Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.


| THE NATIONAL MILITARY PARK-CHICKA-
MAUGA- CHATTANOOGA. An Historical Guide,
ton. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Com
pany.
A skillful writer and one who is not only
acquainted with his subject but is deeply
in love with it, Gen. Boynton is of all men
the one who should write the history of the
battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga
and give to the public the most compre-
henslve statement as to the origin and
development of the park project which has
yet appeared. In making plain to the
reader whose knowledge of the war of the
rebellion is comparatively limited the ne
cessity for such a park as that which the
nation has seen fit to acquire, Gen. Boynton
produces interesting testimony. 1.-THE bat
tie of Chickamauga,p says he, was one
of the best illustrations i9f the pluck, en-
durlnce and prowess of the American SOL
der which the war afforded. Measured by
the percentages of losses, and the duration
of the fighting for the various portions of
each army, ii was the deadlieSt battle of
modern times. Its strategy will always be
notable in the history OF wars. So far as
the occupation of the field was concerned
1t was a confederate victory. Considering
the objects of the campaign it was Union
triumph. The battletof Chattanooga was
the grandest spectacular engagement of
the war. Its features appear in as bold
sionary Ridge upon the fields which they
dominate" From the facts presented by
the general 1t appears sthat twenty-nine of
the thirty-three states. east of the Rocky
mountains which comprised the Union at
the outbreak of the war, had troops en-
gagged in these campaigns, and five of these
| were represented on both sides. The latter
were Kentucky Missouri, Tennessee West
Virginia and Maryland. Three Union armies
took part in the campaign for Chattanooga,
the army of the Cumberland in its entirety,
| four divisions of the army of the Tennes-
| see, under General Sherman, and four
| from the army of the Potomac under Cen
eral Hooker. On the confederate side Gen
eral Bragg was reinforced by General Long
| streets corps from the army of North Yir-
| ginia, by troops from General Johnston in
Mississippi and by General Buckners corps
| from East Tennessee. Thus the whole
| country was directly and largely interested
| in the campaign and battles for Chatta-
nooga, while on each side were many of
| the most distinguished and prominent Of
| ficers of the war. 1T was this universal
| interest of the country and its armies in
| these battles" says Gen. Boynton, "the bril-
| Iiarcy of the strategy, the unsurpassed
| pluck of the fighting, and the wonderful
| natural features of the fields of battle
| which made 1t possible to secure the unan-
| imous support of Congress for the project
| of establishing the Chickamauga and Chat
| tanooga National Military Park" But en-
| tirely aside from the gude-book value of
this work-whch of itself is very consider
| able-there Is great quantity of material
| that will be highly appreciated by purely
| military students. The two great con-
| ficts and all the minor engagements of the
| campaign are described in detail by one
| who was not only a combatant but VINO
| has applied himself seriously for the past
| thirty-two years in securing all of the many
varieties of informa ton that were to be
| had and sitting out the real from the fic-
| titious. Literally illustrated, fully supplied
| with understandable maps, and giving COM
| plete rosters (by commands) of the con-
| tending armies. volume highly
| priced by the veterans of the north and the
| south and by those other individuals who
| can appreciate painstaking effort to a good
| end.
| LISIsETH WILSON: Daughter OF New Hamp-
shire Hills By Eliza Nelson Blair. Boston:
| Lee & Shepard.
| Those who know the wife of the former
Representative and Senator from New
| Hampshire know that story of her telling
would not depend for its interest upon a
! deep and gruesome mystery, to be plucked
out by keen-scented detectives, nor yet
would its heroine be one of the new wo-
| man" class, who set for themselves the
| task of solving hypothetical problems born
| of prurient imaginations and ulwholesome
| desires. ''Lisbeth Wilson, as its >unroman-
| tic title might indicate is a plain, straight
| forward oid-fashioned story of country life
| in New England, two or three generations
ago, simply but sweetly told. OF course-as
a silken cord wherein costlier beads are
strung there is the thread of love story
running through the narrative. telling the
hopes and trials of a true-hearted young
| couple, who held q pure life and a clear
conscience above all else, but whose ways
were made troubled by that stern religious
Intolerance which drove the Puritans to
| America, but which, in some mysterious
way, seemed to COME across the ocean with
| them, or closely follow them, to take root
| and bear bitter fruit in the hearts of their
| descendants, for many generate after
| ward. The interest in this old but ever
attractive episode-mhich,. of course, finally
erds happily-does not flag from first to
| last; but the great charm of the volume
lies in its delineations Of New England
character and it's pictures of New England
| scenery, of both of which the author is an
| uncommonly careful and intelligent OBJ
server and most faithful Inner, well.
| Indeed this dominating quality will per-
| Eaps be ground for unfaVorable criticism
| in the mind of the general reader whose
| verdict may be that the author dwells too
| largely upon minute details. This is natu-
1al, however and ather to be expected; for
| White of Selborne himself hardly studied
| nature more closely than does Mrs. Blair;
| ard, as the scenes and incidents of the book
| are all laid and the characters all belonged
| in the locality where she was born and has
| always lived. save occasional seasons spent
| in Washington, they have been indelibly
| impressed upon her mind. She was, there
| fore, thoroughly equipped for the task she
| undertook, and the pages abound through
out in local color, wonderfully true to ma
| ture, and thoroughly lifelike portraitures of
| the participants in the simple drama.
| Where Mrs. Blair is known her first essay
| in book-making is sure to be widely read,
for her sake. But more than this can safe
| ly be said 1t is hardly less certain to make
| for itself and hold place in the literature
of the day for it's pure and lofty tone and
| genuine merit
! THE PEOPLES CYCLOPEnIA OF UNIVERSAL
l KNOWLEDGE, with Numerous Appendices In