Customer Reviews

Shanks: The Life and Wars of General Nathan G. Evans, CSA

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I had read many short exploits on "Shanks" and was really excited to read a full book on his exploits. This book however proved disapointing. I never got the feel for his true personality. The author states that he was "honored" with a position in the Dragoons after West Point. The dragoons were where bottom of the barrel for West Point grads. Later on he's a Major on one page then a Colonel on the next page. It's not until 4-5 pages later are we informed that he was promoted. Many times during a battle the reader is left scratching his head asking what happened. The detail of a movement is described and the next thing you know the battle was over. What happened?
I've read over 63 Civil War biographies and was disapointed in this one.

Winthrop University historians Jason Silverman and Samuel Thomas have teamed up with the late Beverly Evans to produce a thoroughly enjoyable biography of Confederate Brigadier General Nathan "Shanks" Evans of Marion, South Carolina.

The strength of the book lies in the authors' skillful use of the private papers of General Evans that his descendent, Beverly Evans, had carefully conserved and made available to his two co-authors. Rather than foisting their own interpretations of Evans on the reader, the authors allow the general to speak for himself, mostly through his previously unpublished family letters as well as his military correspondence. The picture of Evans that emerges from the book is at odds with the common perception of him as an impetuous, brawling brigadier with a fondness for alcohol.

A West Point graduate and an accomplished Indian fighter before the war, Evans' resigned his commission in the U.S. Army shortly after his native state seceded from the Union. Despite his spectacular early successes at First Manassas, Ball's Bluff and Secessionville, and solid performances at Second Manassas and Antietam, Evans' promotions stalled out at the rank of brigadier general. His failure to obtain the coveted rank of major general traced to a series of running disputes with both his subordinate and his superior officers that resulted in two courts martial of Evans during 1863. Though acquitted in both proceedings, Evans' public reputation never recovered, and he spent the balance of the war in obscurity. He died in 1868, aged only 44, still struggling to rebuild his life from the war.

Superbly written and grounded in sound research, SHANKS contains some previously unpublished photographs of Evans and his family. Maps would have augmented the battle descriptions. But despite their absence SHANKS is a fine book that sheds positive, new light on an obscure but important military figure. Readers with an interest in South Carolina, or in the early Civil War in the East, will especially enjoy the book.

Review by C. Michael Harrington

Mr. Harrington is a member of the Houston Civil War Roundtable and Civil War Aficionados. He has written articles on two officers in Evans' Brigade. A practicing lawyer, he has degrees in economics from Yale and Cambridge and a law degree from Harvard.

I purchased this book a few weeks back because it was written by one of my favorite college professors and advisor, Dr. Silverman at Winthrop, hoping the book would be as good as his lectures. I was not disapointed.

For someone unitiated to the life of General Evans, like myself, the narrative portions of the book gave a real feel for his times and motivations. The battle descriptions are certainly more than who moved his forces where and such. A real sense of the character of Gen. Evans and how his leadership style meshed with the flow of the Confederate Army opened up to me the depth of the military action and struggle of battles, like Manassess, that I am already familiar with.

Letting the participants speak for themselves through their own personal letters is well done, especially since the narrative flows well with the letters.

Again, the only complaint would be the lack of maps, other than that this is a fine read for the general reader and for those concerned with the details of the Civil War and Confederate leadership.

Evans has long been derided as one of the great insubordinate drunks of the war, a sort of Jubilation T. Cornpone who advanced as well as retreated. So it's good to see Silverman demonstrate how at least some of the drinking reputation was the backstabbing of jealous rivals. And that the insubordination was not frivolous. Indeed, Evans's refusal to retreat in the face of superior force, as Beauregard had ordered, and instead attack, made him the unsung hero of First Manassas/Bull Run.

The book also will be useful for such as finally explaining why Evans withdrew his brigade south from Leesburg against Beauregard's orders four days before the October 1861 Battle of Leesburg/Ball's Bluff. Silverman says Evans had word that the Federals intended to flank him from the Aldie turnpike south of the town.

The only low point for me was the author's pedestrian writing. The interesting defense of an historically-maligned hero is unfortunately more dryly journalistic than a good historical narrative ought to be. Especially when the author has access, as Silverman does, to previously unknown family and professional correspondence.

This relatively short (200+ pages) and workmanlike biography is the first book-length account of the life of Nathan G. Evans. A West Point graduate in 1848 (near the bottom of his class), his first military experiences occurred fighting Indians as a Dragoon in the West. A native of South Carolina, he resigned from the army in 1861 and threw his hat in with the Confederacy. Put in charge of a cavalry brigade of South Carolinians, he distinguished himself at First Bull Run and Balls Bluff a few months later. Success continued to follow him at Second Bull Run, South Mountain (where with a diminished force he helped save Rodes's division from annihilation), Antietam, and Vicksburg. But then troubles began to replace his successes, caused probably by a harsh and unsteady temperament. He was tried for drunkenness and acquitted, and then for disobedience, for which he was also acquitted. But the damage to his reputation was done, and many of his superiors (Beauregard in particular) had little use for him. Injured in a fall from his horse in 1864, he didn't see duty again until the war was almost lost. He was a high school principal after the war, but lived only until 1868.

Silverman, et. al., have used the newly-discovered letters and papers of Evans well in constructing this life. They have defined a very specific task at hand - relating Evans's rather short life - and have not wavered from it with superfluous information or analysis. It's a very direct and proficient biography; it will not win awards for style. Illustrations are included, but, unfortunately, no maps. Recommended.