HOW THE NORTH WON: A Military History of the Civil War

by Herman & Arthur Jones Hattaway ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1982

Strictly a military history--and without the clarity and cogency of a text or the dramatic sweep and color of a popular narrative. Hattaway and Jones moreover assume, as the title indicates, that the war was won on the battlefields; but they differ somewhat--though not as much as they make out--from the leading recent proponent of that view, the late T. Harry Williams, who attributed the Northern victory to superior generalship. Hattaway and Jones also take extensive, indeed assiduous note of logistical and strategic factors, and the North's ""superior managerial systems."" In the main, however, their book is a close account of each successive engagement with very little summarization to aid the novice and far too much quotation for comfortable reading. (Typically: ""About the beginning of the third week in May 'ammunition and subsistence' reached Grant in sufficient quantities, enabling him to advance. He then planned to 'send the wagons back for more to follow' and communicate with Grand Gulf 'no more except it becomes necessary to send a train with heavy escort.'"") Nonetheless, the very best of the one-volume histories, Peter Parish's The American Civil War (1975), has considerably less military detail, while the notable military histories (single- or multi-volume) are told from the Union or Confederate point of view. And historians Hattaway and Jones, both specialists in Confederate military affairs, do give buffs a great deal to consider, by way of replays and analysis.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1982

ISBN: 0252062108

Page Count: -

Publisher: Univ. of Illinois Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION