A Small but Spartan Band: The Florida Brigade in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
After 150 years of battle books, biographies and regimental histories, it seems remarkable that writers can come up with a new book dealing with a new Civil War subject. But Waters and Edmonds have done just that with this chronological history of the Floridians who served far away from home in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Until this book (the title comes from an admiring Richmond Enquirer article) no one had attempted to write a history of the handful of regiments that made up the Florida Brigade, often called “The Flowers,” based on the Spanish name for Florida. The biggest problem the writers say they faced in gathering information was the lack of surviving letters and diaries from common soldiers. They theorize that the men figured home was so far away that relatives would never get their mail and thus did not bother to write. At the same time, there should have been records and documents that would have given the authors a fuller picture of the brigade. For instance, the book does not mention what kind of uniforms the men wore, what types of weapons they were initially issued, or where they trained. All that being said, the writers mined what sources they could find to put together this long-overdue and engrossing history that can be read in a few hours. That does not mean it is thin. Readers, particularly those of us with a Civil War ancestor from Florida (I had one in the 8th Florida), will just keep turning the pages to find out what happened to this hardy little band. One thing readers will learn is that the Floridians were sometimes underappreciated by officers and soldiers from other states, even though their ranks were decimated in several battles. At one point, the entire brigade had been so shot up that it numbered fewer than 500 men, half of a standard regiment. They often got assignments pushing them to the front as if they were a brigade 10 times their real size. At least twice they were unfairly charged with cowardice — once by Mississippians at Fredericksburg. The Mississippians, hiding in houses while they fired on advancing Union bridge-builders, forced the Floridians to stand on open, flat ground to fight. The Mississippians then had the gall to accuse the Floridians of cowardice when they complained about fighting without any cover. At Gettysburg the Floridians had to defend themselves against unfounded charges that they had not taken the ground they should have on the second day and had folded on the third day. Col. David Lang, one of the brigade’s beloved commanders, summed up the feelings of the Floridians when he said after Gettysburg: “All we ask of those who record history, whilst we make it, is simple justice. Give us this, and we ask no more.” The Floridians got their due at least once. When Lee was reviewing his army after one battle, he was told that the remnants of the Florida Brigade were passing in front of him. He took off his hat and held it over his heart. That simple act of respect was turned around when Lee visited Florida in 1870. When Lee paraded past them, the old Floridians took off their hats and put them over their hearts. No one cheered. Reviewer: Clint Johnson Clint Johnson’s latest book is A Vast and Fiendish Plot: The Confederate Attack on New York City.
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Illustrated, maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, appendix, index, 254 pp., 2010, University of Alabama Press,