Hood's Texas Brigade Research Articles

Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit

Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit

Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit by Susannah J. Ural

Reviewed by: Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unitby Susannah J. Ural Steven E. Woodworth Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit. By Susannah J. Ural. Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Pp. xvi, 382. $48.00, ISBN 978-0-8071-6759-5.) The oft-repeated claim that social history enriches, rather than replaces, traditional military history proves true in Susannah J. Ural's clear, highly readable narrative. Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unitis an excellent military history of the brigade that also looks back at the thoughts, challenges, and struggles of the loved ones left behind in Texas. In so doing, it helps explain why the brigade became the Confederacy's most celebrated unit. The members of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Texas Infantry regiments enlisted specifically to fight in Virginia. Most of them came from upper- and [End Page 1010]middle-class families and were fiercely committed to the Confederate cause. Ural sees in this commitment, both by soldiers and by their families, part of the reason for the brigade's unusual combat success, along with their desire to live up to the popular belief that Texans were experienced and formidable fighters. Recruited as companies in towns across East Texas, formed into regiments, and shipped east separately, the First, Fourth, and Fifth Texas regiments came together as a brigade near Dumfries in northern Virginia in the late fall of 1861. Brigaded with them were the Eighteenth Georgia Infantry and the infantry battalion of Wade Hampton's South Carolina Legion. Later these two non-Texas units were replaced in the brigade by the Third Arkansas Infantry. The brigade's first commander was the bombastic Texas politician Louis T. Wigfall. Fortunately for the troops, Wigfall went into the Confederate senate before serious fighting started, and the brigade fought its first battles under the command of the former colonel of the Fourth Texas, now Brigadier General John B. Hood. It first won glory in the June 1862 battle of Gaines's Mill, where it broke the Union line in a bloody assault. Later that summer the brigade again broke Union lines at the second battle of Manassas, and its counterattack helped save General Robert E. Lee's left at Antietam. Each victory came at high cost, and new recruits from Texas only partially made up for the constant drain in numbers. Families back in Texas suffered severe emotional blows in the loss of multiple family members. The Texas Brigade's next hard fight was at Gettysburg, where for the first time it was checked, being turned back from the crest of Little Round Top. Again its casualties were heavy, including Hood, who had moved up to division command. The brigade suffered severe losses in September 1863 at Chickamauga and in the fruitless campaign in East Tennessee. Morale was further undermined when beloved brigade commander Jerome B. Robertson was court-martialed for offending a favorite of the corps commander. Wintering in East Tennessee and enduring a lack of good leadership, the brigade suffered its lowest morale, but confidence in and commitment to the Confederacy never flagged in the great majority of its soldiers. In the campaigns of 1864, the Texas Brigade dramatically saved Lee's army at the Wilderness, at the cost of two-thirds of its remaining numbers, and then suffered another bloodletting in the battle of Darbytown Road. Only about six hundred men were left to surrender at Appomattox. After the war, brigade veterans formed an association to support each other and the families of their late comrades. Ural shows how the Confederate commitment of both soldiers and their families at home sustained morale so as to make the brigade an unusually effective combat unit and to keep the great majority of its surviving, unmaimed members with the colors until the very end. Her book is a useful and welcome addition to the literature of the Civil War. Steven E. Woodworth Texas Christian University Copyright © 2018 The Southern Historical Association

Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit by Susannah J. Ural

Reviewed by: Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit by Susannah J. Ural Daniel E. Sutherland (bio) Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy's Most Celebrated Unit. By Susannah J. Ural. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Pp. 384. Cloth, $48.00.) Civil War unit histories have been around for a long time. Veterans created them to preserve their wartime memories, and historians have since found them useful in explaining important campaigns and battles. True, some people regard the genre as old-fashioned and restrictive, but a new type of unit history has recently emerged that may spark a revival. The revival began in 2014, with Lesley J. Gordon's innovative A Broken Regiment: The 16th Connecticut's Civil War. As much social as military history, Gordon's book tells the story of a regiment of "cowards" against the backdrop of both home front and battlefield. Notably, too, Gordon carries the saga of her regiment into the postwar years. Susannah J. Ural has done much the same thing, even as she flips the script. Rather than a Union regiment, Ural writes about a Confederate brigade. Far from being known as the unit that ran away, her rebels are portrayed as among the bravest and most loyal soldiers in the war. That said, Ural mirrors Gordon in having written a splendid bit of history. Ural's Texas Brigade may be defined, she says, by its steadfast devotion to the Confederate cause. Despite the rigors of campaigning, the slaughter of the battlefield, and the plight of loved ones at home, the brigade rarely flinched or faltered. Its men embodied the spirit of their longtime commander, John Bell Hood, who, despite suffering a crippling wound to one arm and losing a leg, remained in the field and stubbornly refused to admit defeat. Anyone who doubts the strength of Confederate nationalism, Ural insists, need only consider the history of this elite unit. [End Page 710] Equally important, the vast majority of these men had quite ordinary backgrounds. Indeed, Ural tells us, much of the brigade's cohesiveness and aggressiveness may be explained by the middle-class status of its recruits, their belief in the Jacksonian notion of the self-made man, and, despite having few slaveholders in their ranks, a conviction that Republican political policies would destroy their way of life. Geography also helped. So certain were these men that neither the destructiveness of war nor the dangers of emancipation would ever reach Texas that they evidenced an almost rabid desire, even against the Confederate government's wishes, to rush to Virginia and join the fight. Not that they were all Texans. In fact, at no time did the brigade consist solely of Lone Star volunteers. Originally it included three Texas infantry regiments (the First, Fourth, and Fifth), the Eighteenth Georgia, and Wade Hampton's legion from South Carolina. When the latter two units were reassigned in late 1862, the void was filled by the Third Arkansas. That would be the final composition of the brigade. Yet individual regiments are almost irrelevant to Ural's narrative, so strongly is it anchored in the experiences of individuals. Such men as Andrew Erskine, James R. Loughridge, and Thomas J. Goree are the focus of their brigade's story, or at least part of it. Also to be heard are Ann Erskine, Felicia Loughridge, and Sarah K. Goree, for the families and friends of these men are an essential part of what motivated the brigade. The men remained steadfast to the Confederate cause, Ural submits, because their devotion was matched by that of their communities. As letters flowed back and forth between home front and battlefield, this shared faith in the Confederate nation became mutually reinforcing. Of course, there is some good, old-fashioned military history embedded in all this discussion of motivation, loyalty, and the will to fight. Ural offers meticulous tactical accounts of the brigade's combat experience, most notably at Gaines's Mill (its first significant action), Second Manassas, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and the Wilderness. The names alone suggest how battle-tested the brigade became and why it earned the...

"The Bloody Fifth": The 5th Texas Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, Vol. 2 by John F. Schmutz

"The Bloody Fifth": The 5th Texas Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, Vol. 2 by John F. Schmutz

Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War by Edward B. Williams (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War by Edward B. Williams (review)

Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates by John R. Lundberg (review)

Reviewed by: Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates by John R. Lundberg Kenneth W. Howell Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates. By John R. Lundberg. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2012. Pp. 336. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780807143476, $39.95 cloth; ISBN 9780807143490, $25.95 epub.) Granbury's Texas Brigade formed after the Battle of Chickamauga and fought as part of Patrick Cleburne's division in the Confederate Army of Tennessee. While not as well-known as Hood's Texas Brigade, Brig. Gen. Hiram B. Granbury's unit gained notoriety in the western theater of the Civil War, seeing action at Chattanooga, Atlanta, and in the 1864 Tennessee campaign before suffering heavy causalities at the Battle of Franklin. Lundberg meticulously traces the heroic efforts of the eight regiments that made up Hiram Granbury's brigade as they waged war against their enemy at places such as Tunnel Hill, Ringgold Gap, Pickett's Mill, Franklin, and Nashville. The author also provides detailed information on the actions of the eight regiments prior to their official formation into Granbury's Texas Brigade. Of the eight regiments, the 7th Texas Infantry stood out for their role in the unsuccessful defense of Fort Donelson from U. S. Grant's army. While the 7th Texas Infantry suffered capture and imprisonment after the fall of Fort Donelson, the other Texas regiments that would later be a part of Granbury's Brigade suffered their own setbacks in Arkansas, where they were defeated and taken prisoners at Arkansas Post in 1863. Unlike the 7th, which was paroled in time to see action in the Vicksburg campaign, the Texas Confederates captured in Arkansas remained in prison for several months. They would be paroled in time to see action in the Battle of Chickamauga. The eight Texas regiments were formed into their new brigade after Chickamauga. Using myriad primary and secondary sources, Lundberg offers provocative insights into the minds of the men who served in Granbury's Brigade by focusing on three primary themes. First, the author argues that the high rate of desertion in the brigade did not represent a lack of commitment to the Confederacy but rather a desire to serve near their homes. Lundberg finds that most of the deserters rejoined Confederate units once they returned home and therefore proved their devotion to the southern cause. Second, he argues that the brigade's high degree of effectiveness and determination was the result of the men's shared experiences of being captured and held as federal prisoners. According to the author, the men's strong cohesive bond to each other resulted from their desire to prove their merits in battle and to enact vengeance on their northern captors. Finally, the men's loyalty to the brigade and to the Confederate cause correlated directly with the competency of commanders within their unit, especially Brig. Gen. Granbury. Confidence in their officers led the men to fight with a ferocity that often resulted in brigade-level victories even while the Army of Tennessee suffered defeat. While the latter two themes are plausible and in part seem to explain the tenacity of Granbury's Texas Brigade, the idea that deserters maintained a strong sense of Confederate nationalism seems a stretch. There is no doubt that many Texas soldiers deserted their post and returned to defend their home and families against possible Union invasions and Indian raids, but it is hard to accept that they were still strong Confederate nationalists. In fact, their very act of desertion illustrated that personal concerns outweighed any nationalist feelings that they [End Page 425] may have possessed. However, it does stand to reason that the desertions left the ranks of Granbury's Brigade filled with a hardcore group of soldiers who were devoted Confederate nationalists—they were the true "Diehard Confederates" in the western theater of the war. Despite the controversial argument regarding desertion among the Texas soldiers, Lundberg has provided scholars with a solid unit history of Granbury's Texas Brigade, and those who are interested in the Civil War will find this an informative volume. Kenneth W. Howell Prairie View A&M University Copyright © 2013 The Texas State Historical Association

Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War

Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War

The Social and Cultural Dynamics of Soldiering in Hood's Texas Brigade

JUST BEFORE THE START OF THE BLOODY PENINSULA CAMPAIGN OF JUNE 1862, the soldiers of the Fourth Texas Infantry Regiment purchased a horse for General John Bell Hood, commander of what came to be known as Hood's Texas Brigade. Later, as the regiment assembled at dress parade, First Sergeant J. M. Bookman presented the horse to General Hood. Sir: In behalf of the non-commissioned officers and privates ..., I present you this war-horse. He selected and purchased by us for this purpose, not that we hoped by so doing to court your favor, but simply because we, as freemen and Texans, claim the ability to discern, and the right to reward, merit wherever it may be found. In you, sir, we recognize the soldier and the gentleman. In you we have found a leader whom we are proud to follow--a commander whom it is a pleasure to obey; and this horse we tender as a slight testimonial of our admiration. Moved by this gesture of deference and respect from his men, General Hood sprang into the saddle and promised to act as their rallying point when the struggle came.(1) These Texas soldiers--who soon earned a reputation as the toughest combat troops in Robert E. Lee's fabled Army of Northern Virginia--did not always behave so deferentially toward officers. In fact, when the Texas regiments came to Virginia, they clashed frequently with the Confederate government over the authority to select their own regimental and staff officers. men of the Texas regiments claimed the right to veto any appointment that proved unacceptable to them. Fourth Texas Regiment, for instance, refused to accept the assignment of Colonel R. T. P. Allen to lead their unit. He had been in camp for only a short while when several soldiers hoisted Allen onto his horse, and using switches, drove him out of the regimental grounds amid the hoots and jeers of the boys; and he was never seen again.(2) This study examines the social and cultural dynamics of leadership, command, and soldiering in Hood's Texas Brigade for clues to unravel the broader enigma of the antebellum southern social structure, particularly with regard to the place and status of plain folk, yeoman farmers, and other non-elite whites. Much of the literature about the antebellum South hinges on the long-standing debate over whether the Old South an elitist slaveholding aristocracy or an agrarian plain-folk democracy.(3) drift of many recent studies has been toward synthesis, arguing that antebellum society represented a hybrid of hierarchy and equality.(4) However, even studies that recognize the complexity and paradoxes of this society fall short as social history, because the class dynamic that they advance to link elite and commoner, rich and poor, is too one-sided. planters' hegemony is a given. The nonslaveholder, according to one historian, was in a very passive, dependent position vis-a-vis the planter.(5) Studies based on the so-called republican synthesis also tend to infer yeoman values and ideas from the language and behavior of political elites; consequently, the social relation is seen from the top down, the capacity of plain folk to form their own lives is shortchanged, and thus the truly dynamic, interactive, and relational nature of power in the antebellum South has not been fully understood.(6) common soldiers of Hood's Texas Brigade fought the Civil War mainly on their own terms, defending and justifying their right to do so by drawing on a unique mix of ideological and cultural resources. Their conduct as soldiers combined beliefs about popular sovereignty and natural liberty with backcountry shaming rituals of social control, like the charivari, that were used to hold privates and officers alike to particular standards of conduct defined by the volunteer soldiers themselves. This essay examines how popular constitutional ideas and traditional forms of community action affected the performance of one of the elite fighting units in the Army of Northern Virginia. …

A Terry Texas Ranger: The Life Record of H. W. Graber , and: The Ragged Rebel: A Common Soldier in W. H. Parsons' Cavalry, 1861-1865 , and: Gaines' Mill to Appomattox: Waco and McLennan County in Hood's Texas Brigade , and: Hood's Texas Brigade: Tom Jones' Sketch Book (review)

A Terry Texas Ranger: The Life Record of H. W. Graber , and: The Ragged Rebel: A Common Soldier in W. H. Parsons' Cavalry, 1861-1865 , and: Gaines' Mill to Appomattox: Waco and McLennan County in Hood's Texas Brigade , and: Hood's Texas Brigade: Tom Jones' Sketch Book (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade: A Compendium (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade: A Compendium (review)

Joseph Smith: The First Mormon (review)

BOOK REVIEWS177 came from the manhood of other states. Some 7,286 men served in the Brigade, of whom approximately 4,300 were Texans. By April, 1856, only 496 men of the three Texas regiments still bore arms by time of the surrender, or less than 12 per cent of those who served throughout the war. The Compendium divides into four parts. Part One contains the rosters and service records of all 7,268 men who constituted the Brigade . Brigade, Regimental Headquarters, and company rosters are included. Part Two contains nearly 150 photographs of officers, noncommissioned officers, and the rank-and-file. Part Three, which is entitled "Statistical Charts and Summaries," illustrates casualty and loss rates from both disease and combat. Part Four, "Brigade Trivia," is aptly named. A lengthy index makes it all available. There is a place for this kind of book. Not easy reading, unglamorous , pedestrian, it is still all it claims to be—a compendium of Hood's Texas Brigade. Archie P. McDonald Stephen F. Austin State University Joseph Smith: The First Mormon. By Donna Hill, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1977. Pp. vii, 527. $12.50.) This is the first major biography of Joseph Smith since Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History, published in 1945. Hill has produced an excellent biography. If this book is not the definitive work on this subject, it is as close to it as we are likely to get. She has been able to produce such a complete treatment in part because she has made astute and thorough use of primary sources unavailable to other scholars. At the outset, the author demonstrates great wisdom by telling the reader that it is not her purpose to settle the many controversial issues that still stubbornly surround Joseph Smith's life. She does wish to show Smith's many positive human qualities, "but also his foibles, his implacable will, and something of his complexity" (p. x). In broader terms, she describes the fate of his followers, as well. The more prosperous the church became, the more hostile and jealous its neighbors became, and consequently the harder the Mormons worked to become stronger; a terrible pattern emerged wherever they went. As Hill puts it, "insults and harassment of the Mormons progressed to mobbing and assault, assault turned to pillage, confiscation of property, massacre and exile" (pp. vii and ix). During his thirty-eight years on earth, Joseph Smith played an incredible number of roles, some better than others, including prophet , seer, real estate agent, general of militia, candidate for President of the United States, social reformer, journalist, entrepreneur, 178civil war history city developer, banker, and a man with a direct pipeline to God. Without using the devices and trappings of psycho-history, Hill manages skillfully to reconstruct Joseph's complex personality by capturing, not only his many positive traits, but also his frailties and limitations, his doubts and fears, his feelings of guilt and inadequacy , his inconsistencies, and his shrewdness and taste for luxury and power. Despite all of his shortcomings, however, the author steadfastly insists throughout her work that Smith never expressed any doubt about his calling or religion, and that "there is never the slightest suggestion of insincerity" in any of his writings. Another major strength of this work is that the author has placed Smith and early Mormon activities in the broader framework of what was occurring in America and especially the frontier at that time. It is her view that the Mormons reflected the same forces and characteristics that were molding American society on all levels. When discussing the Kirtland Anti-Banking Company, for example, she is careful to place it in the context of the boom and bust economic atmosphere that permeated most of the United States in the late 1830's, while also dealing with the company's ill-effects upon Joseph's reputation and the unity of his church. Although a practicing Mormon, who admits that "my sympathies lie with the Saints" (p. x), the author is to be commended for her genuine effort to remove her biases from her work. She invariably presents evidence on both sides of controversial issues, even though...

Hood's Texas Brigade in Reunion and Memory (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade in Reunion and Memory (review)

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard.

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard.

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard.

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard.

Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard (review)

BOOK REVIEWS259 Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard. By Colonel Harold B. Simpson. (Waco: The Texian Press, 1970. Pp. 493. $10.00.) Texas was located a long way from the principal scenes of the Civil War, but Texans played an important role in the drama by sending some of its finest sons, natural and adopted, to fight in die big battles of the cast. Some went individually and selected dieir own area of service, but most went in the command known affectionately as Hood's Texas Brigade . John B. Hood, its temporary commander, was not a native of die state, but his name is permanently linked widi this fine fighting force. Few units, North or South, saw more combat or suffered greater losses. A shell of itself at war's end, die few who returned brought back enough pride for the entire command. The story of this brigade has been adequately and admirably told by Colonel Harold B. Simpson of die Confederate Research Center at Hillsboro , Texas. Although a Yankee, Colonel Simpson has put his heart and soul into the study of this brigade. Already he has published countless articles and a book, Hood's Texas Brigade In Poetry and Song, on die subject, and two more are projected. Physically, this is a big book, but its print is easily read and is comfortably large. Simpson's style is simple and clear, if a bit detailed, and he seems to be straining a bit during die opening chapters to fill out his narrative. But overall it is a fine addition to Civil War letters. Simpson accurately keeps his focus on the brigade itself, dealing with die glamorous Hood only when he is in actual command or closely affiliated with it. The stories and vignettes about the men, die day-to-day events of die war, and die hardships they endured, makes die war very real to a modern reader. Overgenerous footnoting takes away most of die tedium except for diose who wish it, and Simpson does not hesitate to point out the faults of die group, such as petty theft which he calls "foraging." In fact, he seems to glory in dieir proficiency in diis military "art." The book also has some very fine maps, and not die least of its attractive features is a striking cover design, a reproduction of John Adams Elder's "The Battle of the Crater." Hood's Texas Brigade will make a fine addition to any Civil War library . Archie P. McDonald Stephen F. Austin State University A Southern Record: The Story of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry, C. S. A. By Willie H. Tunnard. Edited by Edwin S. Bearss. (Dayton, O.: Morningside Bookshop, 1970. Pp. xx, 581. $15.00.) War History of the Old First Virginia Infantry Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia. By Charles T. Loehr. (Dayton, O.: Morningside Bookshop, 1970. Pp. vii, 87. $7.50.) ...

Texas in Turmoil: The Saga of Texas, 1849-1875 , and: Texas in the War, 1861-1865 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS277 subject to the disciplining and challenging retorts of the senior statesmen, whose interpretations were, after all, not quite unknown. Nonetheless, this splendid collection is a classic of its type and will undoubtedly elicit widespread gratitude for the efforts of the Institute and of its director, Professor Knoles. Thomas B. Alexander University of Alabama Texas in Turmoil: The Saga of Texas, 1849-1875. By Ernest Wallace. (Austin: Steck-Vaughn Company, 1965. Pp. vii, 293. $2.95.) Texas in the War, 1861-1865. By Marcus J. Wright. Edited by Harold B. Simpson. (Hillsboro, Texas: The Hill Junior College Press, 1965. Pp. xx, 246. $7.50.) Professor Wallace has attempted in Texas in Turmoil to present a connected narrative of Texas history during the turbulent decades of the late antebellum, Civil War, and reconstruction periods. This was an era when Texas was much more of a frontier region than part of the Old South, and her role was in large part shaped and colored by frontier characteristics. In portraying frontier problems and developments, as he does in the first and the last chapters, the author is at his best. Even without supporting citations , Professor Wallace's knowledge and understanding of the Indian problem is obvious to to the reader. In other respects the volume has outstanding shortcomings. As is evidenced by his preface and his epilogue (or bibliographical essay), the author sought to achieve an "accurate history as humanized, interesting, and artistic literature." Brevity may well have contributed to his failure to reach this goal, as he indicates, but even more fundamental defects mar the work. Obviously this volume is not written for the specialized historian but rather for the general reader or for the non-professional historical buff, and the absence of citations is thus understandable. On the other hand, Professor Wallace, as an historian, is responsible for the historical accuracy of his facts. Hood's Texas Brigade was not sent to join Jackson's corps after "McClellan abandoned his Peninsula Campaign," nor were the Texans responsible for McClellan "soon retreating toward the Potomac" after Gaines Mill. It is also highly speculative, and almost certainly inaccurate, to assume that Texans in the twentieth century "still looked with suspicion and contempt upon every 'damned yankee,' " and even a cursory analysis of the various reconstruction plans would reveal that Johnson's process of reconstruction was not "essentially the same as Lincoln's." How a "sizeable gain in population, heavily Negro" made economic conditions worse in Texas in 1870 is difficult to understand, particularly in view of the fact that the proportion of Negro to white population increased by less than two percentage points according to the author's own figures. As "humanized, interesting, and artistic literature" this volume is less open to criticism. The author's style is clear and succinct. Intimate and exciting 278CIVIL WAR HISTORY anecdotes, as well as colorful writing, lend interest to the work and should make it popular with the general reading public. Again, however, brevity at times detracts from interest qualities, as in the chapter on politics of the 1850's which has more the appearance of a political genealogy than an historical resumé of the period. In short, Professor Wallace's objectives and stated purposes are laudatory, but scholars and laymen alike must still await a study in depth of these years of turmoil in the Lone Star state. Texas in the War, 1861-1865 will serve as a valuable reference work for future researchers in Texas military history. The nucleus of the volume is an extensive compilation of statistical data on Texas units and commanders in the Confederate armed forces by General Marcus J. Wright. Since Wright assisted in the compiling of the Official Records, he was in an unusually advantageous position to collect state materials, a task he undertook for Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas. His manuscripts on the latter two states have previously been published, and in this work Colonel Simpson rescues the manuscript on Texas from archival obscurity. To the original manuscript Simpson has added voluminous notes of biographical and historical nature, portraits of military leaders, and appendices of further elaboration. The title is somewhat misleading, but it follows the precedent set...

The Stonewall Brigade , and: Gaines' Mill to Appomattox: Waco & McLennan County in Hood's Texas Brigade (review)

BOOK REVIEWS105 The Stonewall Brigade. By James I. Robertson, Jr. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963. Pp. xiii, 271. $6.00.) Gaines' Mill to Appomattox: Waco b- McLennan County in Hood's Texas Brigade. By Harold B. Simpson. (Waco: Texian Press, 1963. Pp. xii, 294. $7.50. ) In the years immediately following the Civil War a number of unit histories, written largely by the participants themselves, emerged. While these works had a certain charm and freshness, they represented in most instances simply the reminiscences of one or more individuak written without any overview of the whole conflict. Even with the outpouring of twentieth century literature on the war there have been few satisfactory modem studies of the military units whose names became legendary. Therefore, the present works relating to two of the most famous Confederate brigades are particularly welcome. They represent a genuine contribution to an understanding of the military phase of the war. James I. Robertson, executive director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission, has presented a model of conciseness, thoroughness, and judiciousness in tracing the history of the Stonewall Brigade. Originally designated as Virginia's First Brigade, the unit and its initial commander, Thomas J. Jackson, received their nicknames at First Manassas, where they "stood like a stone wall." From Manassas dirough Spotsylvania the Stonewall Brigade was in the thick of the most savage fighting. Of die eight men who commanded the unit only three—Andrew Grigsby, "Stonewall Jim" Walker, and William Terry—survived die war. So heavy were the losses at Spotsylvania that die brigade was consolidated with remnants of three other brigades and served the last year of the war in relative obscurity. Although the men of the Stonewall Brigade were renowned for their aggressiveness, courage, and audacity, they were not without fault, and, as Dr. Robertson so skillfully points out, could grumble, sulk, despair, and become just plain bored like all soldiers. They were especially suspicious of new commanders, but once convinced that a general "was bold in battle" the men of the Stonewall Brigade would give their complete allegiance and support. Air Force Colonel Harold B. Simpson has directed his study to Company E of the 4th Texas Infantry. Organized in July, 1861, the company was recruited in and around Waco and as a part of Hood's Texas Brigade its members gained a reputation as aggressive fighters and were used by General Lee in the most crucial moments of combat. And like the Stonewall Brigade, its losses were heavy; Company E sustained over 60 per cent casualties in the war and was commanded by a sergeant when surrender came at Appomattox. Both works are well-written and competently organized, although Colonel Simpson's attempt to bring in the story of domestic affairs in McLennan County during the conflict, while laudable in itself, detracts from his central theme. Both books are carefully researched but not without some curious omissions; for example, Dr. Robertson cites several biographies of Stonewall Jackson but fails to list Lenoir Chambers' excellent volumes. Colonel Simpson, 106C I VIL WA R HI S TO R Y who makes thorough use of several hitherto untapped manuscript sources for military accounts, especially the diary of Sergeant Oscar J. Downs, relies too heavily upon weak secondary materiak for his early chapters and faik to exploit John P. Dyer's Galhnt Hood, still one of the finest studies of the gaunt Texan. And unfortunately there are several spelling errors and index omissions which detract from Simpson's spirited narrative. On the whole, however, The Stonewall Brigade and Gaines' Mill to Appomattox are sound works and may open the door to further investigation of important units that served in the Civil War. Ralph A. Wooster Lamar State College of Technology General Leónidas Polk, C.S.A.: The Fighting Bishop. By Joseph H. Parks. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1962. Pp. x, 408. $7.50.) Judged by antebellum standards, Leónidas Polk was a remarkably versatile man—planter, bishop, and general. He practiced all of the most honored Southern professions except law and politics. Almost immediately after graduation from West Point in 1827 he resigned his commission to prepare for the Epkcopal...