Customer Reviews

Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"What makes Sneden's history remarkable is his attention to detail... So compelling was his drive to document the war accurately that Sneden kept notes even while in Andersonville, writing in shorthand on scraps of pages of books that he later sewed into the linings of his cloths to keep hidden.... It is astonishing that such valuable experience could have remained hidden for so long." --Michael Larkin, The Boston Globe

"This is quite simply a wonderful book.... One can virtually hear the soldiers snoring and the mules braying.... Especially moving is [Sneden's] account of the horrible months he spent in Andersonville.... Sneden's all-observing eye was truly `in the storm,' and his belatedly published memoir should soon become a standard in the field." --Ben L. Bassham, Civil War Book Review

Private Robert Sneden of the 40th New York Volunteers was trained in architecture and engineering and assigned to make detailed maps of the unknown terrain being traversed by the Union Army. This assignment gave him unusual freedom to roam the areas and battlefields to which he was assigned. Fortunately he kept a daily journal and made well drawn sketches and watercolor paintings as he went. The book covers the period from September 29, 1861, shortly after he joined McClellan's army encamped at Leesburg, Virginia, to December 26, 1864, when he was finally reunited with his family. With an artist's eye for detail and a surprisingly deft ability with the English language, Sneden provides the reader with some of the most memorable descriptions, watercolor colors of scenes, and eyewitness accounts ever published on the Civil War. Sneden's experiences can broadly be divided into two major periods.

The first general section of his journal concerns the events connected with McClellan's move toward the botched siege of Yorktown, Virginia, and ends with the bloody battles of the 7 Day's War in which Lee attacked the Union forces at Mechanicsville and forced the ensuing retreat. Sneden's almost matter-of-fact descriptions of the fighting, confusion, carnage, small unit movements, individual heroism, death, and destruction are powerful and moving.

The second general section of Sneden's journal concerns the events leading up to his capture by Mosby's Confederate cavalry, his internment first in Richmond and finally at the infamous Andersonville, and his eventual release and reunion with his family. No brief review could possibly do justice to the descriptions of the inhumanity displayed at these prison facilities. Sneden's accounts are strong, detailed, and painful to read.

I highly recommend this book. It is a book which belongs in the collection of anyone interested in United States history and the Civil War in particular.

After discovering this book under my Christmas tree imagine my interest in the discovery of the story of Private Sneden in this volume. This first hand account of the war was far and away better than anything I've read so far including Sam Watkins 'Co. Aytch'. The added bonus of Sneden's watercolors make this book an invaluable source for anyone interested in the war and a fascinating revelation of it. Highly recommended!

I've read all of the standards--Catton, Foote, McPhearson, Freeman, etc. I've read some first hand journals as well, such as Grant's memoirs, Mary Chestnut, Jefferson Davis, etc. What I haven't ever encountered before is someone who has both the enlisted man's take on the penninsular campaign and Andersonville with the access to the generals Sneden seems to have had. In one paragraph he's getting dragged through the mud hanging from the back of a wagin, and then in the next he's privy to a meeting between Hooker, Kearny, and Heintzelman.

The journal from inside Andersonville is priceless by itself! But there's also the Penninsular Campaign and the early part of the war. Then add to this Sneden's watercolors and you have a unique source that brings the day-to-day activities of the Civil War home like no other book I've ever read.

Buy this book, it's one of the best ground-level views of the Civil War I've ever encountered.

Sneden's memoir and watercolors comprise a remarkable document of a soldier's life in the Union army. A previous reviewer questioned the collection's authenticity for a number of reasons that I didn't find accurate. Sneden's memoir does not indicate that he was at every major battle of the war, nor that he met every major general. He was a cartographer in the Peninsular Campaign, and thus was in contact with the generals (who naturally had an interest in maps) at those battles. Likewise, his role as a mapmaker would explain his access to materials, though as the preface indicates, Sneden probably quickly sketched most of his battle scenes and colored them in later. As for the the word "virus," the OED indicates that it was used as early as 1728 to refer to disease contagion.

I second most of the favorable comments Eye of the Storm has received. Snedens prose is more than adequate, and his illustrations are often fascinating. The editors have also done their job well, and they play fair with the reader by pointing out Sneden's errors and lapses of memory where evidence survives.

Nevertheless, this nicely produced volume left me cold, largely because of the personality of the author. What is one to make of a fellow who criticizes grave robbers and then uses an infants skull as a soap dish or denounces those who collaborate with the enemy and then does so himself? The English language has a number of unpleasant words for this sort of behavior.

I dont trust Sneden. In this memoir posing as a diary, the author exhibits remarkable foresight about the outcome of events. Given the proven errors of the manuscript as well as the authors plagiarism of published sources, readers should retain a good deal of skepticism about the authors prophetic powers.

Finally, Snedens prose is emotionally flat. He can describe battlefield carnage with the appropriate words, but he seems strangely detached from the event. At the conclusion of battles, his first thought seems to be rousting up a meal, and hes not embarrassed to tell the reader so. If Sneden ever mourned a friend, I missed it. In fact, one wonders whether he had any friends. Snedens invective against the enemy also seems conventional and hackneyed. What Sneden seems to have believed in his heart of hearts was that he was superior to the ordinary run of mortals, soldier or officer, Union or Confederate. That would explain why, despite gifts as both a writer and an illustrator, Snedens post-war existence is traced largely through querulous letters about his pension and why this manuscript lay forgotten so long until its spiritual deadness became modern.

Eye of the Storm is a rare opportunity to see a new yet original view of camp and prison life. You will find yourself drawn to Sneden's original illustrations time and time again. The more you study them the more you see. It makes you want to see more and larger versions of his drawings. Brayn and Lankford have done a good job in not tainting Sneden's work while at the same time pointing out some important historical questions. I marked over twenty parts to use in reference and speeches.

I always look for first hand information in journals. These are the journals by Priv. Sneden. The pictures that he drew are wonderful and his first person accounts of his journey throughout the Civil War are sad & touching. It is worth it all to read a first person account of his stay at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Both his books, "Eye of the Storm" (his journal) and "Images of the Storm" (drawings of his journey) are prized books to treasure and will be passed on through generations. What a wonderful gift Priv. Sneden left behind.
My heart aches for this wonderful young man who realized nothing
from his legacy.

This book is remarkable and different from almost any other war remembrance I have come across. Not only has Robert Knox Sneden penned a highly descriptive account of his years with the Army of the Potomac and as a prisoner of war, his work is illustrated with scores of his own watercolors depicting what he saw -- many made at the time he was witnessing places and events during the war.

Sneden had an unusual vantage point. An engineer and draftsman, Sneden's services were employed as a map maker for several Union Generals during the first two and a half years of the war. Although a private, this posting gave him an easier life than experienced by most privates. Although in the field, Sneden was attached to headquarters. His staff position and duties also gave him considerable free time -- from which we benefit. Sneden used this time to record his observations in both written form and via sketches and watercolor renderings of war scenes.

Sneden's posting was not without difficulty or danger. Several times he had to reconnoiter close to the enemy or between the lines in order gather the information needed for accurate local maps. He was also asked to journey over recently fought over battlefields to aid in the construction of after-action reports -- after the Union army had left and local control had reverted to Confederate partisans.

On one such journey away from the main army, Sneden and a few of his companions were captured by Mosby's Rangers. Sneden then began his journey through the Confederate prisoner of war system staying in Richmond, Andersonville and several other locations.

His experiences are well written. Sneden has a very matter of fact style of writing that gets to the point and is descriptive without being overwrought. Having read "Company Ayche" by Sam Watkins and "All for the Union" by Elisha Hunt Rhodes, I would rank Sneden's work as highly among Civil War remembrances. His unique position enables him to comment on battlefield and camp experiences in all their gritty detail as well as those portions of the Union high command with whom he came in contact. His prisoner of war writing reveals the brutal realities of life at Andersonville and other locations. The raw and inhumane world of these men is given testamony by Sneden in his gripping account of what he and others bore.

The artwork illustrates the text well. Although probably considered somewhat rough strictly as art, it is poignant and captivating. His original maps are also fascinating as historical documents.

This is a very good book. The war and prison scenes are engaging and very interesting. The author's style is highly readible and very convincing in terms of giving a front line view of army and prison life. The plentiful contemporary illustrations makes this book a stand out among the genre.

Robert Sneden served as a map maker during the early years of the Civil War, and finished his war in the Andersonville prison camp. Recent discoveries of his drawings and diary have allowed this book to be published. The story is breath taking, a personal sojourn through the mud and battle of America's great tradgedy.

The book is well edited. Brief italicized passages place the reader within the context of the battles and time. Sneden spent most of his time as a staff member at the Division and Corp levels, allowing him to see a wider view of the war than most. He drew maps, but he also drew many sketches. These provide a visual beauty to the book.

The water colors were obviously created after the war, and the diary entries were also updated from memory. His style as an artist is horizontal, with landscapes and muted muddy colors and great details, a map maker who draws the world around him.

Sneden was an interesting man, with some bigotries, and some brilliant insights. His frustration with the generalship of the Army of the Potomac is shared by the reader. His description of prison life in Andersonville reminds me of the book King Rat, and is both evocative, realistic, and saddening.

The wealth of detail is incredible -- early balloon experiments, the frustrations of mud, dysentery, and nature, and the incredible rapaciousness of the average soldier (digging up church cornerstones in search of souvenirs). Thse details are fascinating, but they are encapsulated within a story of great scope -- one man's war that mirrors the entire Civil War.

Sneden was an artist, a good commentator, and he got around. The result is a true story, fascinating for both the civil war buff and the average reader. A tremendous book.