The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of…

This volume is an effort to examine the impact that the wide-spread introduction of rifled weaponry in the 19th century had on tactical deployment, and thus on the face of battle in the War between the States. Does Nosworthy succeed? Well, only in a so-so fashion. While there is a great deal of useful content in this work, the reality is that it's such a shambling mass that (as a friend noted) one expects to find a chapter devoted to the introduction of the kitchen sink. The nadir of this is when Nosworthy throws in a few chapters on the introduction of the ironclad warship and shell-firing cannon, but without any great examination of how this related to assaulting coastal fortifications and amphibious warfare. Probably the best way to assimilate this work is to read the first and last sections (where Nosworthy does a fine job of examining the world context) and then dig into those chapters that seem most relevant to your interests, seeing as Nosworthy never generates much of a narrative drive. ( )