Brave Men in Desperate Times: The Lives of Civil War Soldiers

By John McKay
Illustrated, bibliography, index, softcover, 272 pp., 2007. The Globe Pequot Press, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437, $12.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Jeffry D. Wert
Jeffry D. Wert is a retired Pennsylvania high school teacher. He is the author of seven books on the Civil War, including his recent The Sword Of Lincoln: The Army of the Potomac.

Review:
Brave Men In Desperate Times purports to describe the lives of Civil War soldiers by focusing on 21 individuals. The individuals selected include artillerists, infantrymen, cavalrymen, seamen, blockade runners, militiamen, surgeons, immigrants, Native Americans and African-Americans. The book covers the major categories of Civil War soldiery.

Unfortunately, the author, John McKay, provides only brief sketches of the individuals. Instead, McKay presents summaries of the campaigns and battles in which they served. He includes descriptions of weaponry, artillery, hospitals, naval vessels and prisoners.

The topics covered are wide-ranging in an attempt to be inclusive. Consequently, well-read students of the Civil War will find little that is new or comprehensive. Brave Men contains very few quotes from the selected individuals. How they felt or described their experiences remain elusive.

The subjects serve apparently as a vehicle for the author to chronicle various engagements and other aspects of the conflict. The battles or campaigns described range from Shiloh to South Mountain to Atlanta to Franklin to Bentonville to Hampton Roads to Pea Ridge to Fort Fisher. The breadth of subjects precludes in-depth description and analysis.

The book has no endnotes, and the author did not delve into unpublished manuscript sources.

McKay's purpose is commendable, but the result does not present material that has not been offered by others in works that are better structured and thematic. Brave Men In Desperate Times falls short of its aims.