Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times of Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman (review)

238Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times ofMajor General Samuel P Heintzelman. By Jerry Thompson. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2006. Pp. 464. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 1585445355. $35.00, cloth.) Owing to the circumstances of his birth and early life, one might not ordinarily expect Samuel Peter Heintzelman to become a soldier in the United States Army. Born in the picturesque town ofManheim in the heart ofGerman Ludieran Pennsylvania, his early interests were elsewhere. His lifelong enthusiasms included opera, the fine arts, Shakespearian drama, belles lettres, poetry, and theological and philosophical dieory, all ofwhich would seem to be more conducive to following otfier padis. Nevertheless, when the opportunity for a fully funded education came his way by an appointment to the United States Military Academy, he seized it. He owed the honor to his congressman,James Buchanan, who later became the fifteenth president of the United States. The small, frail, and barely seventeen-year-old Heintzelman, who was described in his nomination as "the son ofa very respectable German" and "intelligent beyond what I would have expected from a boy his age" (p. 3), arrived at West Point with misgivings. Despite its alien atmosphere, where novels and poetry were forbidden, he comported himselfwith dignity and by dogged determination and perseverance managed to graduate seventeenth in a class offorty-two, all the while avoiding athletic rigors in favor of the flute and chess. He got along reasonably well with his new acquaintances, including those who would play a major role as military enemies in his future—Robert E. Lee, Leónidas Polk, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, andJefferson Davis. In early childhood, Heintzelman lost his mother, and his benevolent father died in his third year at die academy. Restrictions were such that he could not attend his father's funeral; it was more dian a year before he could view his parent's grave. The rigor of his academic life allowed little time for mourning, and he was more determined man ever to perform creditably. Upon graduation, he hoped for an assignment with the topographical engineering corps, but his grades, as good as they were, did not permit the ambition. Instead, he found himself in the infantry although an engineering position ultimately opened up for him. Thus itwas that he spentyears ofservice in the chill ofthe Lake Huron countryand the heat ofTexas and Arizona. There was some relief from die weatfier extremes in San Diego, California, where he also dabbled in real estate investments. Throughout his life he entered into a number of unrewarding entrepreneurial ventures in gold and, especially, silver mining. All the while, he served his country fighting against Indians and later in die war with Mexico. In both instances he performed well. His service in the Civil War began propitiously enough with the command of the Third Corps in the Army ofthe Potomac during the Peninsula campaign. Here he came to admire Joe Hooker, Philip Kearny, and Dan Sickles. His initial admiration of George McClellan declined, and, ultimately, he would be critical of his commander'sjudgment in his appearance before the committee to investigate the conduct of the war. Heintzelman's career took a downward turn upon assuming the defense ofWashington state. 2oo7 Book Reviews239 Banished to the West, he supervised prisoner-of-war camps and reported on Copperheads. During Reconstruction he was only somewhat effectual against unreconstructed rebels in Texas, partly because of his politics. "They can't make me a radical" (p. 308), he once defiantly asserted. Retirement soon followed. This well-written and well-researched book has the merit ofbeing bom a life and a times biography. Professor Thompson should be congratulated for his perforTexas Slate University-San MarcosJames Pohl Redemption: The Last Battle ofthe Civil War. By Nicholas Lemann. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Pp. 270. Note to readers, prologue, notes, note on sources, index. ISBN 0374248559. $24.00, cloth.) Redemption: The Last Battle ofthe Civil Waris a thoroughly researched and wellwritten account of the violence that plagued Mississippi during the final days of Reconstruction. Lemann reminds his readers that the Civil War did not end with the surrender of Robert E...