Customer Reviews

IRON MEN, IRON WILL: The Nineteenth Indiana Regiment of the Iron Brigade

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was simply a pleasure to read. While it was well documented, the documentation did not grind the book to a halt. I would consider this more as an anecdotal history rather than a military history. The author puts a human face on a serious topic. I have now read all of the books in print on the Iron Brigade and the Nineteenth Indiana Volunteers and this one is the best.

What a great book on the Nineteenth Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade. The book was maticulously researched and documented. The best part about the book was that the documentation did not detract from the enjoyable reading. The pictures and roster were very helpful. I have personally read over 200 Civil War regimental histories and this one was my favorite. I have read two other books on the Nineteenth Indiana and found them to be lacking in documentation and in ease of reading. This book is the best.

As an ardent student of history I found this book to be wonderfully documented and accurate. I have read all of the books about the 19th Indiana and the Iron Brigade and found this one to be the best by far. I was so intrigued with the book that I visited the critical archives and libraries cited in Mr. Dunn's book to verify their accuracy. Each entry which I checked was quoted exactly as I found them. I have heard through some Civil War circles that there has been an attempt to impugn this book in an attempt to increase sales of the other 19th Indiana books. If so, this is sad. I have recommended this book to all of my friends.

As an ardent student of Indiana and Civil War history, I was extremely interested in this book. I knew this was the first book written exclusively on the Nineteenth Indiana, but recently there have been a slew of 19th Indiana books, so I was very curious about this first one. I guess what attracted me was the beautiful cover and wealth of original images from the author's collection. Upon finishing the book I came to this conclusion. This was one fine piece of written history. I visited the Indiana Archives, the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana State Library to view some of the amazing letters, diaries and records that Mr. Dunn used in putting this history together. I could not believe the painstaking accuracy with which he footnoted each of his quoted comments and revealing passages. It is quite obvious to me that the author loves the Civil War and Indiana History. I also liked the fact that he is donating his net profits from the book to the restoration of Indiana's Civil War battleflags. Quite noble in this day of mercenary tendencies. I can't rate this historical work highly enough. Simply superb!

I am a great-granddaughter of Colonel Samuel Williams. One of his sons, Samuel J. Williams was my grandfather. I have an epaulet from his uniform which was removed when his body was returned to Selma. This book shows what a horrible war this was and I appreciate the author writing it. It is better than "The Iron Brigade"

It is difficult finding books that cover single regiments with solid information that only pertains to the unit itself sometimes. Author Craig Dunn has put together a very comprehensive book that covers the birth of the 19th Indiana to final muster in 1865. I liked the fact that Dunn didn't dwell on only officers but brought the private soldier to life as short biographies and the details of their involvement were written about. Dunn covers early exhaustive marches, campaigns, camp life, politics and explains the many personalities within the 19th. Dunn backs his material up well with references and also many statistics are added that enhance this book tremendously. This book serves as a great resource tool in learning about the hard fighting 19th and I recommend it to many interested in learning about the tough regiment of the famous Iron Brigade.

I've had this book for about 5 yrs. and just got around to reading it. Dunn's book is very readable and informative, he blends fact with a strong human element. I look forward to more of his work

Many Civil War regimental histories become bogged down in a morass of minutiae and detail. This book focuses on the men of the regiment and tells the history of this Iron Brigade regiment in their words with over 1,200 footnoted entries. The book contains a wealth of photographs of the men of the regiment so the reader can see the men whose words flesh out this history. This is a brilliant book by an up and coming Civil War historian.

Over the years, there have been many items written about the 19th Indiana of the famous Iron Brigade. Unfortunately, this volume offers the reader nothing new and in fact contains many errors. Much has been said about the amount of footnotes present in this volume, but nothing has been said in regards to the accuracy of those footnotes. The simple parroting of the "Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana" is a major mistake for any serious Civil War historian, "up and coming" or not. It has long been known that, while somewhat useful, the Adj. Genl's. Report is grossly inaccurate and incomplete. If the soldiers are going to be allowed to tell their own stories, it would be nice if Mr. Dunn would have at least spelled their names correctly and supplied their correct county of residence. To me, this is not to be considered minutiae, but rather, serious and studious Civil War research. Overall, a very disappointing and poorly written volume. Mr. Dunn would have perhaps been better off doing his own research instead of "borrowing" from other authors.

I duplicated Mr. Dunn's research when conducting my senior honors thesis at Ball State University a few years ago, and it made me view his book in a whole new light. Mr. Dunn lept to conclusions that I cannot agree with and he took entirely too much of William Roby Moore's autobigographies (available at the Indiana Historical Society library) at face value. Mr. Moore was writing his autobios. beginning in 1919. Between the war's end (for him, after Gettysburg in 1863) and 1919 he suffered from mental illness. Many of his statements in his autobiographies are contrary to statements he made in his war letters (which are also at the IHS). Mr. Dunn should have relied less on the autobiography and more on the letters. He wanted to help preserve battle flags, a noble intent to be sure, but his book is not well researched, perhaps due to haste to get it out.