For those interested in the western theater of the war John Lundberg's new book Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates looks to be a must read. Lundberg argues that mass desertion was not a signal of giving up but rather a desire to fight the enemy closer to home. The brigade itself fought until the final surrender. Even after the war members of the brigade continued to support the ideals of the Confederacy.
Editor Mark J. Stegmaier brings together twenty-one letters of Henry Adams in Henry Adams In the Secession Crisis: Dispatches to the Boston Daily Advertiser December 1860-March 1861. These letters prove to be strongly in favor of the moderate Republicans who are working to avoid the secession crisis while being highly critical of those calling for secession. These letters are also a glimpse into the early work of the soon to be famous writer.
Sherman's 1864 "March to the Sea" and 1865 "Carolina's Campaign" are the major focus of Mark H. Dunkelman's new book Marching with Sherman: Through Georgia and the Carolina's with the 154th New York. With over 40 pages of notes and a nearly 20 page bibliography this looks to be a thoroughly researched volume that delves not just into the works of soldiers but also the post war writings of civilians, mostly women, who lived through this part of the war.
I have a weakness for books dealing with historical disasters and Meredith Henne Baker has written a book on one that I imagine most of us have never heard of. Her new book, The Richmond Theater Fire: Early America's First Great Disaster, tells the story of the December 1811 fire that took the lives of nearly 100 people including the governor of Virginia. In this first full length book dealing with the fire Baker shows how it led to a surge of anti theater backlash that stymied theatrical entertainment in Richmond for decades.
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