The Civil War (review)

102CIVIL WA R HISTORY pointaient as a reward for his work. His appointment as minister to Russia came as a disappointment. This took him safely out of the country while Lincoln maneuvered to save Kentucky for the Union. By August, 1862, Clay was back in the United States and had joined die Radical opposition group in criticizing the administration. Lincoln handled this situation witii his usual finesse. He won the egotistic Clay by a little flattery and then sent him back to Russia. Weighing his chances for advancement in 1869, when he returned to die United States, Clay cast his lot widi diose who opposed die Radicals dien in power. He joined with Horace Greeley in criticizing the Grant administration . By 1875 he had joined die Democratic party and made his last bid for political power. His usual luck prevaüed. In 1880 he again supported die Democrats, but in 1884 rejoined die Republican party. Cassius Clay's first marriage ended in divorce in 1876; at die age of eightyfour he married a fourteen-year-old girl. This marriage lasted only a few years. Lonely, sick, and tortured by insane fears, the pathetic old man died in 1903. Although the author has done a good job of research and writing, the subject of his study seems more suited for the novelist dian die historian. Cassius Clay was a selfish, ambitious man, and the reviewer finds little in an account of his life that is of constructive historical value. Harrtet Chappell Owsley Tennessee State Library and Archives The Civil War. By Harry Hansen. (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1962. Pp.672. $4.95.) This book has a strange history. First issued in 1961 as an original paperback , it now appears in a hardbound edition. Mr. Hansen has added a few final words on "What Became of the Generals"; otherwise, this edition is identical to the earlier paperbound one. Even the type is the same, the publishers having used a photo-offset process. The Civil War appears with trumpets blaring. The dust jacket declares that it is "the best, most complete one-volume history ... of America's tragic Civd War." ActuaUy, it is a barely warmed-up dish of leftovers, lacking originality, style, or body. Mr. Hansen's emphasis is almost entirely military, so that the book lacks balance, and as he ignores pre- and post-war developments in the art of war, it lacks perspective. Since Mr. Hansen gives no clue as to his sources, and as he makes frequent mistakes—both of fact and interpretation—one must conclude that he simply has not read the relevant literature. A few examples must suffice. To dismiss abolitionists as "people who hated slavery and wanted it abolished everywhere forthwith" is both wrong and irresponsible. Lincoln's original call was for 75,000 militia, not volunteers, as Hansen mistakenly asserts. Much more was involved in Secretary of the Treasury Chase's resignation than "a political appointment in New York City." The myth that Henry HaUeck "took one Book Reviews103 month to cover the thirty miles to Corinth from Shiloh, and . . . had the troops throwing up entrenchments every night" was exploded long ago. Stephen A. Douglas did not lose his hold on Southern Democrats because "he refused to tolerate secession," but for a variety of complex reasons. Hansen fails completely to understand why the War Department insisted on leaving twelve thousand men at Harpers Ferry in September, 1862. His estimate of Confederate dead, 133,821, is absurdly low. Mr. Hansen's chronology is confusing. He discusses die Dred Scott decision (1857) before the Wilmot Proviso (1846), the Crittenden Compromise ( 1860) before the Lincoln-Douglas debates ( 1858) , and the fall of Fort Sumter (April, 1861) before Lincoln's inauguration (March, 1861). To make mercifuUy short what could have been a long critique, The Civd War violates every rule of good historiography and has nothing to recommend it. Stephen E. Ambrose Louisiana State University in New Orleans Decision in Mississippi: Mississippfs Important Role in the War Between the States. By Edwin C. Bearss. (Jackson: Mississippi Commission on the War Between the States, 1962. Pp. xvi, 636. $5.95.) No one knows the complicated details of the...