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A review by socraticgadfly
Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War by S.C. Gwynne
2.0
Kind of typical Gwynne book. Highly uneven. Not as bad as Rebel Yell, but not good.
In the first 30 pages, he has:
1. Twisted Lincoln’s slave-related actions of the first two years out of context, including trying to make him into an abolitionist at the start of the war;
2. Absolved, or at least partially absolved, Forrest of Fort Pillow, when the truth is that, by the laws of war, Forrest, as commander of troops in the field, was responsible for the massacre by failure to prevent it even if he didn’t order it. (To the degree Gwynne does acknowledge any blame for Forrest, it’s in a footnote.
3. Absolved Forrest of Fort Pillow again by assuming that his original surrender offer to the Union garrison included black troops that Forrest may not have been aware were part of the garrison, or even if he were aware, assuming that they were covered under “troops”
Gwynne in the next 100 pages then pens great psychological vignettes of Grant and Lee. On Lee, I wonder if he stayed in the military to stay away from his wife, after reading this.
And then? Errors. No, Arlington is not part of DC and never was. The Treasury, under Chase or whomever, might have been the top Cabinet job for higher-dollar patronage, but the Post Office was for everyday job patronage. Errors of interpretation like the latter? OK, that's more on the author. But, bad copy editing lets in the former.
That said, he mentions General and Congresscritter Frank Blair attacking Chase on the floor of the House, but fails to mention his brother, Monty Blair, was .... Postmaster General!
Speaking of that, he never covers some of Lincoln's larger political moves involving his Cabinet. Like booting Monty as part of a quid pro quo for Fremont ending his campaign.
Then, more great stuff, on Sherman. Not so much the psychological profile, unlike with Grant and Lee, but a straightforward note that he wasn’t that good of a field commander. He’s totally right that Thomas’ corps, not Sherman’s, won Missionary Ridge.
That said, we next get back to questionableness. Although the battles of Franklin and Nashville weren’t important strategically, and Wilson’s ride through Alabama might be too overlooked elsewhere, to not give the Nashville campaign more than a paragraph is criminal. Maybe more criminal, given that Gwynne does cover infighting between generals at times, is not looking at how much Grant through Thomas under the bus as part of running Sherman up the flagpole.
Then, it’s back to good stuff. The Petersburg-to-Appomattox chapters, though much shorter than, say, “Nine Days to Appomattox,” has a couple of great vignettes, above all the picture of Meade’s attempt at glory-hogging.
Had Gwynne not opened with Fort Pillow AND with his particular take on it, I might have given this a fourth star. But, the way he did begin left too much of a bad taste in my mouth. And, thinking more about how much he overlooked on the Cabinet tussles and other things, I dropped it another star because at 4 1/3 stars average rating, it's overrated.
In the first 30 pages, he has:
1. Twisted Lincoln’s slave-related actions of the first two years out of context, including trying to make him into an abolitionist at the start of the war;
2. Absolved, or at least partially absolved, Forrest of Fort Pillow, when the truth is that, by the laws of war, Forrest, as commander of troops in the field, was responsible for the massacre by failure to prevent it even if he didn’t order it. (To the degree Gwynne does acknowledge any blame for Forrest, it’s in a footnote.
3. Absolved Forrest of Fort Pillow again by assuming that his original surrender offer to the Union garrison included black troops that Forrest may not have been aware were part of the garrison, or even if he were aware, assuming that they were covered under “troops”
Gwynne in the next 100 pages then pens great psychological vignettes of Grant and Lee. On Lee, I wonder if he stayed in the military to stay away from his wife, after reading this.
And then? Errors. No, Arlington is not part of DC and never was. The Treasury, under Chase or whomever, might have been the top Cabinet job for higher-dollar patronage, but the Post Office was for everyday job patronage. Errors of interpretation like the latter? OK, that's more on the author. But, bad copy editing lets in the former.
That said, he mentions General and Congresscritter Frank Blair attacking Chase on the floor of the House, but fails to mention his brother, Monty Blair, was .... Postmaster General!
Speaking of that, he never covers some of Lincoln's larger political moves involving his Cabinet. Like booting Monty as part of a quid pro quo for Fremont ending his campaign.
Then, more great stuff, on Sherman. Not so much the psychological profile, unlike with Grant and Lee, but a straightforward note that he wasn’t that good of a field commander. He’s totally right that Thomas’ corps, not Sherman’s, won Missionary Ridge.
That said, we next get back to questionableness. Although the battles of Franklin and Nashville weren’t important strategically, and Wilson’s ride through Alabama might be too overlooked elsewhere, to not give the Nashville campaign more than a paragraph is criminal. Maybe more criminal, given that Gwynne does cover infighting between generals at times, is not looking at how much Grant through Thomas under the bus as part of running Sherman up the flagpole.
Then, it’s back to good stuff. The Petersburg-to-Appomattox chapters, though much shorter than, say, “Nine Days to Appomattox,” has a couple of great vignettes, above all the picture of Meade’s attempt at glory-hogging.
Had Gwynne not opened with Fort Pillow AND with his particular take on it, I might have given this a fourth star. But, the way he did begin left too much of a bad taste in my mouth. And, thinking more about how much he overlooked on the Cabinet tussles and other things, I dropped it another star because at 4 1/3 stars average rating, it's overrated.