The Confederate Nation: 1861 to 1865 (56 page)

The best study of the
Alabama
is the memoir of its master, Raphael Semmes,
Service Afloat: Or, the Remarkable Career of the Confederate Cruisers, Sumter and Alabama, during the War between the States
(Baltimore, 1887). Other works include: W. Stanley Hoole (ed.),
The Logs of the CSS Alabama and the CSS Tuscaloosa, 1862–1863, Kept by Lieutenant (Later Captain)John Low, C.S.N.
(University, Ala., 1972); Edward Boykin,
Ghost Ship of the Confederacy
(New York, 1957); Edna Bradlow,
Here Comes the Alabama
(Cape Town, 1958); William M. Robinson, Jr., “The
Alabama-Kearsarge
Battle: A Study in Original Sources,”
Essex Institute Historical Collections,
LX (1924), 97–120, 209–218; and the Kell biography (Kell was Semmes’ first mate).

On the blockade and blockade running, see Robert Erwin Johnson, “Investment by Sea: The Civil War Blockade,”
American Neptune,
XXXII (1972), 45–57; John B. Hefferman “The Blockade of the Southern Confederacy: 1861–1865,”
Smithsonian Journal of History,
II (1967–1968), iv, 24–14; John Wilkinson,
The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner
(New York, 1877); Kathryn A. Hanna, “Incidents of the Confederate
Blockade,” Journal of Southern History,
XI (1945), 214–229; Frank E. Vandiver,
Confederate Blockade Running Through Bermuda, 1861–1865
(Austin, 1947); plus the Owsley work cited under “Foreign Relations,” on page 361,
King Cotton Diplomacy.

The war on inland waters is the subject of: James M. Merrill,
Battle Flags South: The Story of the Civil War Navies on Western Waters
(Rutherford, N J., 1970); John D. Milligan,
Gunboats down the Mississippi
(Annapolis, Md., 1965); H. Allen Gosnell,
Guns on the Western Waters: The Story of River Gunboats in the Civil War
(Baton Rouge, La., 1949); John F. Dillon, “The Role of Riverine Warfare in the Civil War,”
Naval War College Review,
XXV (1973), iv, 58–78; Robert V. Bogle, “Defeat through Default: Confederate Naval Strategy for the Upper Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, 1861–1862,”
Tennessee Historical Quarterly,
XXVII (1968), 62–71, Kenneth R. Johnson, “Confederate Defenses and Union Gunboats on the Tennessee River: A Federal Raid into Northwest Alabama,”
Alabama Historical Quarterly,
XXX (1968), 39–60; Charles E. Frohman,
Rebels on Lake Erie: The Piracy, The Conspiracy, Prison Life
(Columbus, Ohio, 1965); and Allen M. Woolson, “Confederates on Lake Erie,”
United States Naval Institute Proceedings,
XIC (1973), iv. 69–70.

The best material on privateers is in William M. Robinson, Jr.,
The Confederate Privateers
(New Haven, Conn., 1928). Studies of individual ships include: Mary Elizabeth Thomas, “The CSS
Tallahassee:
A Factor in Anglo-American Relations, 1864–1866,”
Civil War History,
XXI (1975), 148–159; Frank L. Owsley, Jr.,
The CSS Florida: Her Building and Operations
(Philadelphia, 1965); Charles G. Summersell,
The Cruise of CSS Sumter
(Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1965); William Oliphant Rentz, “The Confederate States Ship
Georgia, “ Georgia Historical Quarterly,
LVI (1972), 307–317; Lee Kennett, “The Strange Career of the [CSS]
Stonewall, “ United States Naval Institute Proceedings,
XCIV (1968), ii, 74–85; Wallace Shugg, “Prophet of the Deep: The H. L. Hunley,”
Civil War Times Illustrated,
XI (1973), x, 4–10, 44–47; Stanley F. Horn,
Gallant Rebel: the Fabulous Cruise of the C.S.S. Shenandoah
(New Brunswick, N.J., 1947); and W. Stanley Hoole,
Four Years in the Confederate Navy: The Career of Captain John Low…
(Athens, Ga., 1964).

In the popular mind, Confederate history is the history of Southern armies and battles, and there is indeed a plethora of military studies. In addition to the guides and general histories listed elsewhere, see Charles E. Dornbusch,
Military Bibliography of the Civil War,
3 vols. (New York, 1961–1972). The
sine qua non
of any military work on the Confederate War is
War of the Rebellion:… Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,
128 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1880–1901). A useful reference work is Clement A. Evans (ed.),
Confederate Military History,
12 vols. (Atlanta, Ga., 1899). At least two general works are important for the Confederate military context: Marcus Cunliffe,
Soldiers and Civilians: The Martial Spirit in America, 1775–1865
(Boston, 1968); and Russell F. Weigley,
The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
(New York, 1973). On Confederate strategy there are a number of fine overviews, most of which blame or defend Jefferson Davis for his conduct as commander-in-chief. Archer Jones in
Confederate Strategy from Shiloh to Vicksburg
(Baton Rouge, La., 1961); Grady McWhiney in “Jefferson Davis and the Art of War,”
Civil War History
XXI (1975), 101–112; and Thomas L. Connelly and Archer Jones in
The Politics of Command: Factions and Ideas in Confederate Strategy
(Baton Rouge, La., 1973) are critical of Davis (although the latter work presents far more than a critique of Davis). The best defense of Davis as strategist is Frank E. Vandiver, “Jefferson Davis and Confederate Strategy,” in
The American Tragedy: The Civil War in Retrospect,
ed. by Frank E. Vandiver and Avery O. Craven (Hampden-Sydney, Va., 1959), in which the author softens some of his judgments made in an earlier, broader study,
Rebel Brass: The Confederate Command System
(Baton Rouge, La., 1956). Also somewhat supportive of Davis is William J. Cooper, Jr., “A Reassessment of Jefferson Davis as War Leader: The Case from Atlanta to Nashville,
“ Journal of Southern History,
XXXVI (1970), 189–204. Robert E. Lee, too, has recently inspired controversy in regard to his strategic ability and vision. Thomas L. Connelly is the primary critic and suggests some of Lee’s shortcomings in
The Marble Man
(cited under “Biography,” page 342). A more pointed debate is in an exchange of articles: Connelly’s “Robert E. Lee and the Western Confederacy: A Criticism of Lee’s Strategic Ability,”
Civil War History,
XV (1969), 116–132; and Albert Castel, “The Historian and the General: Thomas L. Connelly versus Robert E. Lee,”
Civil War History,
XVI (1970), 50–63. Important for its conclusions on Lee and generalship in general is J. F. C. Fuller’s
Grant and Lee
(Bloomington, Ind., 1957). Other articles important to the study of Southern strategy include the essays by Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, and David Donald in David Donald (ed.),
Why the North Won the Civil War
(Baton Rouge, La., 1960); plus Ludwell H. Johnson, “Civil War Military History: A Few Revisions in Need of Revising,”
Civil War History,
XVII (1971), 115–130; Grady McWhiney “Who Whipped Whom? Confederate Defeat Reexamined,”
Civil War History,
XI (1965), 5–26; and Archer Jones, “Jomini and the Strategy of the American Civil War, a Reinterpretation,”
Military Affairs,
XXXIV (1970), 127–131. Connelly and Jones,
The Politics of Command,
contains the best summary statement of the European context of Confederate military thought, and Jay Luvaas,
The Military Legacy of the Civil War: The European Inheritance
(Chicago, 1959), is best on the lessons Europeans did and did not learn from the American experience.

Concerning the military organization and supply, there are a number of solid works. In addition to books on and about the individuals associated with these functions (i.e. Davis, his Secretaries of War, Jones, Kean, Gorgas et al.), Vandiver’s
Rebel Brass
and Connelly’s and Jones’
Politics of Command
are the best summaries of command structure. Vandiver’s biography of Josiah Gorgas,
Ploughshares into Swords: Josiah Gorgas and Confederate Ordnance
(Austin, Tex., 1952), is the best study of the Ordnance Bureau. About the individual weapons, see William A. Albaugh III and Edward N. Simmons,
Confederate Arms
(New York, 1957). Also useful is Vandiver’s article, “Makeshifts of Confederate Ordnance,”
Journal of Southern History,
XVII (1951) 180–193. Quartermaster and commissary operations are best covered in Richard D. Goff,
Confederate Supply
(Durham, N.C., 1969). See also Frank E. Vandiver, “The Food Supply of the Confederate Armies, 1865,”
Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine,
XXVI (1944), 77–89; Frank E. Vandiver, “Texas and the Confederate Army’s Meat Problem,”
Southwestern Historical Quarterly,
XLVII (1944), 225–233; James J. Nichols,
The Confederate Quartermaster in the Trans-Mississippi
(Austin, Tex., 1964); Charles W. Ramsdell, “General Robert E. Lee’s Horse Supply, 1862–1865,”
American Historical Review,
XXXV (1930), 758–777; and William T. Windham, “The Problem of Supply in the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy,”
Journal of Southern History,
XXVII (1961), 149–168. Works on bureaus and offices other than ordnance, quartermaster, and commissary include H.V. Canan, “Confederate Military Intelligence,”
Maryland Historical Magazine,
LIX (1964), 34–51; Horace H. Cunningham,
Doctors in Gray: The Confederate Medical Service
(Baton Rouge, La., 1958); Robert W. Waitt.Jr.,
Confederate Military Hospitals in Richmond
(Richmond, Va., 1964); James L. Nichols,
Confederate Engineers
(Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1957); William M. Robinson, Jr., “The Confederate Engineers,”
Military Engineer,
XXII (1930), 297–305, 410–419, 512–517; Ralph W. Donnelly, “Scientists of the Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau,”
Civil War History,
II (1956), 69–92; Joseph H. Woodward II, “Alabama Iron Manufacturing, 1860–1865,”
Alabama Review,
VII (1954), 199–207; Albert B. Moore,
Conscription and Conflict in the Confederacy
(New York, 1924); William B. Hesseltine,
Civil War Prisons; a Study in War Psychology
(Columbus, Ohio, 1930); and Ovid L. Futch,
History of Andersonville Prison
(Gainesville, Fla., 1968).

Individual armies and commands have their own literature. The ultimate work on the Army of Northern Virginia is Douglas S. Freeman,
Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command,
3 vols. (New York, 1942–1944). On the Army of Tennessee see Thomas L. Connelly,
Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861–1862
(Baton Rouge, La., 1967), and
Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee
(Baton Rouge, La., 1971). Connelly’s volumes have superseded Stanley F. Horn,
The Army of Tennessee: A Military History
(Indianapolis, Ind., 1941). The “model” unit history for the Confederacy is James I. Robertson,
The Stonewall Brigade
(Baton Rouge, La., 1963).

Works on soldier life are many—many more than can be cited under the “Personal Narrative” section beginning on p. 331. The best guides to this material are Dornbusch,
Regimental Publications and Personal Narratives of the Civil War,
II, and Nevins, Robertson, and Wiley,
Civil War Books,
II. Fortunately, Bell I. Wiley has compressed his intensive research on soldier life into
The Life offohnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy
(Indianapolis, Ind., 1943), a superb book. Related to this topic are two articles on morale: Pete Maslowski, “A Study of Morale in Civil War Soldiers,”
Military Affairs,
XXXIV (1970), 122–126; Harry N. Scheiber, “The Pay of Confederate Troops and Problems of Demoralization: A Case of Administrative Failure,”
Civil War History,
XV (1969), 226–236.

Campaigns and battles have an enormous literature. The magazine
Civil War Times Illustrated
alone has articles and sometimes entire issues about a large number of engagements and campaigns. A good, brief analysis is Vincent J. Esposito (ed.),
The West Point Atlas of American Wars,
2 vols. (New York, 1959). An older work which is still quite useful for military analysis is Matthew F. Steele,
American Campaigns,
2 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1909). The following list of campaign and battle studies is by no means exhaustive; it is meant to be representative and should be helpful, used with biographies of the commanders and broader works.

Fort Sumter: Samuel W. Crawford,
The History of the Fall of Fort Sumter
(New York, 1896); Roy Meredith,
Storm Over Sumter: The Opening Engagement of the Civil War
(New York, 1957); W. A. Swanberg,
First Blood: The Story of Fort Sumter
(New York, 1957); Richard N. Current, “The Confederates and the First Shot,”
History,
VII (1961), 357–369; Ludwell H.Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,”
Journal of Southern History,
XXVI (1960), 441–477; and Grady McWhiney, “The Confederacy’s First Shot,”
Civil War History,
XIV (1968), 5–14.

First Manassas: Robert M.Johnston, Bull Run: Its Strategy and Tactics (New York, 1913); William C. Davis, Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War (Garden City, N.Y., 1977).

New Mexico Campaign: Martin H. Hall,
Sibley’s New Mexico Campaign
(Austin, Tex., 1960); and David Westphall, “The Battle of Glorieta Pass: Its Importance in the Civil War,”
New Mexico Historical Review,
XLIV (1969), 137–154.

Roanoke Island: Emory M. Thomas, “The Lost Confederate of Roanoke,”
Civil War Times Illustrated,
XV (1976), ii, 10–17.

Forts Henry and Donelson: James J. Hamilton,
The Battle of Fort Donelson,
(New York, 1968).

Pea Ridge: Albert Castel, “A New View of the Battle of Pea Ridge,”
Missouri Historical Review,
LXII (1968), 136–151; Homer L. Kerr, “The Battle of Elkhorn: The Gettysburg of the Trans-Mississippi West,” in William F. Holmes and Harold M. Hollingsworth (eds.),
Essays on the American Civil War
(Austin, Tex., 1968), 31–44.