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The Coming Fury

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"The Coming Fury" is a powerful rendition of the sad tale of the disintegration of the Union from the political maneuvers of 1860 to the aftermath of the First Battle of Bull Run.

In this, the first of the Catton trilogy, we are show how the breakdown of the spirit of compromise, which had held together a house divided for four score and four years, contributed to the conflagration to follow.

The major theme of this book is that nothing was inevitable about the lines on which the Union would fracture. The lines of division resulted from a multitude of decisions made by the actors in this national tragedy.

For many with only a superficial knowledge, history is the story of conflict between right and wrong, heroes and villains. When I read history I enjoy books which permit us to see the stories and characters with all their triumphs and failures, virtues and faults. "The Coming Fury" ranks high on the list of such books.

The first casualty of the failure of compromise was the Great Democracy, the Democratic Party, which split into its Northern and Southern wings in 1860, making the election of Abraham Lincoln inevitable that fall.

The election of Lincoln convinced many southerners that the Union was no longer provided a suitable home for them. This book tells the story of how the breakup occurred.

We see James Buchanan, trapped by a cabinet which was as divided as the nation, presiding over the rejection of the Constitution and the dissolution of the Union which he was sworn to preserve and protect and who, incredibly, retired in the belief that he had done a good job under the circumstances.

We see Abraham Lincoln, whose eloquence and political magic are the stuff of legends, stumble his way into Civil War. We learn that the speeches along his route from Springfield to Washington contain nothing of the inspiring rhetoric which now adorns his Memorial.

We see that the South did secede in one monolithic movement. The first seven states seceded nearly in masse, while the remaining slave states waited to see whether a compromise would permit the survival of the nation.

We all know about the firing on Fort Sumter, but how many know what was really at stake? The truth is that the main issue was over the possession of forts. In fact, there were several forts which could have provided the spark which set the nation ablaze, but the honor fell to Sumter and South Carolina.

Although the issue of Fort Sumter revolved around the possession of real estate, the implications were much greater. Several of the Border states swung toward the Confederacy after the attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter. It can be said that Lincoln's first crucial decision, that being to reinforce Fort Sumter, lead to the secession of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, with Maryland and Missouri being held in only by military force. It was Lincoln's political decisions which almost transformed the Confederacy from a rump nation with virtually no chance of survival into state with an excellent prospects.

I was interested in the treatment of General Winfield Scott. I had always thought of him as an old soldier who occupied his chair until he was pushed aside for younger men. In fact, Scott played a major role in the preservation of the country during the period of transition as well as in the formulation of the battle plan which eventually restored its unity.

After the succession of the states, the focus shifts to the preparations for war, both in the north and the south. In the north, the challenge was to organize the forces with which to subjugate the rebellious states. In the south, the simultaneous establishment of both government and army was a truly incredible accomplishment.

With the early preparations completed, the First Battle of Bull Run tested the expectations of all contestants. The battle proved the ineptness of both sides. Bull Run dispelled many notions. Both sides now realized that they were in for a long and hard struggle. Both now realized that the lack of compromise, which had rendered asunder the Democracy in 1860, had rendered any chance of a political resolution null and void. Bull Run had set the stage for the long and bitter struggle which Catton would report in his subsequent two books.

This is a outstanding introduction to our great national tragedy.

Jim Gallen has, in an earlier review, summed up quite well the content of Catton's first volume in his centennial history of the Civil War. What I will say is that having read this book, and the two that follow, more than 30 years ago, and having read numerous works on the Civil War since then, I keep coming back to these three volumes. Why? Because more than any other writer on the Civil War (Shelby Foote included) Bruce Catton has produced a book that is almost poetic in its style. His prose makes the people who fought the war or who were otherwise affected by it come alive. From the very first pages of The Coming Fury he gives us a sense of forboding, for the tragedy, the senselessness, and the inevitibility of what lay just down the road for the celebrants at the Republican and Democratic conventions of 1860. Catton is one of the first, I think, to truely take advantage of the letters and diaries of soldiers, sailors, and civilians, and not just official unit histories and canned secondary accounts. If more recent historians have surpassed Catton in digging up details of virtually every aspect of the Civil War, none can touch him in the poetic sweep of his narrative. For anyone interested in a good introduction to our most costly war, Catton is the one to start with.

For anyone, like I once was, who needs an education on the causes of the Civil War, this book is indespensable. Growing up in the South, I was taught in public schools that slavery had very little to do with the Civil War. Catton not only obliterates this theory, he goes in to much detail about the various conflicts and rivalries (including slavery) which caused an unbridgeable chasm between North and South in the decade leading up to the firing upon Fort Sumter in April, 1861. He clearly demonstrates why these differences in philosophy would erupt into war, which in retrospect was probably the only way America could ever be united in our collective belief system, which we now take for granted. I would recommend this book (and Catton's entire Civil War Trilogy series for that matter) to both casual reader and Civil War buff alike. In fact, it should be required reading for ALL americans.

This book will tell you more about how the Civil War got rolling than any other. It has all the characters a major novel will have, all real. If you want to know how things fell apart in 1860 and 1861, this is where to go.

The civil war era has many books that are "general" histories of this period. While I enjoy Shelby Foote's three volume work, I am still a fan of Bruce Catton. His three volume CW works are still fresh today as they were thirty plus years ago.

This first volume begins in 1860 at the Democratic National Convention in South Carolina. It begins to show just how split the country was on the issue of slavery, and the political party that had dominated since Thomas Jefferson became its leader. The South's "fire-eaters" would not nominate Stephen Douglas, even if it meant the election of the "black Republican" Abraham Lincoln.

Catton does a wonderful job with words of bringing out the emotions of the era leading to the Civil War. His emphasis to focus on the "causes" of the civil war from all perspectives-including the issue of slavery, the "blundering generation" theory, and the sectional crises interpretation, as well as others that historians to this day still disagree on. In short, the genius of Catton is that he allows you to consider all the different theories to the causes of the war. It is truly an objective presentation of history in a very pro-subjective time we are in.

The middle of the book focuses on the Fort Sumter issue, and how Lincoln and the South dealt with the issue of federal vs. state sovereignty. Catton also clearly articulates why Virginia and Tennessee, as well as Maryland Missouri, and Kentucky did not immediately succeed with the South, or aligned themselves with the North when South Carolina and several sister Southern states left the Union.

The book ends with the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). Here, Catton completely understands the American people. Rather than use complicated military history language, Catton explains the tactics and course of the battle in a very understandable way, and in a way that allow the reader to visualize the "battle map" in their head.

Overall, I would say that this is a great book to read to begin the journey of studying a war that seems simple, but is far from it. I have always said that Catton is a breath of fresh air. His literary style is very engaging and powerful, and we find ourselves reading a story-albeit a very tragic one. This style helps in our journey to fully appreciating, as well as solemnly visualizing the biggest and most important war our young country has ever been involved in.

I read this 1961 classic now (in 2011) on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The book covers about one year of activity: from the Democratic Party Convention of 1860 in Charleston through the First Bull Run campaign of July, 1861. An excellent writer, Catton lays out the political goings-on both North and South as if he had been a reporter alive on the scene at the time. The book has held up well even if it is 50 years old. The only time it seems somewhat dated is in a brief discussion he has about African-Americans where he describes them (in the fashion of a 1950s American white liberal) as gentle, peaceful, childlike folk who didn't want to cause any trouble. Incidentally, to those who might think otherwise, the evidence in this book strongly supports the notion that the Civil War really WAS about slavery, or at least about the rights of slave-owners and the right to extend slavery into new territories and states. (Among other things, when South Carolina seceded from the Union it sent out a proclamation to its fellow "slave-holding states" inviting them to also leave the Union.) The book reminds one of how long the Fort Sumter Crisis gripped the nation (the stand-off went on for months) and the Fort's commander, Major Robert Anderson, became that era's version of a "media hero", a celebrity whose name was honored in banquet toasts in the North and whose popularity the Lincoln Administration later deployed on recruitment drives to enlist volunteer troops. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a detailed account of the months leading up to the start of the war and the first 90 days or so of that war.

This book covers the fifteen month period from the Democratic Convention in April 1860 to the first major battle of the Civil War at Manassas, Virginia in July 1861. Written as a very accessible narrative, this book explores the failure of the political process to produce any compromises that might have prevented to war. Catton shows how the radical elements on both sides controlled the debate in a dangerous game of brinkmanship that took on a life of its own, eventually making the war inevitable. The few voices of moderation were silent until it was too late for them to effectively impact events. This is a reminder of the dangers of extremism and the importance of compromise and dialogue. It also helps to shed illumination on the underlying causes of the Civil War and the choices important people made as the conflict approached. This is definitely a "must read" for anyone interested in trying to understand the American Civil War and its impact on the country.

Bruce Catton's The Coming Fury is the first volume in a trilogy about the Civil War which also contains Terrible Swift Sword and Never Call Retreat. Bruce Catton is one of the foremost writers on the Civil War and he does not disappoint with this work. In this volume Catton covers 1860 and 1861 from the Democratic Convention in Charleston and the Republican Convention in Chicago through Fort Sumpter and Manassas. The military aspects of the book most people will be familiar with but it was the political aspects of the origins of the Civil War that I found most interesting. The split within the Democratic Party is covered in depth as is the nomination process of Lincoln. And contrary to the politically correct thinking of today Slavery was the major cause of the Civil War. Catton does an outstanding job of proving this. The political powers of today attempt to down play this fact, after all, it was their Party that defended slavery and tore the country apart. The description of the siege of Fort Sumpter is is covered in detail as is the Battle of Manassas. This book was an outstanding beginning to the Trilogy, I recommend it.

When I was a little boy, we sometimes went to visit my grandfather. He lived near us, and my mother would drive us there to see him. I can remember realizing that she was intimidated by him (not surprising considering he was her father, and 40+ years her senior to boot) and this was a revelation because I didn't think anyone intimidated my mother. Once, when I was six or eight, I was invited out into his office, in a corner of the garage he'd converted into a workshop. He had bookshelves behind his desk, and as he sat at the desk I can remember him asking me if I was interested in soldiers, which he'd apparently heard from my mother. When I agreed I was, he turned and took these three books down off the shelf, and gave them to me. They were my birthday present that year, from him. They were Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy, and they remain my favorites. My grandfather was a mid-westerner like Catton, so I guess it's not surprising he would give me books by the man.

Catton is essentially the Northern counterpart to the more recently popular Shelby Foote. While Foote is indisputably a very good writer, in my mind Catton is better, though he doesn't try to present the same level of detail as Foote. The two men wrote at essentially the same time, though really Foote was a novelist who wrote a history of the Civil War, and essentially no other non-fiction. Though he didn't have a college degree in this or any other subject, Catton more or less made a career as a historian, serving ultimately as editor of American Heritage magazine for a quarter century.

In the mid-50's, Catton had already made a career for himself as a Civil War historian, winning the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for history for "A Stillness at Appomattox". This led to various things (his son notes in an interview that the next year, rather than renting a cabin on the lake for summer vacation, they bought one) and one of them was that the publisher Doubleday & Co. approached him with the idea of having him write a Centennial History of the Civil War, the books to be released during the 100th anniversary of the war, which of course occurred 1961-5. Mr. Catton agreed, and the books he produced were released in 1961, 1963, and 1965. While there are other accounts of the Civil War that touched on aspects Catton doesn't, Catton's discussion of the political aspects of the war is very strong. He makes the issues that were involved, and how thinking evolved during the era, very understandable.

The Coming Fury, the first book in the trilogy, deals with the least amount of time. The author's de-emphasis on battles and campaigns results in the political and strategic aspect of the war taking center stage, and this in turns means that the politics of the first year of the war are paramount. As a result, the first volume of this trilogy covers about a year, from the Democratic Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, to the aftermath of the Battle of Bull Run a year later. You will meet may personalities with which you are probably unfamiliar: William L. Yancey, the Southern seccessionist firebrand who is often credited with starting the whole thing, is prominently featured. Bull Run, the only large battle in the book, is covered in a couple of pages.

I really enjoyed this book, in case you can't tell. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Civil War. Not sure why it's not in print and easily available, as Foote is.

In the mid-1950's and 1960s, Bruce Catton(1899-1978) wrote outstanding narrative histories of the Civil War which remain among the best sources available for a basic understanding of the conflict. Catton's books are accessible, informative, and a pleasure to read. He once said: "Whatever else history is, it should be a good yarn." His books are, indeed, "good yarns" and more.

Catton's "The Coming Fury" appeared in 1961 as part of a three-volume trilogy commemorating the Civil War centennial. It tells the story of the origins of the conflict and takes the story through the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861.

The book begins with the Presidential conventions of the political parties in 1860, showing how the Democratic party split into northern and southern components and how this party split led to the disaster of secession, disunion, and war. The story of Lincoln's election is well-told, but Catton's book picks up momentum with his treatment of the decisions to seceede of the 11 Southern states. The treatment of the final days of the Buchanan administration, the political maneuvering over Fort Sumter, and the attack on Fort Sumter which precipitated the War are told with the literary skill of a born storyteller and are full as well of good thought and information.

The book offers an excellent sense of the mood of the country at the onset of the 1860s and of the passions aroused over slavery and sucession. Catton shows how hotheads and extremists ultimately were put in control of events which spiraled inevitably into the Civil War. Catton shows a great deal of sympathy for those figures who tried, literally at the last minute, to stave off the conflict and settle the differences between the North and South through compromise.

The book spends a great deal of time on the four border states -- Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware. Catton explains how these states were essential to the Union war effort and shows as well the careful and individualized manner in which Lincoln treated each of these states to keep them precariously in the Union.

The book concludes with a discussion of the early military efforts of the War, with emphasis on First Bull Run. The chief protagonists involved in the War, both for the Union and the Confederacy, are kindly and convincingly portrayed.

This book is a good introduction to the Civil War and to its causes. Those who have read a great deal about the War may still learn from Catton's account. Catton writes simply and well. His book will encourage the reader to learn more about this seminal event in American history.