Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-13

entire effort has been to prepare an out
! line history of the american Civil War
the adjective being IN itsel1 suggestive
of foreign commentary-whichw would with
in small compass give comprehensive
view of not only the causes and the
events, but in some measure the results
of the conflict. The American reader of
the work is quickly impressed by the de-
tached view of the writer. He judges
the American conditions of the period
preceding and during the war without par
TALLY. bestowing praise and blame jul
! dicially upon the leaders of both sides.
No personal preference for one or the
other of the contestants is permitted ex-
preston. Mr.. Formby does not undertake
to judge of the merits of the great slavery
question or of the more difficult issue of
the right secession. He offers the argyll
ments that were advanced on each side
and permits his reader to draw conclu-
sions. The main object of the book is to
describe the civil war. and this is done
with an exceptional degree of fairness
and clearness. Naturally in the condensa-
ton of the military events of four years
OF hOstilities great mass of details must
be eliminated and thus important en-
ga gements, reckOned by American COM
mentators ON the war as worthy OF de-
tailed descriptions. are in some cases only
briefly mentioned. great majority or
the encounters between the troops Of the
north and the south were only incidental
to large movements and important results,
and Mr. Formby treats them in this light
as contributions to an effect. and not as
historical episodes of individual value.
BY a unique arrangement of his text
the author contrives to give his reader
| what might be termed bird s-eye view
of the great fighting field. The civil war
was fought over an immense area and
! was naturally divided by geological and
political conditions into certain fairly
definite sections. Mr.. Formby classes
these subdivisions as east. southeast,
west, south and southwest, and in addf-
I&;- ho ION md of
! the blockade. Thus in tracing the events
| of the various geographical phases of the
war he breaks his text according to the
chronological divisions as far as possible
keeping each descriptive chapter distinct
as relating to the territory under con-
sideration, and by means of complex
| but easily followed system of footnotes
giving his reader references to coinci-
dental events. so that 'the whole may be
| studied together. At the close of each
| chap pier dealing with half year he gives
| chronological table of the major hap
| penings of the war in all parts OF the
| country, together with brief summary
| of the gain and the loss of each side and
| few biographical notes relating to Of
| fcers who had during the period attained
| prominence by their exceptional work or
| who fell in battle. Only officers of the
higher ranks are mentioned. in order to
avoid confusion as far as possible. 1t is
| interesting to note that in view of the
English unfamiliarity with the personal
| tiles of the civil war and the similarity
of names, this having been a struggle be-
tween people of the same race, the au-
thor prints the names identified with the
, Confederacy in italics. This is in some
cases an assistance even to an American
reader. A series of maps specially pre-
pared for this volume accompanies 1t,
with separate binding, being drawn as
far as possible to uniform scales. These
maps are not nota BILE for their topograph-
ical finish, being of a somewhat crude and
amateurish character and not satisfac-
torily representing the military situation
in all cases.
Mr.. Formby takes occasion frequently
to criticise the disposition that prevailed