Schofield: Union General in the Civil War and Reconstruction (review)

BOOK REVIEWS273 work is illustrated with black and white photographs and drawings of soldiers, officers and reproductions of covers of "Civil War Times Illustrated ." Many of the photographs will be familiar to Civil War students but many are unusual and have not appeared previously. Confederate Army and Navy regulations are also cited and the text is supplemented by contemporary sketches and photographs. Two appendices list suppliers of Union and Confederate uniform items and describe methods of preservation and restoration of uniforms used by the Smithsonian Institution. United States Firearms, The First Century, 1776-1875, is what the author intends it to be: "A detailed account of the design evolution of American small arms, with newly developed information on their ballistics ." The author briefly describes weapons systems prior to 1775 and then covers in detail all major American weapons developments from the Revolution until 1875. The photographs of the weapons are good but the real strength of this work lies in the excellent line drawings of weapon mechanisms, details of parts and early types of cartridges . Many of these drawings include thread sizes and exact dimensions of each part of the mechanism. Tables are also included on bullet types, powder charges, recoil, ranges and bullet velocities. Much of this information, particularly on early weapons, has not been previously published. The criticisms of this work are few and minor. The text of each section of the book appears to have been written separately and there is some loss of continuity and repetition. The author occasionally departs from his technical expertise and makes generalized statements on weapons which may not be entirely valid. An example of this is his statement that the Model 1862 Remington Rifle was often issued to Zouave troops. There appears to be little evidence that these rifles were ever issued to any troops. Drawings of the breech mechanisms of single shot and repeating, sporting and military arms of the Civil W7ar and immediate post war period are well done and are supplemented by patent correspondence and specifications. This book is recommended to anyone interested in guns and will be of particular value to readers interested in weapons design and technology . Philip M. Cavanaugh Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania Schofield: Union General in the Civil War and Reconstruction. By James L. McDonough. (Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1972. Pp. x, 208. $10.00. ) In Schofield: Union General in the Civil War and Reconstruction James L. McDonough recounts part of the General's military career, one which spanned nearly a half a century—from his entrance in the Military 274 CIVIL WAR HISTORY Academy at W7est Point in 1849 to his retirement as Lieutenant General in 1895. A Florida assignment and Math instructorships at W7est Point and Washington University preceded his Civil W7ar service which began in St. Louis in 1861, mustering troops as an aide and then adjutant general for Federal Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. For three years he served his war apprenticeship in the internecine warfare and guerrilla actions in Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas, earning the respect of both President Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant with his capable leadership, especially in his administrative accomplishments. Field service came in 1864, first as commander of the Army of the Ohio in General William T. Sherman's Atlanta campaign and then as a corps commander in the defense of Nashville against his former W7est Point classmate, General John B. Hood. Though often involved in controversy with his Nashville senior commander, General George H. Thomas, controversy that raged long after the war, Schofield showed dogged field leadership and good judgment in the bloody engagements in central Tennessee. Assigned to pursue Hood's army, a last minute change in orders transferred him to North Carolina, where he ended the war commanding troops in the final assault against the army of General Joseph E. Johnston. Following the war other attractive assignments came—restoring civil government in defeated North Carolina, traveling as special envoy to France to engage the attention of Emperor Louis Napoleon as to the concern of the United States over the presence of French troops in Mexico, and commanding the First Military District, one of the five such districts created in 1867 by a...