Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg — The Campaigns That Changed the Civil War
Nearly every reader of Civil War News is undoubtedly familiar with Ed Bearss. His books are numerous and his tours of battlefields are legendary. Historian emeritus of the National Park Service, Bearss possesses an unsurpassed knowledge of America’s wars and the hallowed grounds on which they were fought. Anyone who has walked the battlefields with him knows the staggering amount of details and the vivid stories that he relates. This book has originated from videotapes of Bearss’ tours of Vicksburg and Gettysburg. They have been transcribed, and J. Parker Hills has edited them and written brief transitions in the narrative. The words clearly belong to Bearss in their detail of the fighting, the characterizations of individuals and the overarching strategy behind the movements. The result is a smooth narrative of compelling force. The bulk of the book centers on the Vicksburg Campaign, about which Bearss has authored a three-volume work in the past. The narrative, however, flows back and forth effortlessly from those movements along the Mississippi River, through operations in Tennessee, to events in the East. Accounts of the engagements at Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge during the Vicksburg Campaign are recounted. Accounts of the fighting are down to the regimental level at times. Bearss’ experienced eye for human interest stories is evident throughout the book. The final three chapters cover the Gettysburg Campaign, including the three days of fighting. They are as fine an account of Gettysburg as one is likely to read in such a compact form. A well-versed student of the momentous Pennsylvania battle will find much value in the pages. Bearss has written a final moving chapter that he titles “Reflections.” Its central theme is the enduring lessons that battlefields can teach us today and the absolute importance of preserving them. If for no other reason, those four pages are worth acquiring the book. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go, in part, to the Blue and Gray Education Society and its commendable work with returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. The maps in the book are not detailed tactical studies of the fighting but are general maps of the battlefields. The wealth of detail, Bearss’ astute judgments and the flowing narrative combine to make Receding Tide an excellent and highly recommended book. Reviewer: Jeffry D. Wert Jeffry D. Wert is a retired Pennsylvania high school teacher. He is the author of eight books on the Civil War, including his recent Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J.E.B. Stuart.
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Maps, index, 399 pp, 2010, National Geographic Society,