Lest We Forget: The Grave Sites of the Union Civil War Generals Buried in the United States

By David L. Callihan
Illustrated, bibliography, softcover, 616 pp., 2007. AuthorHouse, 1663 Liberty Dr., Suite 200, Bloomington, IN 47403, $25 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Blake A. Magner

Blake A. Magner is the Book Review Editor of Civil War News. He makes his liv­ing as an editor, writer, car­tographer and photographer of Civil War history. He is author of At Peace With Honor: The Civil War Burials of Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Review:

A couple of years ago author Callihan came out with a book on the burial sites of Civil War generals in Pennsylvania. For those of us who like to wander cemeteries looking for the major Civil War commanders, the book was a delight.

Callihan has continued his 20-year search for the gravesites of all of the Civil War generals and Lest We Forget is the culmination of those years of research, travel and leg work. The volume contains the gravesites of the 583 full generals but does not include those of brevet rank. I hope  those will appear somewhere down the road in another volume.

Callihan’s travels took him to 37 states and about 300 cemeteries. Seven generals’ graves he did not see because they are in foreign countries.

The volume begins with an index of the states and cemeteries visited. This is followed by an alphabetical listing of the generals included in the book. These two sections are then followed by an introduction and a lesson on determining who was a Union general, how he became a general, the difference between a substantive commission and a brevet commission and the difference between grade and rank.

The meat of Lest We Forget is the generals. Callihan provides a state map showing the locations of the towns where the generals in question are buried. For each town the cemetery containing the graves is listed (often towns contain generals’ graves in more than one cemetery).

He then provides a page for each general which contains birth and death dates, schooling, occupation prior to the war, then Civil War rank and date of rank.

Each page contains an image of the general as well as an image of his grave marker (with close-up shots of inscription where needed). Each page also gives a brief description of how to find the cemetery in question and the location of the general’s grave.

This is an excellent volume if the reader is looking for generals’ graves. It will be of use to those who actually go out and roam cemeteries looking to take photographs of the generals’ graves as well as those who don’t have the wherewithal to tramp the grounds but still want the image — here Callihan has done the work for you.

I highly recommend this volume for the researcher or enthusiast whois looking for generals’ graves.

Editor’s note: One thing often omitted in books about roaming cemeteries, this volume included, is safety. The cemeteries where Civil War veterans, notables and generals are buried are often in the poorer section of towns. When buffs visit such cemeteries they should be aware of their surroundings, don’t get too far from their cars and have an “escape” route planned.

If anything seems out of the ordinary, I would suggest leaving as opposed to continuing your search. I was searching a cemetery in Baltimore when someone took three shots at me. Discretion being the better part of valor I hit the road. He must have read one of my reviews.