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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first word on the last battle, September 23, 2010
This review is from: Columbus, Georgia, 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War (Hardcover)
As an avid reader of Civil War history, I give this book my highest recommendation. To begin with, it delves into a battle rarely even mentioned, much less explored in depth. Although I never tire of reading about the same battles again and again from different points of view, it was an amazing experience to learn about this traumatic event which gripped a major city of the Confederacy. I consider myself well-read in Civil War history but never even knew that anything of note pertaining to the war happened in Columbus, Georgia.
The author does an excellent job in giving the reader a real-time feel for each phase of the battle. He conveys the determined glory-seeking of the Yankee cavalry as they march across Alabama, as well as their fears while passing through dismal, alligator-infested swamps. He brings us to Columbus as the beleaguered defenders desperately prepare for the invasion that they know is coming. We experience every milestone and obstacle through the eyes and hearts of the men whose fate placed them there. The description of the battle itself delivers all of the exquisite detail that one often wishes for in other books which brush over the fighting itself. We feel the bullets whizzing thickly through the air, the agonizing rise and fall of every foot of terrain, the surreality of an attack by dark night, the superiority of the Yankees' Spencers, confusion between friend and foe and of losing contact with one's unit, and the suspense of each moment as the battle moves inexorably toward the crucial bridge crossing into the city. We read, fascinated, as soldiers of both sides and horses burst forth from the turpentine-saturated bridge into the streets of the doomed city. The author completes the story by soberly describing the following days of occupation with its destruction, looting, and sad struggles to survive.
What I especially like about this book is its insight into and depiction of the people involved in the battle, whether key players or peripheral observers. We meet for the first time (although he fought at Shiloh) colorful characters such as Colonel Von Zinken, who pronounces his threats against the approaching Yankees in a thick Prussian accent. The future inventor of Coca-Cola, a Confederate captain, lived and was wounded there, and later frets over the looting of his drug store. The author offers beautiful examples of the ironies and poignant stories that abounded in the Civil War. As this battle took place on Easter Sunday, we feel the townspeople's angst as they worship that morning and afterwards the pastor hides the collection monies in the branches of a tall pine tree (perhaps offering it up to God?). A central character, as much as any human being, is the city itself. I now regret that I had occasion recently to pass through Columbus and Phenix City, unfortunately before reading this book and therefore completely unaware of any of this history. If the opportunity again presents itself, I will stop and spend at least a day there, for we all feel the significance of walking on the very earth where these great dramas took place.
Undoubtedly, the reason that this episode has received so little attention is because it occurred after the war had ended for all practical purposes. I confess that I initially hesitated to read the book for that reason. However, the people involved had not received word of Lee's surrender, Davis's fleeing Richmond, or the negotiations leading to surrender of the Army of Tennessee. In the minds and lives of Wilson's Cavalry and the defenders and townspeople of Columbus, the war raged on, and the action in which they were engaged would prove decisive. Thanks to this author, their part in it is now told and told very well. Please do not pass this book up! Not only is it indispensable (because you will not find this material anywhere else), but it is also one of the best and most memorable that you will ever read. Get it now!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Forgotten Civil War Battle Rediscovered, September 25, 2010
This review is from: Columbus, Georgia, 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War (Hardcover)
Ask the average person on the street when the Civil War ended and the answer you will most likely get is when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Most people would be surprised to learn that the war never really officially ended, but rather the fighting between the Confederate and United States armies continued for weeks after the surrender ceremony at Appomattox, and gradually ceased as one by one the remaining Confederate armies in the field laid down their arms and surrendered. Just as there was no official declaration of war when hostilities broke out between the North and South, so was there no peace treaty declaring the war at an end.
There were more than a few battles and skirmishes that took place after General Lee's surrender, and among them was the battle between the Federal cavalry under the command of Major General James H. Wilson and confederate forces under the over all command of Major General Howell Cobb with Colonel Leon Von Zinken acting as field commander, at Columbus, Georgia, April 16, 1865. Because it happened a week after the surrender at Appomattox, and the day after the death of President Abraham Lincoln, and during the manhunts for Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and Confederate President on the run, Jefferson Davis, the Battle of Columbus has been largely forgotten.
Florida attorney and a self-proclaimed "Civil War enthusiast," Charles A. Misulia, has long been fascinated by the events which took place between April 15th & April 18th, 1865 in the streets of Girard (present day Phoenix City), Alabama and her sister-city across the Chattahoochee River, Columbus, Georgia and has written the first full length account of the battle in his book, "Columbus Georgia 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War."
Mr. Misulia has written a fascinating in-depth look at the battle and the men who fought it, both Union and Confederate; soldiers and civilians. Starting with a brief overview of Wilson's Raid into Alabama, the author next methodically recounts the Confederates preparations for the coming of the Federal cavalry and the construction of the fortifications in Gerard and Columbus. The battle on April 16th took place largely during the waning hours of daylight, and a good part of it was fought in the dark. Mr. Misulia gives a blow by blow account of the battle and demonstrates the confusion and difficulties of fighting a Civil War era night-time battle. He follows the Federal cavalrymen as they gain the upper hand on the Confederate defenders as they cross the turpentine soaked bridge across the Chattahoochee River and burst into the streets of Columbus to capture the city. As the Federal cavalry, had not yet learned the news of Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Mr. Misulia also details the destruction of the city and any possibility that any of its resources would be used to aid in the Confederate cause.
In the first appendix of his book Mr. Misulia defines the differences between a battle and a skirmish and narrows down the field of possible contenders for the "last true battle" of the Civil War to: Fort Blakely, Alabama on April 9th, 1865; West Point & Columbus, Georgia, both on April 16th; Munford's Station, Alabama, April 23rd and Palmetto Ranch, Texas, May 12th-13th. He takes each in its turn and gives his explanation of why he has ruled out all but the Battle of Columbus as the last true battle of the Civil War. It is an interesting discussion, but lends itself more to the trivial than a matter for academic discussion.
With his book, "Columbus Georgia 1865; The Last True Battle of the Civil War," Mr. Misulia has filled a void in Civil War literature too long overshadowed and overlooked. His book rightly deserves its place on the bookshelves of Civil War scholars and enthusiasts alike, alongside other histories of Civil War battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg and Chickamauga.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The little-known battle, October 18, 2010
This review is from: Columbus, Georgia, 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War (Hardcover)
I am a Civil War buff and even through all my book reading on the subject, I knew little, if any, about the conflicts that took place in the city limits of Columbus, Georgia just a week after General Lee surrendered his battered Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. I knew about a battle that took place on a ranch off the Rio Grande in Texas during June, 1865, which was awkwardly a Confederate victory. But I was amazed and delighted at the stories that took place in Columbus during April, a conflict that involved over 6000 men. So what happened to their stories making the history books for the past 135 years? Not sure, but the author must be glad to have come across this research that should definitely open a new chapter into the civil war. And this battle was fought in the dead of night, involving General Wilson's aggressive Yankee cavalry force, which had earlier burned out the town of Selma, Alabama in their haste to destroy what remained of the Confederate war effort. I knew of Wilson, but didn't know that he took place in this battle that jumps out at the reader on each page. Very hard to put down once you buy it!
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