Customer Reviews

The Civil War Chronicle

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It's been called the first modern war. Mechanized infantry movements, electronic communication, rifled barrels, ironclad battleships, and submarine warfare were all introduced to the world in the American Civil War. But it was also the first war to be covered in detail by modern media. A rich photographic, journalistic, and personally documented legacy has been left behind by the participants and observers. With The Civil War Chronicle, a detailed historical effort has been made to offer these primary sources to the public in a chronological fashion.

The benefits of offering data this way, along with appropriate commentary, is immediately evident to the Civil War buff. But even those with a passing interest in the drama will find plenty to feast on. Within the book's pages lies a wealth of photos, newspaper stories, letters, and diary entries. The famous and the not so famous alike have gripping, first hand stories which speak across the years to future generations. Many were aware of the historical significance of their times, and took great pains to record events for posterity. Other sources, more partisan in nature, took biased pains in illustrating their case to the detriment of the opposing side.

What I particularly enjoyed was the ease of reading the book proffered. It is very well laid out, with a two column approach that allows neat separation of articles, ideas, and dates. The illustrations chosen are well placed, and everything is broken up into easy to read chunks. In the interest of space and reader attention, the editor chose to cut out certain portions of several articles. I can understand the need for this, but I was left wondering about the omitted parts at times. Such is inevitable for the casual reader; I suppose to get it all I would have to devote the years of research that went into this book.

The Chronicle stretches from November, 1860, when Lincoln won his first election despite the fact he did not win the popular vote (something which is ironically resonant today) to May, 1865 when the New York Times declared, "Peace at last." All told, this is a wonderful book, and J. Matthew Gallman will be greatly appreciated for offering this fine new entry in the line of Civil War literary efforts.

I originally thought this book would be the Civil War equivalent to Stephen Ambrose's Citizen Soldier. The topic is the same (the "common person"'s experiences in the war) but it is a compleatly different format.

This book is a portable archive from the civil war. Instead of being a narrative description of the civil war as seen by "common folk" it allows these charaters to speak for themselves through letters, diaries, and a variety of correspondance. Lots of photos.

I live too far away to visit a Civil war museum - this is the next best thing. You can draw your own inferences and interpretations from the letters and orders. Some are eye openning and show how times have changed; others show how similar these folks were to the 21st century folk.

Book is well worth owning!

but a collection of letters, notations, reports and the like from Civil War participants. As a chronicle, it is set up day by day, from 1861-1865, and offers one written piece per day from each side. No doubt it is in places very interesting, but it is not something I wanted to sit down and read through, nor is it something that would give the reader a cohesive sense of what was transpiring in the war on any given day. It is for me, rather, something to read when time is short.

I probably passed over this book a dozen times or more, tempted to buy it, and thinking that Gallman had only covered ground that I was already covered before by Henry Steele Commager in "The Blue and the Grey", and in books like Harwell's Union and Confederate Readers. I am pleased to say that I was wrong.

When I finally broke down and got this book, I was going through a particularly rough period in my life, a family move, and the downsizing of a large personal History Library. In fact, it was during one of my visits to my parents when I picked up the book, and have pretty much not put it down as there is always something new in it.

For me, what was particularly interesting was the accounts by both Union and Confederate officers about James Harrison Wilson's cavalry invasion of Alabama at the end of the war, and how his forces decisively defeated Nathan Bedford Forrest outside of Selma, just days before Appomattox. The account by Union General Eli Long has the flavor of a dispatch written just after the smoke of battle had cleared. Since Wilson's Raid was all but obscured by the great drama taking place at the same time up in Virginia, first-hand writings of the campaign are made even more valuable, and Gallman's got two fine ones here.

But there is something for everyone in Gallman's work; The New York Draft Riots, the carnage at Gettysburg, also seen from both sides, Sherman's March to the Sea and its effect on the Southern Civilian population; how Slaves found refugee on Union-held islands off the Carolina Coast; and a vignette about the appearance and the character of George Custer.

What not to expect is a thorough history of the war. There are countless other accounts available, including Commager's. But to get an idea what soldiers and civilians on both sides felt - and more importantly jotted down at the time, this book cannot be beat. I even liked Eric Foner's influence on locating passages on the Black Experience and Reconstruction, written from the standpoint of those who experienced it, though I could care less for Foner's Leftist politics.

Some of the other reviewers felt it was missing vital pieces of the Civil War puzzle, I don't, but also advise the reader that this is a good starting point for personal accounts. Other works such as James McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom", the " Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant" , "Recollections of Robert E. Lee", and Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, not to mention "Hardtack and Coffee" by Billings, Burke Davis' "Civil War: Strange and Fascinating Facts" and Philip Van Doren Stern's "Secret Missions of the Civil War".

Very enjoyable book, but strangely missing anything about Joshua Chamberlain whose action at the battle of Gettysburg, changed the outcome of the war.

Matthew Gallman, the editor, has put together an almanac of the times during the Civil War and if you like history you'll like the book. It could be used as a reference book that will give you a snapshot of an event on an almost daily basis during the war. This chronicle is made up of letters, newspaper articles, political speeches and collectively will give a feel of what those days were like. If you're looking for a hard core rendition of the battles of the civil war with tactical descriptions and analysis, you should look elsewhere. I was disappointed with this book for my interest is in the tactical side of the war but the book has merit. Besides the narrative, it also has many photos and illustrations.

This book is similar to the book by Margaret Wagner but with a more traditional dating format.
There are many books on the civil war and if you have a collection and have an interest in a general daily accounting of it, you should consider this book.

I have a few problems with his book, which is a collection of old photographs and sketches and letters, reports and other original source material organized in a day-by-day format and with a short commentary for putting each of the original sources in context. The photographs sketches are very nice and contain some that I hadn't seen before (and some old favorites such as the landscape after Hood blew up his ammunition train when abandoning Atlanta). The source material is good when it deals with the politics and the home front, nicely including Baltimore riots, New York draft riots, currency legislation and Grant's Jew order, banning them from his theater of operations. The lacking part to the book is its treatment of military operations. Major battles are reduced to operations reports or letters home about 2/3 of a page long, there are no maps and the day-by-day format eliminates continuity. One is merely left with account after account of regiments being crushed and (in the commentary) casualty figures without any understanding of why operations occurred where and when they did. Worse, the commentary is full of errors. E.P. Alexander is identified as "Lee's chief of artillery". Lincoln made T.S.C. Lowe chief of army aeronautics after meeting him on June 11, 1963 after which he resigned in May 1963. The Union ironclad Carondelet is identified as wooden-hulled. The Confederate ram Albemarle is said to have "survived the mission, but it was so badly damaged that repairs could not be completed before war's end," on page 404, but then on page 467, we read of the Union raid that destroyed it.

Get this book if you want some contemporary flavor to add while you are reading a good general history of the civil war.