Firearms of the Confederacy (review)

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

BOOK REVIEWS365 preconditions for it. On the deficit side, localstudies sometimes miss the national context of events; a case in point here is when Browne comes very close to ascribing the decline in Baltimore's abolitionism after 1830 to a purely local"cultural conservatism" (p. 101) . Another price paid for Browne's approach is that the emphasis falls on trends, statistics, patterns, and similar impersonal elements. Individuals are cited here, of course, but they are largely examples of some other point, and not personalities. At its most explanatory, the book has a bloodless quality slightly out of touch with the turbulent excitement of Baltimore on the rise. But one should not ask a good author to write a differentbook. This is a sound piece of scholarship, of considerable use to students of the period, an altogether worthy contribution. William J. Evttts Hollins College Firearms of the Confederacy. By Claude E. Fuller and Richard D. Stewart . ([1944] Reprint edition. Lawrence, Mass.: Quarterman Publications , Inc., n.d. Pp. xiv, 333. $25.00.) The reappearance of an old classic after years of unavailability is always welcome. Student of Confederate arms and collectors of Southern weaponry willbe particularly pleased by the republication of the work under review here. Fuller's and Stewart's pioneering study of the shoulder arms and hand guns used by Southerners during the Civil War has long been recognized as an important reference work in its field. It was an early effort—not the lastword, certainly, but a creditable and still useful initial attempt—to catalogue, photograph, and describe the firearms of Northern, Southern, and foreign manufacture that saw service in the Confederate armies. This reprint edition, handsomely produced with good quality illustrations, should serve to remind serious scholars of the Confederacy that they owe a considerable debt to collectors, amateur historians, and assorted other Civil War buffs who have done so much to preserve thehistory of this era. Fuller and Stewart wrote Firearms of the Confederacy primarily for those, like themselves, who were collectors ofSouthern weapons. Many of the photographs are of pieces in their own collections, and much of the book is taken up with detailed technical notes on, and specifications of, the muskets, rifles, and pistols illustrated in the book. There is, nevertheless, much valuable material for historians and general readers who have a broader interest in the Confederate war effort. The authors plowed through the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and culled out almost every report and piece ofcorrespondence that touched on the manufacture an purchase of Southern arms both at home and abroad. These documents were reprinted in full, and they 366CIVIL WAR HISTORY provide a rich mine of information on the problems facing the Confederate Ordnance Department as it attempted to arm and equip the men in the field. Fuller and Stewart saw clearly the vitalrole played by Chief of Ordnance Josiah Gorgas in this remarkably successful effort, andhisaccomplishmentsare traced in ample detail. The book has major shortcomings, however. Available printed sources like the Official Records do not tell the whole story of Confederate arms, and the authors of this volume had almost no familiarity with the largebodyofmanuscriptmaterialdealingwith their subject in the National Archives and other depositories. They freely acknowledged in their introduction that "there is so much we do not know" about their area of investigation, and one would have to agree with their frank admission. But since most of the Ordnance Bureau's central records were destroyed during the evacuation of Richmond in 1865, the authors' failure to tour the archives is not as critical as it might have been. And if one is going to compliment them on theircandor, one should also recognize their considerable accomplishment. More recent books like Frank E. Vandiver's superb biography of Gorgas, Ploughshares Into Swords (1952), and William A. Albaugh's and Edward N. Simmon's Confederate Arms (1957) have extended the depth of our knowledge of Southern firearms and their procurement, but I suspect that most present-day readers will find that Fuller's and Stewart's path-breaking work retains much of its original value. In the opinion of this reviewer, Firearms of the Confederacy still deserves a placeon anybookshelfofessentialsources...