Tennessee’s Civil War Battlefields:
Tennessee history teacher Randy Bishop’s book is not really a tour guide in the traditional sense. Instead it is a collection of relatively brief descriptions of significant battles in Tennessee and a discussion of the preservation activities at each site. All of the major actions in the state are highlighted, including Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Stones River, Franklin and Nashville, along with a few more obscure fights, such as Britton Lane and Salem Cemetery. Bishop’s work is well written, objective and uncluttered with unnecessary detail. His battle profiles include many lengthy quotes from participants and numerous interesting photos. He concludes each profile with a discussion of attempts to preserve the site and passionately encourages readers to act quickly in order to help save Tennessee’s battlefields. In addition, nearly all the chapters include the excellent battle maps of Blue and Gray Magazine editor Dave Roth. If this work is reprinted, I would suggest a few changes. Some of the maps appear a bit fuzzy, at least to this reviewer, and the addition of a few modern battlefield maps would be helpful to orient the visitor to current landscape features. Finally, the author should consider including a detailed description of the decisive assault on Missionary Ridge, since other actions around Chattanooga (such as the night action at Wauhatchie and the fighting on Lookout Mountain) are related in some detail and represented by troop movement maps. These quibbles aside, if you are looking for a reasonably priced collection of very readable Tennessee battle summaries, and an idea of much how much of each battlefield remains unspoiled, then this book would be well worth adding to your library. Reviewer: Jeff Patrick Jeff Patrick is an interpretive specialist with the National Park Service at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Mo. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in American history from Purdue University.
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Illustrated, photographs, maps, bibliography, index, 456 pp., 2010, Pelican,