New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-27
BOOKS ABOUT THE WAR.
"REMINISCENCES AND CRITICISM BY VET
ERANs OF THE REBELLION.

late Major T. s. ". Recorder. Published by the
CommaHdery Vol II, PIP vii. a5s. The Robert
Clarke Company Cincinnati
THE FIFTH ARMY CORPS GArmy Of the ne F CV
mac) Record Of Operations Durrs t iSs, 1856;
fsy william H. Powell Lieut-Col. lith Inf, L; oG :.
A. With maps and illustrations Up N' wv
G. p. Putnams Sons.
MosBYs RANGERS 4 Record q the oPer rraiTr
OF the Forty-third Battalion. Ergnaa 80 From
From its Organization 70 the Sup, ,ed end Veri-
h Se WITH WtS ofcia Reports etc BY James J.
Williamson. OF Company A. Pp' Kill OIL '''''''
b. Kenyon.
HISTORY Of THE IHPErrhsSV o Cav con
1926 BY BriscSe GoodhaT Co. Al rP Wallace a co..
specific place will have TO be reserved by
future historians for the series OF volumes eu''eu
by Major w H. Chamberlin for the ONO COM
mandery Of the Loyal Legion. For those COM
ing historians will find vast mass or material
for study Of the Civil War. and yet IN all OF II
perhaps as much OF opinion as OF fac' l"eS
will look about for narratives OF personal eN-
perience. something to make haii-iorso''ei.
past live again before their eyes and II 'heS ii'u
these nowhere else. they will find them in the
Ohio series Of volumes. This direct ana ihui-
vidual Renaissance differs from the ordinary
narrative Of eye-witnesses. inasmuch as 1t aims
10 exclude what the writer did not himself see
or hear II Is true that not all the papers even
IN the volume in hand are purely of the sort indl-
Gated but even those most remote from mere
personal experience yet seen TO empody ulrect
individual knowledge. In the vast library Oh war
records the production of which Is sun un-
checked after thirty-fve years of activity noun
ing will be without its use to later times. but
what the soldier actually saw and felt VIII take
precedence over much more pretentious Htera-
ture.
Nothing, for example, could be more graphc
than Colonel +. c. Dawess paper on the hr9'
DAYS fight at Shiloh. when he like many an
other officer and private, was for the ilrst uine
under fire Men were there in ranks to 90 oa''ie
who had never been drilled an hour in their lives,
who had never even fired gun. Naturally they
were not expert in the etiquette of battefelds.
With rare exceptions this consciousness Of their
own ignorance as to what was the proper thing
10 do was the only thing that troubled them.
Colonel Dawes knew one man who had been
through the battles at Fredericktown and Fort
Doueson and who walked along the line telling
his comrades that he had seen the elephant be-
fore, and that fighting with a musket was like
shooting squirrels, "only these squirrels have
guns that's all" Every description OF the fight
at Pittsburg Landing dwells upon it's confused
character but nobody ever put this fact more
concisely than Colonel Dawes's man. who started
for the after being hit. and moment later
limped back into the line with the remark. cap,
give me gun. This blamed fight amt got any
rear He tells also of one OF Shermans stan
officers who reported to the Rebel General Hind
man and was not captured This after the
fighting had been in progress for some time.
But at the moment when Colonel Dawess regi
ment was forming in line General Sherman rode
near and watched the movement OF various
bodies Of his own troops. Apparently he did not
see the Confederate skirmishers emerging from
the thickets his right. Colonel Dawes shouted
sudden warning. which was repeated by an
other officer nearer at hand. General Sherman
glanced hastily his right shoulder and
threw up his hand. excaming. "My God, we are
attacked Before he could move from his dam
gerous position an orderly was killed at his side.
Another example of direct experience and OBJ
servation Of a battle embodied in single short
paper is General A. c. Voriss amusing account
Of the first Battle of Winchester. the popularity
of which as thus described not only that
the men were new to war. but that it was the
victory Of the fighting individuals. Now,
there were many affairs in which the line
away with It's officers. the most beautiful IN
stance being the which gives glow to Cen
eral Thomas j. Woods paper on the Battle of
Missionary Ridge. But In General Voriss de-
scriptio1 II is the individual soldier who acts
for himself with instructive regard to the
chances Of all the combinations accessible to
him. The result was beyond all expectation.
"Stonewall' Jackson's experienced troops were
- driven from the field and the raw volunteers
who had taken the battle in their own hands
we're as good veterans from that day for
ward Recurring to General Woods paper,
must observe the sedate and kindly manner IN
which 1t touches the bitter controversy whether
Woods division or Sheridans was first to enter
the Confederate works at the summit OF Mis-
sionary Ridge The question is one Of fact,
not Of speculation argument. says General
Wood Then he offers his proofs and leaves his
readers to decide. The taking Of the Ridge as
seen and shared by officer in Sheridan's dv-
sion Is told by Lieutenant Shellenberger The
points taken from these papers will suggest the
character Of the rest in which there are reminis-
cences of life in rebel prisons, Of surgical ex-
perience in hospitals end on the field of Nor
gans raid north Of the Ohio River. Of the ia
nous transfer of 10000 troops by railway from
Washington to Chattanooga, and Of battles and
campaigns East and West. characteristic
article in which the very logic and the humorous
sarcasm are those OF the soldier, without tnge
of civilian habits Of thought, is General A. V.
kantzs account Of the way he got his first
brevet The book contains several portraits and
a map to illustrate a paper by Major F. y.
James on "McCook's Brigade at the Assault
uron Kenesaw Mountain"
a Corps histories are almost Of necessity massive
affairs and Colonel P1wells work, with its 900
very solid pages, is no exception TO the rule.
But the reader will find. II anything, less than
the usual quantity of merely routine matter
How the famous command stood by divisions.
-brigades and regiments has to be shown IN de-
tail with each campaign. The loss OF officers IN
each battle and skrmish has to be reviewed with
Indispensable biographical notices. and what the
English writer's on military affairs SO fond Of