Reviewer: Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor is the author/editor of four books on the Civil War. His most recent is a 100-copy deluxe, fine press collection of unpublished Civil War letters entitled “Give My Love to All Our Folks.” Visit www.paulrtaylor.com for details.
Review:
Regimental histories began dotting the Civil War landscape almost as soon as the smoke first cleared; yet overwhelmingly, these stories have usually been tales of glory pertaining to infantry, cavalry or artillery units. Much less frequent, perhaps due to limited numbers, has been the tale of the engineering regiment.
Unlike the average Civil War volunteer, the typical engineer enlistee was a skilled artisan, craftsman or carpenter prior to the conflict. Those who had been farmers were usually adept at the skills needed to quickly clear forests. Once war came, these skills were put to good use in building and repairing a staggering number of bridges, blockhouses, battlefield fortifications, railroads and telegraph lines, without which Union victory may have been in doubt.
The engineer also became quite clever at the quick and efficient destruction of these same resources that belonged to the enemy. Of course, the engineer was also a soldier, which necessitated skill in arms and defense.
In many cases, the often-isolated engineers were forced to defend themselves from Rebel guerillas and bushwhackers who frequently operated outside the accepted rules of warfare.
In My Brave Mechanics, genealogist Mark Hoffman offers readers an extremely detailed and updated account of the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, utilizing a vast array of primary sources, including unpublished letters and diaries, regimental newspapers, period newspapers and postwar recollections.
Prior to this new work, regimental veteran Charles Sligh had told the story of the Michigan Engineers in a very slender and long out-of-print book, originally published in 1921. This is Hoffman’s first book and he writes that he spent 20 years developing it — a detailed narrative that far surpasses Sligh’s vintage work and which takes the reader from the unit’s organization in September 1861 at Marshall, Mich., through the end of the war and beyond.
Hoffman documents quite a tale of campaigning. From Tennessee to Corinth, Perryville and Murfreesboro, he describes the indelible role these engineers played in the war’s initial years. As 1864 dawned, the unit was designated to help design and build Chattanooga’s defenses.
When Gen. William T. Sherman’s Atlanta campaign began, they were charged with maintaining the fragile railway supply line. After Atlanta fell four months later, they were ordered to that city where they would swiftly become the primary engineering workforce in Sherman’s army.
As the author of a forthcoming biography of Orlando M. Poe, Sherman’s chief engineer during the Atlanta, Savannah and Carolinas campaigns, this reviewer was most anxious to see how Hoffman would treat that final year. He does not disappoint. Hoffman’s prose is generally smooth while his research and analysis are first-rate.
When the March to the Sea commenced, the typical infantry regiment was allowed no more than two wagons to carry its supplies, yet in a knowing case of foresight, the 1,000-man Michigan engineer unit was allotted a full 50 wagons to carry the tools of their trade.
Hoffman explains how the Michigan engineers were always in the vanguard, destroying Rebel track and building Yankee bridges at a prodigious rate.
The author also does an admirable job of describing where these engineers hailed from, including analyzing their average ages, prewar occupations and trades, all of which gives the reader a solid statistical portrait of who exactly these skilled laborers were.
In October 2007, the Historical Society of Michigan awarded one of its two 2007 State History Awards within its University and Commercial Press category to this book. Solid research, copious endnotes, ample illustrations and maps helped garner this well-deserved prize.
Hoffman has successfully added an important piece to the Civil War’s regimental history canon, such that students of the war in the Western Theatre or military engineering in general will want to add My Brave Mechanics to their libraries.