomac north after his opponent and eventually above the Potomac, where he is removed from command and replaced by V Corps commander George G. Meade. Jeb Stuart begins his controversial and consequential ride that strips away the eyes and ears of the Virginia army. Throughout northern Virginia, central Maryland, and south-central Pennsylvania, civilians, politicians, and soldiers alike struggle with the reality of a mobile campaign and the
massive logistical needs of the armies.

Mingus and Wittenberg mined hundreds of primary accounts, newspapers, and other sources to describe the passage of the long martial columns, the thunderous galloping of hooves, and the looting, fighting, suffering, and dying. As careful readers will quickly discern, other studies of the runup to Gettysburg gloss over most of this material. It is simply impossible to fully grasp and understand the campaign without a firm appreciation of what the armies and the civilians did during the days leading up to the fateful meeting at the small crossroads town in Adams County, Pennsylvania.

Critique: A powerful, informative, and effectively presented two-volume saga is a truly seminal and ground-breaking study. With the publication of "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania": The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg. Volume 2: June 22-30, 1863", no personal, professional, community, or academic library American Civil War History collection can be considered up-to-date without the inclusion of both volumes 1 & 2 of "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania. It should be noted that this outstanding study is also available for students, academia, and American Civil War buffs in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.95).

Editorial Note #1: Scott L. Mingus Sr. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmingus) is the award-winning author of more than a dozen Civil War books, including Unceasing Fury: Texans at the Battle of Chickamauga, September 18-20, 1863 (2022). Scott maintains a blog on the Civil War history of York County (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball).

Editorial Note #2: Eric J. Wittenberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_J._Wittenberg) is an Ohio attorney, an accomplished Civil War cavalry historian, and an award-winning author. He has penned more than a dozen books, including Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions, which won the 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award, and The Devil's to Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg, which won the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable's 2015 Book Award.

John Brown's Raid
Jon-Erik M. Gilor, author
Kevin R. Pawlak, author
Savas Beatie
www.savasbeatie.com
9781611215977, $16.95, PB, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/John-Browns-Raid-Harpers-Emerging/dp/1611215978

Synopsis: It is not commonly known that the first shot of the American Civil War was not fired on April 12, 1861, in Charleston, South Carolina, but instead came on October 16, 1859, at Harpers Ferry, Virginia -- or so it was claimed former slave turned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. That shot went across the country like a meteor in the dark.

John Brown, the infamous fighter on the Kansas plains and detester of slavery, led a band of nineteen men on a desperate nighttime raid that targeted the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. There, they planned to begin a war to end slavery in the United States. But after 36 tumultuous hours, John Brown's Raid failed, and Brown himself became a prisoner of the state of Virginia.

Brown's subsequent trial further divided north and south on the issue of slavery as Brown justified his violent actions to a national audience forced to choose sides. Ultimately, Southerners cheered Brown's death at the gallows while Northerners observed it with reverence. The nation's dividing line had been drawn.

Herman Melville and Walt Whitman extolled Brown as a "meteor" of the war. Roughly one year after Brown and his men attacked slavery in Virginia, the nation split apart, fueled by Brown's fiery actions.

"John Brown's Raid: Harpers Ferry and the Coming of the Civil War, October 16-18, 1859" by co-authors and Civil War historians Jon-Erik Gilor and Kevin Pawlak tells the story of the first shots that led to disunion. Profusely enhanced with with maps and images, "John Brown's Raid" includes a driving and walking tour of sites related to Brown's Raid so visitors today can follow the path of America's meteor.

Critique: A part of the Savas Beatie 'Emerging Civil War Series', and exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "John Brown's Raid: Harpers Ferry and the Coming of the Civil War, October 16-18, 1859" will prove a welcome and enduringly appreciated addition to the ever expanding library of American Civil War histories. While available for reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99), "John Brown's Raid" is a fundamentally recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library American Civil War collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note #1: Jon-Erik M. Gilot (https://www.battlefields.org/contributors/jon-erik-gilot) has worked more than fifteen years in the field of public history. In addition to his work as a business archivist and records manager, he also serves as curator at the Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic Post in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and is active in numerous historical organizations.

Editorial Note #2: Kevin Pawlak (https://emergingcivilwar.com/contributor/kevin-pawlak) is the Director of Education for the Mosby Heritage Area Association and works as a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association and the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Kevin also serves on the advisory board at Shenandoah University's McCormick Civil War Institute and Shepherd University's George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War. The History Press published his first book, Shepherdstown in the Civil War: One Vast Confederate Hospital, in 2015.

Sand, Science, and the Civil War
Scott Hippensteel
University of Georgia Press
www.ugapress.org
9780820363523, $114.95, HC, 360pp

https://www.amazon.com/Sand-Science-Civil-War-Sedimentary/dp/0820363529

Synopsis: The influence of sedimentary geology on the strategy, combat, and tactics of the American Civil War is a subject that has been completely neglected by military historians. Sedimentary geology influenced everything from the nature of the landscape (flat vs. rolling terrain) to the effectiveness of the weapons (a single grain of sand can render a rifle musket as useless as a club).

With the publication of "Sand, Science, and the Civil War: Sedimentary Geology and Combat", Professor Scott Hippensteel investigates and presents the role of sedimentary geology on the campaigns and battles of the Civil War on multiple scales, with a special emphasis on the fighting along the coastlines.

At the start of the Civil War the massive brick citadels guarding key coastal harbors and shipyards were thought to be invincible to artillery attack. The Union bombardment of Savannah's key defensive fortification, Fort Pulaski, demonstrated the vulnerability of this type of fortress to the new rifled artillery available to the Union as Fort Pulaski surrendered within a day.

When the Union later tried to capture the temporary sand fortifications of Battery Wagner (protecting Charleston) and Fort Fisher (protecting Wilmington) they employed similar tactics but with disastrous results. The value of sand in defensive positions vastly minimized the Federal advantage in artillery, making these coastal military strong points especially costly to capture.

Through this geologically centered historic lens, Professor Hippensteel explores the way sediments and sedimentary rocks influenced the fighting in all theaters of war and how geologic resources were exploited by both sides during the five years of conflict.

Critique: A seminal, unique, impressively organized, and ground-breaking (no pun intended!) study that is informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of 'A Note about Units of Measurement', forty pages of Notes, and an eight page Index, "Sand, Science, and the Civil War: Sedimentary Geology and Combat" is a singular and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library American Civil War histories and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academic, Civil War buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Sand, Science, and the Civil War: Sedimentary Geology and Combat" is also available in a paperback edition (9780820363530, $44.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.99).

Editorial Note: Scott Hippensteel (https://pages.charlotte.edu/scott-hippensteel) is an associate professor of earth sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is also the author of Rocks and Rifles: The Influence of Geology on Combat and Tactics during the American Civil War.

Editorial Note: Todd E. Harburn (https://www.oupress.com/author/todd-e-harburn) is an independent scholar, an orthopedic surgeon, and a doctor of sports medicine. He is also the co-author of "A Most Troublesome Situation: The British Military and the Pontiac Indian Uprising of 1763-1764".

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