Civil War Stories, Volume II
You can read this book in two days. I know. I did it, not long after finishing the Romanecks’ Civil War Stories Vol. I. I have the same problem with Vol. II as I did with Vol. I, namely that the amorphous title is not descriptive enough and even sounds like it is a book of fictional short stories. The titles of the true stories within the book are better. Who could resist reading: “Gallinippers: A Bane To Civil War Soldiers.” Gallinippers were mosquitoes, which one soldier described as: “a ravenous horde of bloodsuckers singing and biting and buzzing…wearing a fellow’s life out with coughing, slapping, pinching and scratching.” Using several other descriptions like that, the authors have you reaching for the Deet as you turn the page. Some actions are brought alive, such as the story of an Irish Brigade member who was struck in the shoulder by a ball. He remembered that he thought the man behind him had struck him with a butt stock because the moment of his wounding felt like “knocking my elbow against a brick or stone wall.” That soldier spent the night he was wounded at Fredericksburg lying behind the body of a dead friend, as well as a thickly folded blanket roll. The next morning after extricating himself, he found several dozen bullet rounds in his blanket roll. The authors paraphrase his account, but the reader can visualize how lucky that Irishman must have felt that he had survived. He lived long after the war. One of the most interesting articles is a compilation of several accounts of the Federal artillery firing into the Confederates advancing on Cemetery Ridge on Gettysburg’s third day. The account includes Gen. Henry Hunt’s recollections of watching the final, famous moments of Alonzo Cushing commanding his battery of guns at The Angle. Within this interesting piece is a curious account of Cushing and another officer exchanging pleasantries about if Cushing’s guns are crowding the guns of the other officer’s battery. By this point, Hunt believes Cushing is already dying of wounds, but he is still polite to a fellow officer. If both Vol. II and Vol. I have a failing, it is not having an index. The books are meant to be read straight through, but some readers might like to search the index to see if a favorite Civil War character is mentioned, such as Cushing. Reviewer: Clint Johnson Clint Johnson’s latest book is Pursuit: The Chase, Capture, Persecution and Surprising Release of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. |
Notes, 271 pp., 2008. Heritage Books, 100 Railroad Ave., #104, Westminster, Md., 21157, $27 plus shipping.