From Publishers Weekly
The Civil War’s first major battle was not especially bloody or decisive, but this fascinating study makes it an apt microcosm of the conflict. Historian Detzer (Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston and the Beginning of the Civil War) provides a lucid narrative of the battle’s course, judiciously assesses the causes and authors of the Union defeat, draws vivid thumbnail sketches of participants from generals to privates, and debunks the "stone wall" legend and other enduring myths of the battle. But the book’s greatest strength is its account of the social, psychological and organizational aspects of warfare in the Civil War epoch. Fought by hastily mobilized amateurs, the battle highlighted the Herculean difficulties the two sides faced in clothing, supplying and feeding large armies and trying to turn fractious civilians into competent soldiers. And Bull Run gave volunteers imbued with romantic jingoism their first taste of the horror, chaos and physical agony of combat. Drawing on a mountain of first-hand accounts, Detzer paints a detailed panorama of every aspect of army life, from the mechanics of working a musket, to the grisliness of battlefield medicine, the scrounging for meals and the suffering through long, waterless marches on a sweltering July day. The result is a splendid portrait of the Civil War as the soldiers knew it. B&w photos not seen by PW.
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*Starred Review* This is the fourth account of the First Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas) to appear in the last 15 years, but Detzer's work stands above the crowd because it possesses several superior qualities. Narrative verve is present, but more important is the author's grip on how difficult it was for Civil War generals to control a battle,
and how difficult it is for a historian to reassemble the chaos of combat into a coherent chronicle. Returning to these two challenges as he recounts the preliminary maneuvers that precipitated Bull Run, Detzer revises the blame conventionally heaped on the losing Union general, Irvin McDowell. Among other reasons, McDowell's attack plan misfired because of a staff officer's incompetence, despite which he almost gained the victory. This is where the "Stonewall" Jackson legend comes into play. Detzer dismantles the moniker--allegedly uttered by a Confederate general killed in the battle--as both fictitious and out of proportion to the dubious stalwartness of Jackson's regiments, two of which completely cracked. Detzer also vivifies the soldier's experience of fear and physical exhaustion, polishing what is nearly a model of how a Civil War battle history should be written.
Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
