Customer Reviews

For Love and Liberty: The Untold Civil War Story of Major Sullivan Ballou and His Famous Love Letter

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let me start by saying I'm not new to the civil war...so maybe this book would be better for newbies. It is definitely "exhaustively" researched. The author is obviously very good at genealogy. Unfortunately, that's what this book is...genealogy. There is sooo much information about Sullivan Ballou's relatives and neighbors that it just drags on. I don't need to know about these distant relatives and where they worked. That said, if you don't already know much about the civil war or living in that era, it is worth the buy. Even if you are like me and own hundreds of civil war books, this one could be worth the purchase for the Manassas section...once you finally reach those chapters.

Historian Young's debut tells the story of Sullivan Ballou, whose moving letter to his wife on the eve of the First Battle of Bull Run was an emotional highlight of Ken Burns's PBS documentary about the war. At age 34, Ballou seemed destined for a distinguished political career. A talented lawyer in sympathy with the anti slavery Republican Party, he had already served one term as a state legislator and made an unsuccessful run for statewide office as attorney general. Shortly after the outbreak of war, Ballou volunteered for a three year term of duty defending the Union. With 20 years experience in the state militia, he received a commission as major, third in command of the Second Rhode Island Volunteers. Young follows the course of the regiment's recruitment, training and movement to Washington in the late spring and early summer of 1861, drawing heavily on documents of the time. As the crisis grew, it was soon clear to everyone that the federal army would soon invade Virginia, and the Confederates would resist. On July 21, the armies met along Bull Run, a broad creek near Manassas. Early in the action, Ballou was rallying his troops from horseback when a cannonball struck him. Evacuated to a makeshift hospital in a nearby church, he underwent amputation of a leg as the battle raged. When the beaten Union army withdrew, Ballou, (along with other Union wounded) was taken prisoner. He died a few days later. The vast amount of material about Ballou's times, his career, his death and the fate of his widow slowly accumulates to create a broad canvas of mid-19th century America as well as a searching portrait of a tragic victim of war.
An emotionally focused tale enriched by a remarkable level of detail. [citation of starred Kirkus Review 12/15/2005]

This is a wonderful read for War Between the States buffs and the novice. I,like most, remember the letter from the documentary and was delighted to find the book about Sullivan Ballou. The background information on him and his wife certainly adds to the poignancy of the famous letter and makes you understand where all those tender feelings stem from.

This is an excellent primer on the antebellum and war time eras; lots of information on custom, mores and traditions. Also, it is exhaustively researched and minute in detail on every facet of the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys history.

The book is indeed "exhaustively researched." It should have used exhaustive editing. Much of the first part of the book is dedicated to the Ballou and Shumway families - and really have nothing to do with Sullivan Ballou or Sarah Shumway Ballou, except that it gives background to the two of them. This background certainly has little to do with their personal relationship, and strikes me as "filler." Having said that, if you are interested in the geneology of these people, basic Rhode Island history, or antebellum mores, then this book is for you.

If you are interested in the letter itself, I would mention that the author does not even reach the point at which Ballou joined the Union army until chapter ten, and much of chapter ten is dedicated to Ballou's thought process in making the decision to join (the chapter begins on page 229, and Ballou does not accept his appointment until page 251). Discussion of the letter read in Ken Burns' Civil War is not reached until page 367, although the letter is printed in its entirety in the introduction. While this does make some sense, in that the letter was not written until a week before Ballou's death, it is staggering to realize that the book is 782 pages long (text only), and the letter is introduced halfway through. This is because the author spends several chapters on troop movements of the Battle of First Manassas, and then uses many pages to tell what happened to the family after Ballou died, again getting bogged down in minutiae and unimportant family connections.

Much of the background on Sarah and Sullivan Ballou's relationship is strictly speculative, and based on the author's language, she realizes this. The author would have ended up with a better (and certainly more succinct) product had she left out some of the speculation.

I would not recommend that anyone purchase this book. It is slow and painful to read as it gets bogged down in minutiae. Unfortunately for me, I purchased it and immediately loaned it out (to someone who thought it was so bad, they did not bother to finish it), and so it is too late for me to return it.