American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Gentlemen,

I have some book tokens to spend, and I'm looking for recommendations on any good ACW books you've read recently. And how is this on topic for the club? Simple!

I'm looking for books that deal with any campaign covered by the HPS games. [8D] Doesn't have to be new, but being still in print would help. [:I]

Brig Gen Sean Turner
3rd Cavalry Division, "Yankee Thrasher"
I Corps
Army of Alabama

Sean,

I enjoyed "Lee's Maverick General" Bridges, its about my favorite underrated confederate general, D.H.Hill.
Also this past Sunday I picked up "The Right Hand of Command" by R. Stevens Jones, about the use & disuse of personal staffs in the civil war, at Barns & Nobel, hard cover bargain bin...$3.99,(that might not do you any good in UK) have only gotten through the preface so at this point I can only recommend its price. "Make Me A Map of the Valley" Hotchkiss, an interesting perspective of the Valley campaign, map making and Jackson. And anything by Shelby Foote is worth the read.

<font color="blue"><b>Colonel R.A.Weir</b></font id="blue">
<font color="yellow">-- CALVERT LINE --</font id="yellow">

<b>First--III--AoA CSA</b>

For Gettysburg, I enjoyed Trudeau's "Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage"

I have not had a chance to read all of Harry Pfanz's three books on the battle, but the two I have read have been very good as well.

Stephen Sears has a book on Gettysburg that I have not read, but if you have read any of his other books, you should enjoy Gettysburg if you enjoyed the others.

However, I would also recommend reading a book on Fredricksburg, then Sears' "Chancellorsville" before reading his Gettysburg as you cannot study the Gettyburg campaign oustide of the context of the events of Chancellorsville, which are linked to Fredricksburg. I find it better to study the "phases" of the war, not just individual battles. For instance, the series of events from the Peninsula, to Cedar Mountain, to Seconod Manassas, to Anteitam, to the armies settling in at Fredricksburg are all one string of highly related events that cannot be truly appreciated if they are not all studied together in context. Likewise the battle or Fredricksburg, the Chancellorsville campaign, then Gettysburg and the retreat back to Virginia are all one big group. Then the Wilderness to the seiges of Petersburg and Richmond are a phase, with the last phase being the breaking of the seige lines to Appomatox. I believe that we can study any of those "phases" together on their own and understand them, but to study any single battle from one of those without first having an understanding of the strategic developments leading up to it takes away from the experience.

But I digress!

And while they aren't covered by any HPS or BG games (YET?!?!?!?), the overland campaign of 1864 has no equal than the writings of Gordon Rhea, whose four books (so far) on the subject are deserving of any award currently available to mankind.

Regards,
Captain Alan Lynn
3rd Battery "Jacksonville Greys"
4th Div, II Corps, AoA
God bless <><

General Turner,

I concur with Captain Lynn. I highly recommend Sears' "Gettysburg", but if you have enough tokens pick up his "Chancellorsville" also and read it first. Since the HPS Gettysburg picks up between these two, you should be ready and raring to go by the time you've finished them [;)] .


Your humble servant,
LGen 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

David W. Mallory
ACW - Lieutenant General, First ('Grey Line') Corps, AotM
CCC - Corporal, Georgia Volunteers, Southern Regional Deaprtment, Colonial American Army

I would concur. Also, for my feeling Sears' books have rather improved over time. I found "To the Gates of Richmond" and "Landscape Turned Red" OK but not that remarkable (some parts were a bit tedious), but "Chancellorsville" really caught me, and, as has been said before, read "Gettysburg" after that because it picks the story up where Chancellorsville ends. What a pity he has no book on F'burg.

Gen. Walter, USA
AoS / War College

William Shea on Pea Ridge is a great book. I give it my highest recomendation. Since reading that, the Pea Ridge campaign has become my absolute favorite in all the games.

Peter Cozzens has a good one on Corinth-Iuka (a bit better than his better known books on Murfeesboro and Chickamauga IMNVHO).



Col. Gary McClellan
1st Division, XXIII Corps
AoO,USA

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by D.S. Walter</i>
<br />I would concur. Also, for my feeling Sears' books have rather improved over time. I found "To the Gates of Richmond" and "Landscape Turned Red" OK but not that remarkable (some parts were a bit tedious), but "Chancellorsville" really caught me, and, as has been said before, read "Gettysburg" after that because it picks the story up where Chancellorsville ends. What a pity he has no book on F'burg.

Gen. Walter, USA
AoS / War College
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I agree about Sears. I wasn't nearly as impressed with Landscape Turned Red as it seems most people are - I would count at least four other books on the Sharpsburg campaign as being better that LTR by Sears, but I seem to be in the minority opinion on that one... But I've heard nothing but pretty good things about the new Gettysburg book, and Chancellorsville was much improved over his earlier work.

I doubt I will read Gettysburg any time soon given that most reveiws say it isn't extremely detailed like Pfanz or Trudeau, and since I have already read some detailed accounts, I don't need a "refresher" at the moment. I'll hold off a few years for that one...

Regards,
Captain Alan Lynn
3rd Battery "Jacksonville Greys"
4th Div, II Corps, AoA
God bless <><

Sir,

Even though the book doesn't cover any Campaign done by HPS, Donnybrook by Detzer is the best campaign history I've read in a while. It covers the First Battle of Bull Run. It is so enjoyable because he really captures the flavor of the fighting from microscopic to macrscopic level. Clausewitz's fog & friction of war come alive. Had to put in my 2 cents worth.

Dale
Cpt. Dale Henken
2/1/XVI/AoT-USA

I have to concur on Trudeau's book as I loved it. I'm currently reading Covington's "A Study in Command" and I am fascinated by it. It covers the Gettysburg campaign and goes into detail on why some decisions were made and their implications. I find it very enlightening.

General Mark Nelms
Union Chief of the Army

I always enjoy when topics like this are posted. I would also mention Robert Krick's "Conquering the Valley - Stonewall Jackson at Port Republic." It as a very enlightening book about Jackson in the Valley and some of the key players in the action there at the end of his campaign in 1862. When I visited the Shenandoah Valley this past summer I could visualize many of the things Krick talked about. As I stood looking across the river where the covered bridge over the Nort River stood in Port Republic I could just see Jackson yelling at the Yankee artillery to come on over the bridge and then, realizing they were Yankee's, ride like the Devil to get out of their sights. [:)]

Just recently, I took a break from the "heavy" reading of history and bought Harry Turtledove's alternate history novel "Guns of the South". The picture on the cover tells it all. [:)] !



Yes, that is an AK-47 Lee is holding. A fun read, especially if you are a die hard old (emphasis on "old") Rebel like me.[8D]


Lt. Gen. Don Adams
5th Texas "Lone Star" Cavalry Brigade
I/III ANV
http://www.rootsandsaddles.com/index.htm

A counterfactual-history civil war novel that I enjoyed enormously is "Bring the Jubilee" by Ward Moore. The story starts in an alternate world--it's New York in the 1930s, only the South has won its independence and divided North America is in a state of permanent backwardness. There are some modern technologies, but not necessarily the ones we'd expect, or they have different names. So far, so nice ... but the real surprise comes in, say, the last third of the novel ... when we learn that it's not the the "alternate" world that's really alternate. [;)]

Gen. Walter, USA
AoS / War College

For something different about the CW I highly recommend "The Bloody Crucible of Courage" by Nosworthy. It's main focus is weapons and tactics but it is one of the reasons I became convinced that HPS's system better simulated CW than the Battleground series.

The other book is "Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg" by Troy Harman. This isn't another description of the battle. His focus is on what Lee was attempting to do based on his orders as opposed to what did happen due to the failure of command within the army.

Col. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1st Div, I Corps, AoM (CSA)

Found this old post and was wondering is there a website that has most of the books written on the ACW listed and a brief synopsis on each.

_________________
General Cam McOmish

Brigade Commander
Alabama State Volunteers
Cleburne's Division
Hardee's Corps
(1/1/1)
Army of Tennessee
Confederate States of America

Gentlemen

Previous postings here have identified many fine books. One I would like to add on the Gettysburg Campaign is:

Gettysburg Campaign Atlas by Philip Laino
This book comprises 421 maps covering the approach to Gettysburg (inc all actions), the battle itself and the retreat during period 3 June to 14 July 1863. It is extremely detailed with all actions covered by maps and an accompanying explanatory text on the same page. By the way Philip Laino is cartographer for Gettysburg Magazine (another excellent publication). I find that I continually refer to the maps in this book whilst reading Pfanz, Sears or any of the fine books referred to earlier. It is often a pain referring backwards and forwards to maps in the book you are reading & this atlas makes it so much easier.

In a similar vein the Maps of ...... Series published by Savas Beattie is also excellent. Battles covered so far are Gettysburg, Chickamauga & 1st Bull Run. These have a more comprehensive explanatory text accompanying a numerous and extensive set of maps. Very good for understanding some of the more confusing aspects of these battles.

_________________
General Stewart Stiles

Army of Northern Virginia

Lots of good recomendations here.

http://acwbn.blogspot.com/

Brig Gen. Elkin
Horse Artillery/3rd Div/(2nd Cav)/XVI Corps
AotT

_________________
I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies. . . . Let us look before us, and not behind