A basic Civil War library?

[BobSullivanPress]

Re: Beginner's bibliography

I'd like to add a few more:

Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, by Jack Coggins.
An innocent-looking, almost juvenile-looking book, but don't be fooled. I still think it explains the relationship between arms and tactics to the layman better than any book I've ever seen.

One of the books I've used often to introduce people to the Northern and Eastern side of the war is Bruce Catton's Mr. Lincoln's Army. A good read, as are the other two books of his Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Glory Road and the Pulitzer Prize winning A Stillness at Appomattox.

And finally, I've also recommended The Killer Angels on more than one occasion.

I know that these works are dated. But prize winning writing counts for something. Think of it this way: When we want to introduce people to a new language, we don't often hand them a dictionary. We generally start with some basic conversation.

[theknapsack]

Re: Beginner's bibliography

For those of you (like me) who are under the age of 18, I should like to recommend:

Too Young to Die: Boy Soldiers of the Union Army 1861-1865 by Dennis M. Keesee, Blue Acorn Press, 2001

Emmanuel Dabney recommended it to me 2 months ago and I just recieved it and have started reading it. It has good primary source material in it with a wealth of much other information for those of you wanting to portray a soldier under the age of 18.

Moderators if this does not apply to this thread please feel free to delete this post.

[BenjaminLDavis]

Re: Beginner's bibliography

Hey all,

I would echo Dusty in the very first post - if there was a new feller, I would
steer him to Billings and the two Wileys for starters, you cannot go wrong
with these. The wealth of information still astounds me.

I would add a new volume to those aforementioned:
it is entitled - Memoirs of a Dutch Mudsill (The "War Memories of
John Henry Otto, Captain, Company D, 21st Regiment,
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry)
Edited by David Gould and James B. Kennedy
This is an excellant memoir by an experienced soldier (fought for some years
in Germany before he came to the United States) with an eye for detail and
a sense of humor. A very good addition to your personal library.

For historiaography, I am currently reading "Writing The Civil War - The
Quest To Understand," edited by James M. McPherson and William J.
Cooper, Jr. - this is, to be sure, above the heads of the uninitiated, but
if they have done past reading, this can be a valuable tool.

I will end here, enough said.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Beginner's bibliography

I echo the call on Otto's book. I bought it looking for an insight on the experiences of a German soldier, which it has, but it has a tremendous amount of other detail as well, and certainly belongs up there with Fisk and Rhodes, maybe even Ray. It includes vignettes of battle, shirkers, bathing, cooking, finding impromptu sinks on the march, packing for the March to the Sea, balancing commuted rations, and a host of other little details of military life that readers of this forum will find interesting and useful. Read it all the way through for the story of this former Prussian officer's service in the war, then pick it up for the occasional browse. It's well worth the investment.

[Milliron]

Re: Beginner's bibliography

Anything from Blue Acorn Press, but particularly:

Echoes of Battle: The Struggle for Chattanooga : An Illustrated Collection of Union and Confederate Narratives by Richard A. Baumgartner and Larry M. Strayer

Echoes of Battle: The Atlanta Campaign : An Illustrated Collection of Union and Confederate Narratives by Larry M. Strayer and Richard A. Baumgartner

Those are my favorites, but truly I wouldn't mind owning every single book in the BA catalogue (and I largely do, for that matter)

Larry Strayer has one of the largest, (if not the largest) private collections of CDV's and photographs in the country. Either book is chock full of photos that have long since become lore in the Western theater ACW community.

[Capt Coxetter]

A basic Civil War library?

If you had to recommend, say, 10 - 12 basic books on the Civil War: what would they be?

Capt Coxetter / Jim McArthur

[burt60]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

Already been addressed

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1292

[Charles Heath]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

Burt,

You are my AC Forum "hero of the week." Thanks.

If we charged for the search engine, would more folks use it?

[dbuckley]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

Hi All,

You can jump up and down and complain about people not using the search engine, but if you search for "basic library", "civil war library", and a few other options I tried, if you use anything BUT the word "bibliography" that is specifically in the title of that past thread, you won't find that thread.
I read these the boards pretty much daily, and I don't even remember that thread. (crs syndrome) But with the prodigious amount of postings on these boards, (over 100 per day) an 8 month old inactive thread will usually get buried back a few pages pretty quickly. So, instead of reading through every page of threads, one uses the search engine. So if someone didn't find what he wanted to know, they decide to ask a question.
I wonder if he'll bother to ask another one.

[Capt Coxetter]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

I will, David: but I appreciate your comment.

And thanks to all who responded.

Capt. Coxetter / Jim McArthur

[Art Reid]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

I am another fresh fish on here and have been keeping my mouth shut and my eyes open and enjoying and trying to retain the vast amount of shared knowledge here as I am building up my own reasearch and impression.

I found this title at the library and thought this was a very good book, and it gave me a very good feel of the day to day life.

Yours for the Union:The Civil War Letters of John W. Chase First Massachusetts Light Artillery
Edited by John S. Collier & Bonnie B. Collier
Fordham Univeristy Press, New York 2004

[Charles Heath]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

You can jump up and down and complain about people not using the search engine, but if you search for "basic library", "civil war library", and a few other options I tried, if you use anything BUT the word "bibliography" that is specifically in the title of that past thread, you won't find that thread.

David,

Sometimes people overthink the search engine to the point of having an affliction similar to post traumatic Unix programming stress syndrome, so try entering the word "books" in the search engine to see what appears. Quite a few useful threads pop up, as well as some interesting tangents. I use the search engine often (I'm a Google-a-holic, too), and find that merging threads is often helpful to the newbie asking a question asked many times before. It's a shame we lost 2 years of good threads about 10 months ago, but maybe this will fill in some of the gaps.

Art,

If you aren't doing anything much during on Saturday, 21 July, come out to Kernstown just south of Winchester, and say hello. If you want to participate, the registration window is still open.

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Beginner's bibliography

Four Years With the Iron Brigade
The Civil War Journal of William Ray, Company F, Seventh Wisconsin Volunteers

Edited by Lance Herdegen and Sherry Murphy

Let's hear it for Will Ray! I would recommend for a sense of epic, any of Bruce Catton's work, but especially the "Army of the Potomac" series: Mr Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness at Appomattox. We who recreate the Iron Brigade owe the late Mr. Catton a debt of gratitude, for these 3 books very nearly singlehandedly rescued the proud memory of the Iron Brigade from the ash pit of history.

[Fenianboy]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

"Three Rousing Cheers,A history of the 15th NJ Volunteers" by Joseph Bilby captures the 1864 campaigns like few others. Bud Scully 13th NJ and 69th NY

[burt60]

Re: A basic Civil War library?

I would sugest you sign your post. set up in user CP.