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4.0 out of 5 stars
Important historical reference and personal perspective of a genius, August 11, 2007
This review is from: Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy : The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke (Studies in Maritime History) (Hardcover)
Compiled by his grandson, this work is the transcribed correspondence and journal entries of the CSA's Chief of Naval Ordnance and Hydrography, John M. Brooke. Brooke was a brilliant and fascinating man who was central to the development of CSN ironclads and rifled naval ordnance. Today we know his name mostly in association with Brooke rifles of 6.4 and 7" bore. He designed these rifles and other heavy ordnance, developed projectiles, fuses etc. that were central to the CSA's naval and seacoast armament for combating monitors and ironclads.
Brooke had considerable energy and genius, but his early war writings suggest he overestimated some of the capabilities of processes and ordnance of the time (single banded Brooke rifles, etc.) He also had a propensity for overtaxing the limited resources of the gun foundries. It is a common trait of innovative persons to generate far more ideas than even a sizeable organization can pursue. Early in the war there was some understandable exasperation by those attempting to determine which of his requests to comply with and which to ignore.
To Brooke's credit, he was quick to drop ideas (including his own) that did not show signs of rapidly bearing fruit or practicality. He also took a system wide approach to understanding problems that greatly enhanced the effectiveness of his weapon systems. He was uncannily adept at zeroing in on problems and solutions.
Brooke did not claim that his guns themselves were novel, but he did an excellent job of advancing the development of practical and reliable rifled guns. The major contribution may have in fact been in the punch shaped cylindrical wrought iron projectiles. He would have used steel could he have gained access to it. Brooke's ammunition and rifles were designed to literally punch through ironclad monitors. Brooke had almost intuitively grasped the correct course from the beginning. The USN meanwhile continued with a multipurpose smoothbore weapon for defeating ironclads as well as effectively bombarding land defenses. The USN heavy ordnance attempted to crush through armored plate rather than punch through it. The result was the massive 15" Dahlgren. Each navy's approach addressed a different set of needs.
Brooke was deeply devoted to research and his profession, pouring himself into his work and excelling before and during the war. As a result he was often away from his family. This put some strain on his marriage--as did his wife's tuberculosis (She died in 1864.) His wartime work was in conflict with the need to be near her. His journal entries and letters to his wife fail to note the names of one or more of his newborn children, the day of the death, and in one instance even their birth. As a result he appears to have been rather distant emotionally.
The journal and letters also reveal the all too common contemporary bigotry of men of his station. Before war had fully developed Brooke was using a broad brush to paint northerners in general as abolitionist oppressors for electing Lincoln and republicans. Later he characterizes them as cowardly, etc. There are some amusing contradictions: He made use of skilled German immigrants in his own direct employ while stating the following about the German Unionists of Missouri upon the Union defeat at Wilson's Creek: "I suspect the Germans of Missouri will wish they had remained in the faderland. Those bullet headed ingrates will be severely punished." Equally revealing is this comment relating to the feeding of his new baby by a black wet nurse in place of his ill wife: "I must say I feel a little as you do in regard to seeing other people nursing our children particularly people that are dark complexioned, this matter worries me very much..." His cries of outrage against Butler, Hunter, Pope etc. appear to coincide with their decrees pertaining to contrabands (slaves)--each had promulgated policies that would result in emancipation of slaves in their districts and use of them against the South.
Brooke soured on Joe Johnston early when Johnston inexplicably abandoned Norfolk's important naval yard without even attempting to salvage what could be moved. (This was a pattern Johnston would repeat all too often.)
Brooke's creative energy appears to have drained at times as the result of emotional distress over major setbacks and professional struggles. At times he lost his passionate intensity--most notably when he felt powerless to direct what he was certain needed to be done.
The overall layout of the book is well considered. The format is sequential, noting each correspondence or journal entry by author and addressee. Following the 205 pages of this text are 44 pages of notes, then an understandably short bibliography, and an index. The drawings reproduced are primarily journal sketches and those found in correspondence. There are three photographs.
There are some flaws in the presentation. The index is incomplete, failing to include some relevant page numbers for listed entries as well as excluding listings found in the notes. The editor fails to set apart some quotations of others within various correspondence--rather confusing. The notes are useful to amplify and explain events and people, but they could bear some expansion or clarification
This work is an important primary reference of the Confederacy's war effort. I recommend it to those interested in Civil War artillery, ironclads, and the CS Navy.
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