Customer Reviews

Jefferson Davis in Blue: The Life of Sherman's Relentless Warrior (History Book Club Selection)

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This is a biography of an obscure figure from the American Civil War who had a famous name. Jefferson Columbus Davis was no relation to the Confederate president, and stayed loyal to the Union, rising the the rank of brevet Major General. He's probably best known as the culprit in the murder of William Nelson, another Union army general, in 1862. There was, however, more to Jefferson C. Davis than that, as this admirable biography shows.

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Jefferson C. Davis was from Indiana. He enlisted in the army young, and participated in the battle of Buena Vista as a private in his Indiana volunteer regiment, distinguishing himself so much that he was considered for an appointment to West Point. When that fell through, Davis was directly enlisted in the regular army as a second lieutenant of artillery, and spent the years between the Mexican war and Fort Sumter studying and learning to be a soldier. He was part of the garrison of Fort Sumter, and this notoriety positioned him for a brigade command of Indiana state troops. He led them through the battle of Pea Ridge, and never looked back, concluding the war in command of the Fourteenth Corps during the March through the Carolinas, and during the battle of Bentonville. After the war, he was Alaska's first military district commander, and briefly fought the Modocs on the California-Oregon border.

The authors do a wonderful job of bringing Davis, and his many contradictions, to life. He was a demanding soldier, and a hard taskmaster, but he appears to have generally been a fair and decent person. There is the one incident where he shot Nelson dead, but the authors lay out the course of events, and frankly the whole thing sounds provoked. Nelson was disliked by a lot of people, apparently, to the point that when he was shot, there weren't very many calls for his killer to be brought to justice. The whole thing is laid out in considerable detail. And where Davis emerges as a surprise is in his competence as a soldier. Though his troops were routed at both Stones River and Chickamauga, at Pea Ridge it was Davis who stopped Louis Hebert's attack on the Union left, and at Jonesboro it was Davis who broke the Confederate front. At Bentonville he again held off the main Confederate assault, though with some help. Frankly I was surprised: he turns out to have been a pretty good general, and generally well-liked by the troops, even though he *never* praised anyone for anything, and apparently thought bravery nothing extraordinary. In his defense, he was brave himself.

There is one shortcoming in this book. There is a lack of maps to illustrate the text. The authors try to detail battlefield maneuvers from Buena Vista to Bentonville, with no tactical maps at all, and only three general area maps, none of which are particularly helpful. Only one of the maps even deals with the Civil War. This unfortunately makes the text a bit hard to follow at times. Other than that, I would highly recommend this book for the Civil War scholar. It's definitely worth the money.

Author Gordon Whitney was a friend of mine. He worked on this book for years and I even typed a few chapters getting them ready for the publisher. Nat Hughes was his long time very good friend and he helped edit the book and get it published. When a neighbor needed a gift for her boss this book was recommended. Her boss loves the book and is thoroughly enjoying the reading.

A fascinating and first rate biography of this little known Union leader by newcomer Whitney and veteran writer Hughes.
The authors follow Jefferson C. Davis from an enthusiastic young soldier in the Mexican War to his outstanding leadership at Ft. Sumter and throughout the Civil War.
Excellent reading for any history buff!