Customer Reviews

The Illustrated Directory of Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment of the Civil War

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

 

 

This is a great reference book. The pictures are excelent. Great overview of the uniforms, accoutrements, weapons, and such of the different armies throughout the war. I especially liked the individual Regiment pages with illustrations showing what a soldier might have looked like in a given regiment.

Miller did pretty good, but he loses a star here for his biased writing. In the book, Confederate General Braxton Bragg is touted as a man who, owning a Bible, probably didn't read it, given the shape of his troops, while Sherman's atrocities are overlooked, and he is praised as a man whose "place among American commanders remains secure," and Miller speaks with surprise that he is controversial, since it's been "over a century and a quarter" since he burned and pillaged the South. Anyways, this is a great resource for reenactors and anyone interested in militaria of the War Between the States.

This book is packed with a lot of information and many illustrations and photographs, and a lot of it is good information. Unfortunately there are also many errors, mislabeled captions and even incomplete captions where they ran out of space on the page! Other than careful observation, one way I discovered this is that many of the same photos and illustrations appear with proper captions in "The Fighting Men of The Civil War" by William C. Davis (ISBN-13: 978-0806130606), a superior albeit coffee-table-sized book. Anyway, as fay as this David Miller (ed.) book is concerned, I would not make it a center piece of my civil war book collection. Having said that, its small size can make a handy read (if you take it with a grain of salt), and there are some good color uniform illustrations.

The authors have made this just the book that most of us expect and would like to see. The first 227 pages cover the uniforms worn during the Civil War. These pages are subdivided between uniforms worn by Federal soldiers and Confederate soldiers. Each subdivision is preceded by an overview which includes headgear, insignia, and basic equipment.

Next come 184 pages on arms and munitions. This includes the usual surveys of hand weapons and artillery but also includes information on supply trains, etc. The breadth of the authors may be seen in the inclusion of a rocket launcher among Union artillery pieces or a Vandenburgh volley gun among Confederate artillery. (This volley gun looks somewhat like a Gattling gun but with about 85 barrels.)

This gun has an interesting history. Origen Vandenburgh was a general in the New York State militia. When he failed to sell his gun to the United States, he went to England where production was begun. But Vandenburgh failed to sell the gun to the British. Somehow, whether Vandenburgh knew it or not, a copy of the gun was sold to the Confederates. Each 12.7mm barrel had to be loaded between volleys that were fired simultaneously.

The last 140 or so pages contain naval uniforms, weapons, and artifacts, flags, and miscellaneous artifacts including prisoner of war handcrafts and telegraphic equipment.

Not any book can contain all the information that one might like to have. This book lacks any discussion of naval vessels in order to concentrate on other topics. Personally I would like to have seen an index at the end of the book to help me out. But no book has it all, and I can get by with the clear chapter headings that are used.

I did have a concern about a possible bias on the part of the authors. Confederate General Beauregard was chastized by the authors for his flamboyant dress. "It is a sad reflection" that he and some other Confederate officers "worried so much about their own clothing ... when their soldiers had barely enoughclothing to cover themselves with, nor shoes to walk in." I know of no other valid criticism by a Confederate soldier of Maj Gen PGT Beauregard. Is it because his soldiers found inspiration in his flambouyant uniform just as Custer's did?

Uniforms were confusing and changed during the Civil War. Northern zouave units and Southern zouave units would be indiscernable just as much today as they were during the Civil War. Some uniforms changed due to the need for conformity and some due to economic reasons. Ulysses Grant cared little for the formality of dress. Robert E Lee dressed as a Confederate colonel.

What one would expect from an illustrated directory is plenty of good information. What one would like to see is all that information as carefully organized as it is.

The book is an excellence reference for anyone who wants to know more about how the North and South were armed and dressed during the war.

Included are color pictures of the following items from North and South: infantry/calvary/artillery uniforms, weapons (rifles, swords, pistols), flags, naval artifacts, ammunition, and other items.

The book also includes several attractive drawings of figures representing particular units.

Whatever your interest in the Civil War, I highly recommend the title as an excellent source of valuable information.

Read and enjoy!

If you are a Civil War buff, this book is a MUST have!!!! There are many, many photographs of uniforms, weapons, buttons and medals that have been preserved from this tragic time in American History. It will also be a great help to Civil War reenactors, as there are numerous paintings of soldiers of both sides wearing their uniforms and equipment. I know I've learned a lot from this book, and I believe even the casual reader will find it interesting as well as informative.

Was very pleasantly surprised by this book. I have several reference books, including those great Don Troiani volumes with lots of superb paintings. What Troiani and others lack in breadth of scope this book provides plenty. My interest is primarily on the uniforms, and was not dissapointed at all. This book covers more regiments than many if not all others I've had a chance to view. Alas, no info on the 44th TN, but it did show the 12th MS, which hailed from northern MS, very close to my home.

The illustration are well done, in color and while only one per uniform sometimes you get more than one subject wearing variations. Durya Zuoaves and other well known regiments get special treatment, including a brief history of every regiment's service. Authors have used basically the same photographs found on William C Davis & Russ Prittchard books (Battlefields of the ACW and Fighting Men and Arms of the ACW), however, this book offers a lot more in the way of number of regiments covered than any of the Davis' books. The one flaw, already specified by another reviewer, is in the formatting, specially the captioning. In some cases whole paragraphs are missing or chopped off. Still, the book represents great value.

Although most of the rifles/muskets used by each side are at least shown in photographs, it does not offer any other information such as ballistics, use of such weapon by particular units, etc.

It does cover some of the most important artillery pieces, with photos of surviving examples, but lacks the depth that it offers on personal weapons and uniforms. There is hardly any information on the naval forces, other than a few items. Would have liked 3-D diagrams of some of the most important vessels, i.e. the Monitor, the CSS Virginia, etc. Additionally, the format feels a little cramped, 8 x 6 x 1.5. A better choice would have been 9 x 7 but that is a minor complaint.

My husband loves this book. Illistration of uniforms, battle gear and more. Must have for Civil War buffs.

This book is packed with a lot of information and many illustrations and photographs, and a lot of it is good information. Unfortunately there are also many errors, mislabeled captions and even incomplete captions where they ran out of space on the page! Other than careful observation, one way I discovered this is that many of the same photos and illustrations appear with proper captions in "The Fighting Men of The Civil War" by William C. Davis (ISBN-13: 978-0806130606), a superior albeit coffee-table-sized book. Anyway, as fay as this David Miller (ed.) book is concerned, I would not make it a center piece of my civil war book collection. Having said that, its small size can make a handy read (if you take it with a grain of salt), and there are some good color uniform illustrations.

This is a great reference book. The pictures are excelent. Great overview of the uniforms, accoutrements, weapons, and such of the different armies throughout the war. I especially liked the individual Regiment pages with illustrations showing what a soldier might have looked like in a given regiment.

Miller did pretty good, but he loses a star here for his biased writing. In the book, Confederate General Braxton Bragg is touted as a man who, owning a Bible, probably didn't read it, given the shape of his troops, while Sherman's atrocities are overlooked, and he is praised as a man whose "place among American commanders remains secure," and Miller speaks with surprise that he is controversial, since it's been "over a century and a quarter" since he burned and pillaged the South. Anyways, this is a great resource for reenactors and anyone interested in militaria of the War Between the States.