Struggle for the Round Tops: Laws Alabama Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg (review)

178CIVIL WAR HISTORY vided a greater imperative for him to connect his relatively meager local black material with that available from the bigger picture of Civil War participation by black men. In fairness to the author, it must be noted that this is an unpretentious book. The author states clearly the motivations behind his research: "The lack of recognition given to the contributions of African American troops from Philadelphia motivated the research for Strike the Blow as a doctoral dissertation at Temple University." The author achieves this modest goal by providing due recognition of these black soldiers. Had he chosen to pursue the wider implications of his findings, this fine example of local military history might have achieved greater resonance. Myra B. Young Armstead Bard College Strugglefor the Round Tops: LawsAlabama Brigade at the Battle ofGettysburg. By Morris M. Penny and J. Gary Lane. (Shippensburg, Pa.: Burd Street Press, 1999. Pp. v, 254. $24.95.) In this traditional miUtary history, the authors reconstruct the movements of Law's Brigade at Gettysburg. Their telling ofthe story misses Uttle: readers will be able to arrive on the field with the Brigade andjoin it as it engaged the enemy around Devil's Den and the Round Tops. Those interested in the movement of armies wiU find the book satisfactory. Unfortunately the authors do not pursue some promising excursions into the social history of the military and the experience of common soldiers. Some of the bettermoments in the book come early, when the authors provide biographical information on commanders and others in the brigade. They might have expanded their scope somewhat by collecting similar data on common soldiers. With such material, the authors might then have contributed to our understanding of the socioeconomic structure of the Confederate army and the reasons men fought. As it is, the authors reveal very little about common soldiers and even less about what they believed was their stake in the conflict. This absence of attention to concerns of "the new military history" is most evident in treatment of desertion. The authors mention the problem but say very Uttle about its extent or what it revealed about the state of the army at that point. Other studies of the military during the Civil War have used the problem of desertion in the Confederate army as a window through which to assess the depth of "Southern nationalism ," the decline in soldiers romantic notions about war, and the impact of bad news from the home front on the commitment of men to "the cause." The authors of this book never reveal any consideration of Gary Gallagher's provocative argument in The Confederate War. Nor do the authors ask questions so thoughtfully posed and pursued in Gerald Linderman's Embattled Courage. They remain content with the narrowest approach possible to miltiary history book reviews179 and in so doing fail to capture fully the reality of the Civil War experience for the Alabama men about whom they write. Henry M. McKiven Jr. University of South Alabama A Texas Cavalry Officer's Civil War: The Diary and Letters ofJames C. Bates. Edited by Richard Lowe. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999. Pp. 366. $34-95·) James Campbell Bates entered Confederate service as a private in Company H of the Ninth Texas Cavalry and, despite a near-fatal facial wound suffered early in the Atlanta campaign, ended the War as the regiment's Ueutenant colonel, commanding. Nevera slaveholder, Bates was a yeoman-class farmer from Lamar County on what was then the Texas frontier, and, as Richard Lowe observes, was "intelligent, well educated, courageous, physically hearty, burning with resentment of the Yankees, and deeply committed to Confederate victory." Bates was also a remarkably lucid and vivid writer, and his Civil War letters and diary bring to their readers a wonderful sense of immediacy and a fresli— although necessarily limited—perspective onthebattles and campaigns ofRoss's Texas Cavalry Brigade, one of the South's most famous and effective military units. Bates and his regiment played a vital role in many ofthe pivotal engagements oftheWesterntheater, includingElkhornTavern, Corinth, the Holy Springs Raid, and Thompson's Station, as well as numerous nameless cavalry actions northwest ofAtlanta and during...