On Many a Bloody Field: Four Years in the Iron Brigade [Hardcover]

Alan D. Gaff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

"On Many a Bloody Field" is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship and painstaking historical research - reviews "Bookwatch". "The author gives some of the best descriptions of the daily life of a Civil War soldier that can be found anywhere" - reviews "Library Journal". "It is a history of the common man, the ordinary men who circumstances call upon to do extraordinary jobs...one of the best examples of this genre of Civil War studies" - quotes "Free-Lance Star" (St. Petersburg, FL). "This is an excellent unit history of a renowned regiment" - reviews "Civil War News". "The story is highly dramatic and well told" - says "Indianapolis Star". "Alan D. Gaff has managed to provide both scholars and general readers a new perspective on the Civil War..." - reviews "History". "American history on a human scale" - quotes "Kirkus Review". "On Many a Bloody Field" follows one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations - Company B, 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade - in a vivid account of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Alan Gaff follows the men from recruitment through mustering out, from the tedium of camp to the excitement of battle. Marches and battles are described in detail, but Gaff also devotes close attention to how the war affected individuals, both physically and emotionally. Formed into a brigade with the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin, these Indiana soldiers fought their first real battle at Brawner Farm. Over four difficult years, they fought on many a bloody field: Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gitzhugh Crossing, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Weldon Railroad. With meticulous care, Alan Gaff recounts the experience of war from the soldiers' perspective, often in the words of the men themselves. This intimate portrait of men at war is an important contribution to the literature of the Civil War.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this exhaustive study of one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations (Company B, 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade), Gaff (If This Is War, Morningside, 1991) follows Company B from its organization through all the battles in which it participated until Appomattox. The author gives some of the best descriptions of the daily life of a Civil War soldier that can be found anywhere. He expertly portrays camp life, the feelings of soldiers during battle, the handling of deserters, home life as it affected the soldiers, hospitals, prison camps, and politics. His book gives an excellent picture of the common soldier and why he was willing to undergo all of the horrors of war for his beliefs. Recommended for all Civil War collections.?W. Walter Wicker (ret.), Louisiana Tech. Univ., Ruston
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An immensely affecting evocation of the military experience during the Civil War, which tracks a small band of Union soldiers over the entire course of the belligerency. Drawing on personal papers, archival material, and allied sources, veteran Civil War historian Gaff (Brave Men's Tears, not reviewed) offers a start-to-finish account of those who served in Company B of the 19th Indiana, a regiment that along with other all-volunteer outfits from Michigan and Wisconsin comprised the so- called Iron Brigade. Recruited as the Richmond City Greys shortly after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, the unit went into action in the summer of 1862, at Brawner Farm and the second battle of Bull Run. As an integral part of a storied legion in the Army of the Potomac, it subsequently campaigned (with considerable distinction and appalling losses from disease as well as rebel muskets) at South Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, and Weldon Railroad (a gateway to the South's capital). In addition to providing meticulous reconstructions of the many battles in which the Hoosiers fought, the author recounts how they relieved the tedium of winter camps with bad whiskey, baseball, foraging, and games of chance. Gaff also details the adverse reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation of troops who had rallied around the flag to quell an insurrection, not to free black slaves. Covered as well are the ways in which Washington induced veterans to remain in the ranks once their three-year enlistments were up, the unhappy lot of POWs, the persistent problem of desertion, the political games played by general officers, the paperwork snafus that seem to afflict any military organization larger than a squad, and the informal ceasefires often arranged by Northern and Southern pickets. American history on a human scale, and an estimable close-up contribution to a genre overcrowded with big-picture assessments. (25 photos, five maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 520 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253330637
• ISBN-13: 978-0253330635
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #790,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid history writing., August 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: On Many a Bloody Field: Four Years in the Iron Brigade (Hardcover)

The author has woven an impressive mass of research
into a compelling narrative as he traces a company
of the 19th Indiana Infantry from their recruitment,
to their return home (with less than 10% of their
original members).

It is a mark of Gaff's skill that the reader is drawn
into this brave company, sharing their hardships and joys,
feeling some of the terror of combat, and finally
coming to know a little of the bond of warriors.

This is history writing at its best, and sets a
new standard for "unit history". Alas the same
cannot be said of the maps, which are perfunctory
and not keyed to the text.

(The numerical rating above is a default setting
within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not
employ numerical ratings.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bully book!, October 11, 2003

By 

"hoosier_expat" (East Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ON MANY A BLOODY FIELD: Four Years in the Iron Brigade (Paperback)

This is a thoroughly researched and carefully written book for serious students of the Civil War and the Iron Brigade. Has details and insights not available in other books. The reader can get a good sense of life in the Civil War military.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" for anyone interested in the civil war., July 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: On Many a Bloody Field: Four Years in the Iron Brigade (Hardcover)

On Many a Bloody Field by Alan Gaff is one of the best contemporary accounts of what the Civil War meant to the soldiers in the field. The book is a close look at the experiences of the soldiers in the famous Iron Brigade and is focused on one company of the Indiana regiment which served with the brigade. Gaff expertly portrays what the soldiers felt, what they did to combat the loneliness, discouragement and terror of war. He has successfully described the emotions of these brave men who signed up to save the Union and who were sorely used by the US government and the Army administration. Most Civil War histories are mired down by broad spectrum "movements" and social and political events of the time with little attention to what the small picture is. But this amazing history manages to give the reader details of these important events as well as a close-up portrait of the men who were actually involved in the famous battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, Wilderness and Petersburg. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to learn about the soldier experience and about what the nation really experienced during the Civil War. I have added this book to my class reading requirements for the fall semester and I predict that it will become a classic account of the soldier experience. Mr. Gaff is to be congratulated