Magazine Review--America's Civil War September 2009

America's Civil War. Weider History Group, Inc. September 2009.

The cover article this issue is titled John Brown's Midnight March written by Tim Rowland. Nothing too original here but a decent article none the less. There is also an article regarding the 1st South Carolina Volunteers who were a group of former slaves led by Major General David Hunter. Also included is an article written by Daniel Sutherland entitled The Missouri Guerrilla Hunt and one written by Jared Frederick discussing the loyal governors meeting in Altoona, PA during 1862.

For me the highspot of the issue dealt with the monument to the 90th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment located at Antietam National Battlefield. Originally this was placed in the 1880's when veterans returned and leaned three Springfield rifles against each other in a pyramid formation and from the point where the barrels met they hung a coffee boiler. The original was removed during the 1930's due to deterioration and vandalism. A bronze recreation by Gary Casteel was placed during the anniversary weekend in 2004. After this article is a nice series of photos of the Sharpsburg area taken after the battle. Most of these are from the Library of Congress collection.

Also included are the normal book reviews including a review of an interesting travel guide for Antietam that I have linked to below. There is a film review of The Prisoner of Shark Island which deals with Dr. Samuel Mudd and his confinement as a Lincoln conspirator. We wrap up this issue with noted blogger Harry Smeltzer and his Smeltzer's Six-Pack where he gives brief reviews of six books from his collection. Always interesting.