These Rugged Days: Alabama in the Civil War by John S. Sledge (review)

Written for a popular audience and published on the eve of the state's bicentennial, this monograph provides an excellent summary of events in Civil War Alabama. Throughout These Rugged Days: Alabama in the Civil War, author John S. Sledge skillfully weaves the full context of the progress of the war while maintaining focus on events in Alabama. Some historians may quibble that the list of primary sources used is rather scant. Indeed, Sledge does rely heavily on secondary sources, but he uses a wide variety of those sources, and with elements from these works he crafts a uniquely comprehensive narrative of the state.

These Rugged Days sets the stage with an overview of Alabama on the eve of secession and then unfolds a fast-paced story of the relatively minor clashes between Union forces on the one hand and Alabama's citizens and more or less organized military units on the other hand. Sledge does not overstate the relative importance of these military activities, but he does make a case for reconsidering the view that little of moment occurred—certainly, the people of the state keenly felt the impact of the war. Sledge successfully incorporates diverse storylines, from cavalry raids (first in northern and later in southern areas of the state) to naval activities (on land and sea) in the Mobile Bay area. He addresses the ebb and flow of occupation by Union forces in the Tennessee River Valley and the results of Union and Confederate intrusion into the lives of both slave and free populations. A relatively minor but important portion of the text considers diplomatic affairs, particularly as related to blockade-runners in the aftermath of the Trent affair and to the Confederacy's purchase of ships from British companies.

Like any good storyteller, Sledge considers not only events but also people. Often included are descriptions of physical attributes and personalities, descriptions that enrich the text by sharing a sense of the person (such as nicknames, as in Brigadier General Richard Lucian "Ramrod" Page) and his or her individual agency in determining the outcome of military and political events rather than simply chronicling the actor's role in those events.

Sledge's training is as an architectural historian, and this background is evident in descriptions of structures pertinent to the topic. Merely one instance is the detailed description, supplemented by a sketch, of the prison camp Castle Morgan at the site of Cahaba, an early state capital.

Although passages address the impact of events and privation for all on the home front, Sledge is clearly at his best in describing military and particularly naval action. Drawing heavily on firsthand accounts, a vivid picture of the battle of Mobile Bay emerges, capturing the drama of the engagement. One example: "Perched atop Fort Morgan's parapets, officer of the day Lt. Julian Whiting couldn't believe his eyes. . . . [S]trengthening light and lifting fog revealed the Federal line of battle in stately procession, the Stars and Stripes fluttering from every mast. . . . All around the bay, Rebel soldiers and sailors were mesmerized by the unfolding spectacle" (p. 131). Sledge also supplies the reader with a delightfully entertaining narrative of the CSS Florida's dash into Mobile Bay with a feverish commander John Newland Maffitt lashed to the rail.

Most professional historians will find little that is new here, but Sledge's work serves well its purpose for general audiences, as These Rugged Days provides a useful, engaging summation of a tumultuous period in Alabama's history.