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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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"Happiness Is Not My Companion" — The Life of General G.K. Warren
by David M. Jordan.
Illustrated, maps, endnotes, bibliography, index, 401 pp., 2001. Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton St., Bloomington, IN 47404-3797, $35.00 plus shipping.
David M. Jordan’s "Happiness Is Not My Companion"— The Life of General G.K. Warren is a superb biography of an often overlooked and misunderstood Union officer. The story of Gouverneur Kemble Warren is essential to any comprehensive understanding of the Army of the Poto-mac, and Jordan tells Warren’s story quite well. G.K. Warren possessed one of the most brilliant minds in the Army of the Potomac. He also possessed an explosive temper, a moody gloom that affected his spirits, and a propensity to share his brilliance with his superi-ors, whether or not they wanted him to do so. Warren’s intellect and un-even temperament made him a poor match for men like Ulysses Grant, Phil Sheridan and even his fellow engineer George Meade. Warren’s life and career can be divided into the period before the April 1, 1865, battle of Five Forks, and the period after his brusque removal from command of the Fifth Corps by Sheridan. Jordan covers both periods ex-tensively in his brisk narrative, using a wealth of documentation. Warren believed that Sheridan committed an unpardonable injustice against him at Five Forks, and spent the rest of his life trying to right this wrong. Warren’s quest for redemption consumed him in nearly every sense of the word. He remained in the military for the sole purpose of obtaining a court of inquiry into his actions at Five Forks. Jordan is sympathetic to his subject, but not to the point of hero wor-ship. Warren’s flaws and their impact on his battlefield performance are ex-amined closely. Despite his flaws, Warren emerges from these pages as a courageous and capable officer. Fans of Phil Sheridan, on the other hand, will no doubt take issue with Jordan’s depiction of their hero. Calling him a "coarse" and "crude" little man, Jordan portrays Sheridan as a petulant and not altogether honest sol-dier who expected Warren to do the impossible at Five Forks, then pun-ished him in a reprehensible way when Warren did not meet his expecta-tions. Superior in many ways to his biography of Winfield Scott Hancock, Jordan’s book will remain the definitive study of G.K. Warren for some time to come.
John E. Deppen
John E. Deppen is a member of the Susquehanna Civil War Round Table. He has an MA in military studies with honors in Civil War studies from American Military University.
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