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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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Across the Bloody Chasm: The Legacy of Lyman “George” Willcox
by Julia A. Cramer.
Illustrated, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, softcover, 309 pp., 2003. Express Media Corp./Sundog LTD, 1419 Donelson Pike, Nashville, TN 37217, $29.95 plus shipping.
A reader expecting new or even interesting material on the Civil War will surely be disappointed. As early as page 133 in a 309-page book, the reader learns that Willcox resigned his commission, for medical reasons, and left active military service. At that point the reader has to be asking, where’s the beef? Although Willcox may have been an intellect, he never achieved a rank higher than major, or command above the regimental level, during his three years of war experience. In civilian life, he eventually became a regionally well-known orator, achieving prominence as a speaker among veterans’ groups until his death in 1918 at the age of 87. Born in Rochester, Mich., in 1831, Willcox’s early education included his attendance at a district school until the age of 14, then before completing his early studies he attended two private academies. After a year of travel through several states, Willcox taught for a year before returning to academia to complete his studies toward a law degree, receiving it in 1855. Hoping to sharpen his oratorical skills, he later returned to school to take additional courses in elocution. When the Civil War began Willcox was practicing law in Detroit. His success in recruiting a company of volunteers earned him a captain’s commission and the command of Co. B, 3rd Michigan Cavalry. While in Missouri with his regiment, in a letter to his wife Azubah, he wrote: from “Logic of reason, I have gone to the logic of the sword.” The 3rd Michigan fought in 22 battles from March 1862 through December 1863, resulting in 24 men being killed in action. All but three of the battles were fought in Mississippi, and only three lasted for more than one day. In late 1862, Willcox received his only promotion, to major. In March 1863, Major Willcox, then serving as provost marshal of the 3rd, was presented with the unique opportunity of testing his oratorical skills before a less-than-friendly audience when invited by a delegation of local Southern leaders of Henderson County, Tennessee, to address the local citizens. The crowd was expected to be skeptical and assumed hostile—many of them attended wearing their Rebel uniforms. In April, at the courthouse in Lexington, Willcox, accompanied by eight men as protection, presented his speech. In his acceptance letter he had written: “Let us have—a good old fashioned citizens’ meeting, without an element of war about it.” On the contrary, in a two-and-one-half hour speech, Willcox lashed out at slavery, secession, rebellion, and three prominent Southern Leaders—Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and John C. Breckinridge—as he put it, all “synonymous with goblins of hell” because they deceived the people. His most caustic remarks were reserved for Jefferson Davis whom he regarded as the “most ungrateful and shameless of any in the long list of traitors who have attempted to ruin their country.” He concluded his speech with a plea to his Southern audience to end the war and return to the Union. In 1894, after delivering that same speech to an audience of Union veterans, Willcox remarked that when given in 1863 it was “the first instance of a citizen’s handshake across the bloody chasm,” the comment from which the book received its title. Upon his return to civilian life in 1864, Willcox resumed the practice of law, while continuing to accept speaking engagements and writing. His participation in Republican politics in the postwar years, brought him a number of appointments to minor officers, and one elective office. As an ardent Unionist and conservative, Willcox adamantly opposed leniency for all former Rebel leaders. In his capacity as a popular orator, public official, newspaper editor and journalist, he effectively used the bully pulpit to be heard, expressing his views and positions on most issues of interest to him. One issue was women’s suffrage, which he opposed. “We object to women’s voting,” Willcox wrote, “because her true field of labor is in the domestic circle. She is not physically competent to become a part of the law enforcing power of the country.” The author could have fine-tuned the biography thus making it more attractive to the reader by engaging in additional scholarly research. There was one biographical reference to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and none from the Clements Library at the same location. It is difficult to imagine that those two quality repositories lacked additional materials. What about the Detroit Public Library? The U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle, Pa., has primary research documents and letters on the 3rd Michigan Cavalry. Additional research by author Cramer was needed.
Willis Kocher
Willis Kocher is a retired American history teacher with a master’s degree in general education. He is past president of the Harrisburg, Pa., Civil War Round Table.
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