"War Like the Thunderbolt" - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

When a writer's debut book (or the first book you've read, anyway) makes an impression on you, you naturally look forward to their next one. Recently, I've felt that way about nonfiction authors like James D. Hornfischer, whose Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors had me waiting (not so patiently) for his Ship of Ghosts. Likewise, novelists like Matthew Pearl and Louis Bayard - with debuts like The Dante Club and Mr. Timothy had me looking forward to their follow-ups The Poe Shadow and The Pale Blue Eye.

So it was with my anticipation of Russell S. Bonds' War Like the Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta, after reading his first book, Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor.

I recently finished War Like the Thunderbolt and all I can say is: WONDERFUL!

A quick - but important - disclaimer: I'm not your ordinary reader of Russell Bonds' books. He has been a kind and faithful correspondent for a few years now and has provided important advice for my own research and writing. Mr. Bonds was kind enough to mention me in the Acknowledgments of Thunderbolt, for pointing him to some sources relative to medical aspects of the book. With the disclaimer aside, I can still safely declare that Thunderbolt is indeed...WONDERFUL!

In many ways, Thunderbolt is a fitting sequel to Stealing the General, in no small part because the Georgia and Tennessee railroad networks are important strategic points in both books. As Atlanta played an important part in the trials of the raiders involved in the Great Locomotive Chase in Stealing the General, so is the city a very important player - a major "character," even - in Thunderbolt. Indeed, he begins the book by describing what most people (think they) know about the battle and burning of Atlanta: the dramatic burning scene in the film Gone With the Wind.

As for the battles of Atlanta, Bonds uses just the right amount of detail to avoid the minutiae that sometimes plagues battle narratives. Many people like the tactical detail, and that's fine. I don't have the patience for it. For my part, I very much enjoy small unit actions (company-level and smaller, even) when it comes to reading about WWII and other modern wars, but for the Civil War, brigade-level (and in the rare case, regimental-level) detail, suits me just fine. Thunderbolt mostly maintains this level, which - with excellent maps - makes following the battles easy, indeed.

Among the more interesting consideration to which he gives attention are the feuds - on both sides - engendered by petty arguments over promotion and rank, with generals resigning over the principle of "self-respect." The fact the resignations were almost uniformly accepted without reservation suggests that - in sports parlance - most of the resignations were "addition by subtraction."

If Bonds doesn't "rehabilitate" the wartime reputation of Confederate general John Bell Hood, he does treat him fairly, and makes a good case that he was not a "hard-fighting simpleton" but uses his orders and correspondence to prove otherwise.

Naturally, Union general William T. Sherman is also a major character and Bonds fairly - but thoroughly - assesses Sherman's decision-making in the expulsion of Atlanta's citizenry and the burning of the city.

The closing anecdote - which I won't give away - is easily the eeriest ending to any Civil War book I have ever read.

Well done, Russell Bonds, and I look forward to what comes next!

Civil War News Reviews Lincoln's Labels!

I'm pleased to announce that The Civil War News published a very kind review of my first book, Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War, penned by Jeffrey D. Wert in the October 2009 issue, which will be in subscriber's hands soon!

It's all the more gratifying because Civil War News is where I got my writing "bona fides," as I've penned the "Medical Department" column on a regular basis since 2000! Kay and Pete Jorgensen - managing editor and publisher at CWN - have been extremely supportive of my writing and research efforts over the years, which I appreciate very much, indeed.

If you don't subscribe to The Civil War News, you should! You can learn how to get a sample issue here.

Excerpts:

"James M. Schmidt’s Lincoln’s Labels chronicles the roles of several renowned contemporary American corporations whose roots extended back to and even beyond the Civil War. But it was this conflict, as Schmidt writes, that significantly impacted the companies’ future success. The stories he recounts are fascinating and enlightening...

...Lincoln’s Labels is a solid work, well-researched and ably written. The subject is seldom addressed in most Civil War books, but the stories are worth retelling. This is a fine book and recommended for readers interested in aspects other than campaigns, battles, and military figures."

You can read the whole review here!

Thank You to Civil War News and Mr. Wert!

Read more reviews of Lincoln's Labels here:

Civil War Times magazine
Brett Schulte - TOCWOC
James Durney (also at TOCWOC!)
Rea Andrew Redd - The Civil War Librarian
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Andrew Wagenhoffer - Civil War Books and Authors
Michael Aubrecht - Pinstripe Press
Reader Testimonial
Advance Praise/Blurbs

Civil War Personals! (SWM Seeks...)

I'm in the middle of a really interesting book, entitled Wanted-Correspondence: Women's Letters to a Union Soldier. The book is a collection of 150 letters written to soldier Edwin Lybarger (43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry) from several different women who answered his "Wanted: Correspondence" personal advertisements placed in various newspapers.

I received the book as a kind gift from author Jennifer Wilke, who is Lybarger's great-grandaughter! Jennifer is working on a novel based on her ancestor's Civil War experiences, and you can learn more about it at her website and blog, where you can also learn more about - and see photographs of - Edwin Lybarger.

The book includes a well-written and interesting Introduction by Lucy E. Bailey, an assistant professor in the Women's Studies program at Oklahoma State University. She describes letter writing as important "war work" on the part of women during the war, and covers topics such as: the importance of letter-writing in the war, correspondence as "romantic work," the importance of exchanging photographs between men and women during the war, women and education in the mid-19th century, letter writing as education in itself, and Ohio during the Civil War.

I've included here some examples of "Wanted - Correspondence" advertisements.

The heartfelt letters to Edwin are mostly from women he knew (and one he would eventually marry), but Dr. Bailey discusses somewhat the risks that the female letter-writers took in sending correspondence, especially since they might be shared among other soldiers and gossip and rumor ensue. However, in my own research while reading the book, I think those risks were expressed very strongly by a Wisconsin officer who placed his own notice in the paper, warning women NOT to answer the ads:

Janesville (WI) Weekly Gazette - September 9, 1864, p. 17

Ladies, permit me to address a few lines to you through the Tribune, in regard to "correspondence" with soldiers and officers serving in the army of our country. We, the officers and soldiers of the army, need and deserve the sympathy and counsel of our mothers, wives, sisters, and lady acquaintances from the dear homes which we have left behind. From these, letters are always acceptable, and are read with a deep interest; and there is always a deep feeling of respect for the writers, and the dear old homes from whence they come. There is no levity or expression of vulgar thought, or lewd illusions to the writers of them - holy home thoughts of the dear ones whome we loved so well; and often have I seen the bronzed face of the veteran, as well as the fair cheek of the young recruit, flushed with manly pride, or over them flowing tears that spoke louder than words of true hearts and brave men. Not so when your cold, insipid, and stale letters are received. There is generally a shout of derision from many voices as your carfeully written nonsense is retailed out to a corporal, sergeant, private or maybe a negro servant; and could you hear their vulgar wit and coarse expressions over your letters, and at your expense, I think ladies, you would answer no more 'Wanted Correspondence, for mutual cultivation.' I trust, ladies, that this article may be of service to you, inasmuch as it will urge you to write only to those whom you know; and you may put it down for a fact that any officer or soldier advertising for lady correspondence, does so for no honorable or noble purpose. Ninety-nine of every hundred letters by officers and soldiers are treated with contempt and derision. Thus you see that your tender effusions, gushing out flowery and sentimental platitudes, are used to your disadvantage and injury.

In many cases the officer or soldier takes pains to ascertain your true name, and then your letters not only reflect to your disadvantage, but bring disgrace to your friends. I know of one young lady who is the laughing stock of a whole regiment, andmany of them are or were friends and neighbors of hers, not two years ago. Her fair name and character are blighted, and one who as counted on her being something more than a friend to him in the future has cast her aside, and her letters of truth to him are unanswered, or returned unopened. Ladies, goodbye. Learn from this to do better. Write to your known and tried soldier friends and relatives, and none other.

I am, ladies, your friend and well-wisher,
E. V. Wilson, 1st Lieut., Co. H, 39th Reg't Wisc. Vol's