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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating insight into Lyon's character,
This review is from: Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon (Paperback)
Christopher Phillips provides the reader with a fascinting insight into the character of Nathaniel Lyon. Rarely in reading a biography has the reader come away with such a clear and precise understanding as to what the central character's personality was really like.By providing this insight into Lyon's character the reader can clearly understand what motivated Lyon to take the actions he took in the troubled 1860's in Missouri. Lyon was a not very likable individual, He brought a zealot's zeal to virtually everything he believed in or did regardless of the conseqences. In the end this zeal brought about his own death. A great read...two thumbs up.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startling portrait of a controversial, energetic figure,
By Red Harvest (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon (Paperback)
Damned Yankee provides a surprisingly detailed study of the life of U.S. Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. Author Chistopher Phillips probes deeply into Lyon's background, family, and military career. The product is a fascinating portrait of a determined and disturbing figure.Nathaniel Lyon seized the initiative in Missouri, never allowing the determined secessionist governor an opportunity to guide the state out of the Union. While Missourians overall desired neutrality and elected secession convention delegates who soundly rejected secession, the elected state government leaned far more Southern than strictly neutral. From the moment of his entry onto the scene in St. Louis, Lyon worked tirelessly to frustrate Southern ambitions on the Federal arsenal. He butted heads with his more passive superiors in St. Louis; and he successfully conspired with various political figures to usurp and replace these impediments to his perceived mission. Lyon is a unique personage with an intensely individual interpretation of right and wrong. The author's central theme is that Lyon sought to punish those who strayed from what Lyon perceived to be the right path; and the author is effective in presenting his case. Lyon's disagreements with superiors and fellow officers were frequently intense, often to the point of insufferable insubordination. His punishment of subordinates for infractions was also extreme to the point he was successfully court-martialed for excessive punishment. The events in Lyon's career I found most disturbing related to his sanctioned and authorized reprisal massacres of Native Americans in California. This certainly makes his declaration of war in Missouri far more threatening: "Better, sir, far better, that the blood of every man, woman and child within the limits of the State should flow, than that she should defy the federal government." As a military commander and organizer, Lyon proved incredibly capable. Here was a commander with the bold aggressiveness of Grant, the self-assured intensity of Forrest, and the discipline of Stonewall Jackson. However, he also possessed huge flaws such as an inability to get along, political inflexibility, and subversive intrigue that likely would have undone him had he not perished at Wilson's Creek. His eccentric and caustic beliefs were likely to produce outrages. The author does a fine job of presenting the various viewpoints and back and forth of central characters. When he does present his own conclusions though they are not always convincing. The argument that Lyon was the irritant that leading to much of the eventual conflict in Missouri falls particularly flat, as does the pronouncement that without strong Federal action Missouri's pro-Southern governor and government would still have been unsuccessful in their aims. I'm also highly skeptical of the author's characterization of Lyon's reasoning for fighting at Wilson's Creek as being a punitive crusade. Lyon was right that he must use his force or lose it. He was also correct that if he retreated without a fight he would give the secessionists control of southwest Missouri. I can't fault the logic of forcing an engagement before determining whether or not to retire in such a circumstance. There are a few errors in the descriptions of events in Lyon's Civil War campaign, but overall they are well presented. I will note that I was disappointed the author did not point out Lyon's quartermaster Justus McKinstry was later successfully court-martialed for his activities in disrupting Union supply. No doubt that would have detracted from the author's case against Lyon's circumventing of a clearly broken supply system in St. Louis. Despite the above observations about the author overselling points of his case I agree with his central theme. This is a well-researched book and provides a complete profile of Nathaniel Lyon as a soldier and a man.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great Biography on Nathaniel Lyon, but where are the maps?!?!,
By CTS 2631 "Timboabwe" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon (Missouri Biography Series) (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed reading this fine biography by author Christopher Phillips. When I was finished reading the book I not only knew the life story of Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon (dates and locations) but also something about what kind of man Lyon was.The book is really well researched, just reading the first chapter on Lyon's family history makes that very clear to the reader. Lots of information but not to much detail so the book flows quite well and avoids getting bogged down in useless minutiae. (287 pages total/264 pages main) Lyon was a very interesting and abrasive man. He was a brave soldier who had led men in battle in the Mexican War where he was slightly wounded and recieved a brevet for gallantry, but also ruthless as a field commander as proven by his massacre of two different groups of American Indians in California who were suspected of killing whites. Throughout his military career he was a troublesome subordinate who clashed with his superiors to the point of getting himself arrested, and on more than one occasion managed to get them relieved from command. He was not loved by the enlisted men who served under him, he was a martinet who had gotten himself courtmartialed for beating an enlisted man once early in his career and was under investigation for the death by starvation of another soldier when the Civil War started (wanted to learn more about this incident but Lyon died a martyr at the Battle of Wilson's Creek and it was never really pursued by the army). Expecting total obedience from his subordinates, as commander he had no problem bending or breaking the rules to achieve what he felt the proper goal was (as in using government horses to help slaves escape in Kansas before the war, or helping freesoil Kansas outlaws that he was tasked with stopping avoid capture). He was a great commander though, with more initiative than most Civil War era leaders and able to organize forces quickly, devise a plan, and commence operations before his enemies had a chance to really prepare for his movements. On a personal level, Lyon was a lifelong bachelor, an atheist, hated slavery in any form, and detested secession and all secessionist. He liked theater, dancing, tossing back a cold brew, and loved candy (so much that he had dental problems and had some false teeth, the book really does not go into detail on this). His personality was such that he would share his beliefs with anyone at anytime, never afraid of the consequences, and had a fiery temper and guts enough to make it easy for me to believe that his contemporaries must have percieved him as a dangerous, eccentric, pain in the butt. The author makes the case that Lyon sought to punish anyone whose actions were contrary to his ideas of right and wrong, and after reading the book I agree. Lyon was the driving force in St. Louis/Missouri in 1861 who secured the city/state for the Union and chased the enemies of the United States into the southwestern corner of Missouri. The book works pretty well as a description of the personalities and events that make up this important but often overlooked chapter of the Civil War. I didnt agree with the authors arguement that Lyon attacked the Southern forces at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861 as part of a punitive crusade. Lyon needed to retreat because he was outnumbered and having supply issues, damaging the enemy forces before pulling back would help ensure his retreat was not pressed to closely. Dividing his outnumbered army into two seperate attack forces unable to provide immediate support for each other might not have been the best battle plan to adopt though (initially it worked quite well, and a better performance by Union Colonel Franz Sigel [commanding the other attack force] might have ensured a very different ending to the battle). Well written and researched, the book also has nineteen pictures and drawings of Lyon, important personalities, events, and locations that help tell the story (including a previously unpublished picture of a young Nathan Lyon without facial hair I found very interesting). Notes are located at the bottom of each page which was helpful in cutting down on flipping through the pages. Unfortunately, the book does not have a single map! This for me is a strike against any history book. Especially a military history volume even if it is a biography. How can someone without prior knowledge of the battle of Wilson's Creek understand fully what happened there? I myself really could have used maps of the Mexican War battles Lyon participated in. And even though the notes are displayed on the bottom of the page their listed on, they appear at the end of a paragraph instead of at the conclusion of a statement or sentence, so notes list a few sources for the paragraph and your left trying to figure out which source goes with what information you just read? Except for those two complaints, I cant recommend this book enough. Interesting, thought provoking, and highly informative, check this one out!
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