THE WAR ROOM CHALLENGE : SEPTEMBER 2024 - THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

The Battle of Chancellorsville gave the Confederate Army a veneer of invincibility that did not survive the soon to come Gettysburg.

What will I read?

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Hymns of the Republic by SC Gwynne
Battle Cry of Freedom by James M McPherson

I read Gone with the Wind five times in high school. I guess I felt I’d ticked off “The Civil War” after that, although I have been on battlefield tours of Gettysburg and Antietam and visited Natchez, MS with its 500+ antebellum houses and mansions. But apart from So Red the Rose which I bought on the latter trip I haven’t read any further Civil War fiction. As a result of reading The Book of Negroes for the American Revolution month of the War Room Challenge I started reading more novels related to slavery— The Underground Railroad, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Black Thunder—-which was of course the root cause of the Civil War. But the focus of this challenge is war, not political context. Think I will try to fit in The Killer Angels.

Not sure what I'll read, but my dad has a copy of The Killer Angels I can borrow.

I read Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips. It is set just after the civil war but includes flashbacks to the war and explores the effects of war on the psyche. Post civil war was a time of danger to women and children. This book is the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize.

I've got Bernard Cornwell's American Civil War series & will certainly read Rebel & perhaps get to Copperhead if I finish my other planned reads for September.

I will read Matthew Fontaine Maury & Joseph Henry, Scientists of the Civil War by Patricia Jahns. It is part naval history, part civil war history, and part biography--- so I've been told!

I have had Bruce Catton's The Army of the Potomac 3-vol. set on my shelves for years, waiting for me to get to it, so I plan to read the first volume, Mr. Lincoln's Army. Unfortunately, my reading month is very full this time. I have had an unexpected hold come in from the library and may have to read something I was planning to read in October this month. Which means that I may not be able to finish Mr. Lincoln's Army until next month. We'll see how it goes.

Got a bit ahead this month:

The Last Hurrah: Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition Of 1864 by Kyle S. Sinisi

Read For The War Room Challenge September: The Civil War. This was a very interesting book centering on my home state Missouri, I travel by and through a lot of the battle sites mentioned in this book, but never knew much about them so I chose this book to learn more. Well written and researched, this tells about Sterling Price who led an army of Confederates up from Arkansas into Missouri, hoping to take Missouri for the Confederacy. Missouri was very much fought over during the war, most of her settlers had migrated here from the southern states. After a round about trip through the state, he was finally driven back south into Arkansas again. It was a rough time with most of Missouri being ravaged by the war. Very interesting read.

Despite my earlier-voiced opinions about sticking to accounts of wars, not their causes or their aftermaths or other “contextual” works, I am going to put in a plug for Lincoln in the Bardo, one of the most impressive books I have read in the last decade, if not ever. It takes place in 1862 and treats, in a highly experimental way, Lincoln’s grief over the death of his 10 year-old son and his subsequent resolve to bring the Civil War to a close with a decisive Union victory. A great novel.

>10 booksaplenty1949: That was an excellent read.

I will start on Gods and Generals probably tomorrow or Thursday.

When I was in 7th or 8th grade, one of the History teachers took us on a field trip to Gettysburg for a couple days (I grew up in Pittsburgh, its about a 4 hour drive). It was one of my most profound experiences I've had in my life. I've always been fascinated by the Civil War, maybe because of the photography. Anything earlier was just too abstract.

To be able to stand in the exact spots where the battles raged over those 3 days is just profound and see the photographs was mind blowing to a 13yr old kid

this one especially of a confederate sniper. (despite the current prevailing wisdom being that the image was likely staged).

http://www.mikelynaugh.com/VirtualCivilWar/New/Gettysburg2/images/GettysburgSnip...

I was going to post the actual image, but some people might not want to see it. Its not gory, but it does show a dead body

I have a collection of books about the US Civil War and pulled out Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy to read.

I am planning on reading April 1865 by Jay Winik, A Diary from Dixie by Mary Chesnut, and Killer Angels by Michael Shaara for this month's challenge.

As an aside, Killer Angels was the first book that I distinctly remember saying to myself, "I wish I had written that" when I read it years ago.

The Civil War has always been interesting to me, but especially since I found out a few years ago my great-great grandfather fought in it. He was from Virginia and fought at Gettysburg, he was captured and held in a prison camp. I've tried to find out more about him but don't know a whole lot, somehow he and his family ended up in Missouri and that is how I came to be here.
Anyway, I find it fascinating and when i read of some of the things that happened it surprises me that anyone came out alive.

>15 hredwards: I gather that the Civil War was eventually a preview of WW I: two sides hunkered down in a defensive position/trench with occasional forays “over the top.” Until the tank came along, taking the offensive was a costly business as rifles became more accurate at a longer range. The Union was of course far better equipped to prevail in a war of attrition.

I completed The Fall of the House of Dixie by Bruce Levine. This was quite an undertaking. Author Levine wrote about the pre-war, secession, and the actual war from three perspectives: the slaveholders, the enslaved, and the poor and white farmers who did not own slaves (which were the majority of the CSA and begin to resent that they were forced to fight a "rich man's war.") Recent scholarship in this area seems to believe the war could have been avoided. I'm with Mr. Levine in that those scholars do not really understand what I see as the determination of both sides to be "righteously victorious." Levine uses lots of primary documents to make his point. Another premise of the book is that the war caused a social revolution that shattered the rigid social hierarchies of the South, that led to a reshaping of Southern society.

>17 Tess_W: Re last point: we wish.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

This novelization of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975. I don't think it would win the prize today and that is not a criticism of the book but merely an observation that the prize does not seem to favour straight-forward story telling these days even when done so well as here.

Told from the perspective of a number of the combatants Longstreet, Lee, Burford and Chamberlain mainly, Shaara manages to convey the gamut of emotions that those caught up in armed conflict must go through and try to overcome.

There is also a realization reading this excellent book as to how close the South came to prevailing not only in this battle but also the wider war as success here would have laid open the road to Washington. That they didn't was a result of the presence of mind of a few individuals and the bravery and fortitude of those who served under them.

>19 PaulCranswick: I'm a little over half way thru Gods and Generals. Jeff's prequel to Killer Angels. Same sort of narrative device. This time starting from before the war in 1858 and focusing on Lee and Stonewall Jackson for the South. Chamberlain and Hancock for the North.

We get to meet the players before the war started. Amazingly, except for Chamberlain, the other 3 all went to West Point as did many of the Generals on both sides. The first major issue is John Brown @ Harper's Ferry and its supposed to end right before Gettysburg. It's really interesting, as he's not just focusing on the battles, but the behind the scenes stuff, planning and day to day.

He also wrote a sequel detailing the end of the war called Last Full Measure, I think I'll have to look for that.

Finished The Angel Killers. Sad tale of the killing of young men. The problem of slavery could have been dealt with differently. I think that the message was that some didn’t even know why they were fighting but some were fighting for a way of life that was most similar to the British way of life. The south saw themselves as gentlemen fighting a war of honor.

>21 Kristelh: Saddest part is that most of them were not slaveholders. When Cotton was King an able-bodied male slave cost the equivalent of $60,000. These men were fighting for the privileges of a class they could never aspire to belong to.

I read The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South for this month's challenge. It is a solid book and enjoyed listening to the audio version.

>True, most wars are fought by those that have none of the privilege

Thought this might be of interest: Classic Novels of the American Civil War
recommended by Craig A. Warren

>24 Kristelh: True. But in this case the privilege in question—slave-holding—was unusually specific.

I have had a terrific reading month where the Civil War is concerned. I re-read one of my all-time favorite books, The Killer Angels, which is a 5-star read for me, and just a bit ago finished April 1865 by Jay Winik, a terrific narrative nonfiction book about the final month of the war. This one I gave 4.5 stars to. Lastly, I read Mary Chesnut's A Diary from Dixie and as her husband was one of the Confederate generals, you really get a good glimpse into the South, their experiences, and their thinking. I gave that one 4 stars. The disappointment for me in this book was in the editing - months at a time are deleted. I would have liked to be able to read it all.

>24 Kristelh: WW II something of an exception to this: even the least privileged Jewish, Black, Slavic, Indigenous North American soldier on the Allied side must have known that if they lost things would look far, far worse for people like him.

My review of The Killer Angels; Reason read: War room-American civil war, on my shelf because it is a Pulitzer winner. I enjoyed the book. It is well written presenting both sides of the Gettysberg Battle without the opinion of the author or even or current ways of looking at things. This book feels like it is set in the time period and covers the climate, cultures, relationships and politics. What I learned is that the south was more gentlemanly and even more religious. Another thing I learned is this war was a war that was fought during the time where fighting a war was changing. People weren't marching into war so much but had started digging in, making trenches, etc . The book depicts the three days of the Battle of Gettysberg. It is July and the 4th of July is approaching. There were mistakes made. There was a lack of communication or a failure to listen to advice on the South's part. The North had a lack of ammunition and a paucity of food.

Quotes:
"The fact of slavery upon this incredibly beautiful new clean earth was appalling, but more even that that was the horro of old Europe, the curse of nobility, which the South was transplanting to new soil. They were forming a new aristocracy, a new breed of glittering men, and Chamberlain had come to crush it."
"The Frenchman may fight for France, but the American fights for mankind, for freedom; for the people not the land."
"A man who has been shot at is a new realist, and what do you say to the realist when the war is a war of ideals?"
Pg 114 (from Shakespeare) " "What a piece of work is Man...in action how like an angel?" And the old man, grinning, had scratched his head and then said stiffly, "Well, boy, if he's an angel, he's sure a murdering angel." And Chamberlain had gone on to school to make an oration on the subject; Man, the Killer Angel."

The book is historically accurate as far as the battles and reportedly the Battle of Gettysberg is one of the most studied battles. The dialogue of course is mostly fiction. At the end of the book, the author lists the characters and what happened to them following the war. Interesting enough, Arthur Fremantle (British) is one character who was following the Confederates and writes about the war on his experiences. His books are readable and entertaining, he predicted that the South would win.

Added because I am a Minnesotan; "He pointed out the place where the First Minnesota had made the charge that had the whole army talking. Three hundred men had charged under Hancock's direction; only forty had come back. But they had broken the a Reb assault, giving the reserves time to get up."

October's War Room Thread is up

We are looking at Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan and the Second Gulf War

https://www.librarything.com/topic/364666

I have finally finished my read of Mr. Lincoln's Army by Bruce Catton, the first book in his set on The Army of the Potomac--postponed from September when my hold on Demon Copperhead for my book club came in unexpectedly, a month early. Most of the book dealt with McClelland's time as general leading that army during 1862. It covers the second Battle of Bull Run and the Peninsula Campaign, and gives a detailed description of Antietam. McClelland had several opportunities to defeat Lee and end the war, but lack of boldness and initiative on the part of the Union generals kept the war going. The pyrrhic victory of the Union over the Confederates forced the Confederates back across the Potomac and into Virginia, giving Lincoln the opportunity to claim a victory and release the Emancipation Proclamation, changing the direction of the war.

I would like to add that I also read The three-cornered war : the Union, the Confederacy, and Native peoples in the fight for the West by Megan Kate Nelson back in May, and it fits this challenge as well. It describes the Civil War events in the Southwest, which I was not at all familiar with, so I found it very enlightening. It also sort of fits the Colonial Wars challenge, in that it talks about the Union Army's dealings with the native peoples in the Southwest.

Both books are very good.

Finally finished reading The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara which I did not get done at the time. Extremely worthwhile read.

>32 avatiakh: I love The Killer Angels, Kerry. It is the first book that I remember reading and saying to myself, 'I wish I could write like that.'

>33 alcottacre: Was really well written, but so sad to have to send so many men to their deaths.