Confederate Imprints (review)

Book Reviews119 The central narrative is presented with great regard for the basic elements of good composition, the story moves forward smoothly and logicaUy, and the events are woven together into a weU organized pattern. As a result , the grand strategy of the North is brought out wih clarity. The theme that "destiny lay in the west," that Antietam and not Gettysburg was rhe"highwater mark" of the Confederacy, that Sherman's march to the sea "straight through the southern heart land" resulted in the final crashing of the morale as well as the resources of the South, flows so inexorably that the unsophisticated reader is left with Uttle choice of conjecturing plausible alternatives. When it comes to the campaigns and battles, however, a book of this length is unable to present them in any but a sketchy fashion. MiUtary history is not substance which can be compressed to yield its essence. John Bigelow says in his preface to The Campaign of Chancellorsvüle, "I have tried to provide the reader with such maps as he wül need, but I am aware that I have not made his way a royal road. There is no comfortable way of reading miUtary history. Whoever expects to foUow a campaign reclining in an easy chair with a book in one hand and a cigar in the other is doomed to disappointment ." As in Mr. Carton's previous books, the maps in this present volume are inadequate. Whüe a reader may get an emotional reaction from the description of the battles at ChanceUorsviUe and Antietam, it is doubtful whether he can carry away any clear conception of their ebb and flow or of the drama of hard, dry facts which in both instances transcends any romance or significance which may be superimposed upon them. It is here also that the serious student will find the weakness of the romantic approach most apparent . There is room, nevertheless, to present character studies of the generals and the men, which have the depth developed by life-long acquaintanceship. In particular, Grant, Thomas, and Sherman come aUve forcibly with that sense of significant individuaUty which only a master can instiU in a portrait. Mr. Carton's romantic approach to his subject and the excellence of his craftsmanship identify him with that modem school of eminent historians, which includes Lloyd Lewis and Carl Sandburg and which has proven that beautiful writing can be used for fact as well as for fancy. Of those writing today he is certainly one of the foremost members of this group. This HaUowed Ground can only strengthen such a claim. PERCIVAL G. HART Beverly Hills, California. Confederate Imprints. By Marjorie LyIe Crandall. 2 volumes. (Boston: The Boston Athenaeum. 1955. Pp. xxxv, 910. $15.00.) A SUB-TITLE TO THIS INVALUABLE BIBLIOGRAPHER'S TOOL IS "A Check List Based Principally on the Collection of the Boston Athenaeum," which indicates the source of the major portion of the material embodied in this reprint and amplification of the weU known, useful, and scarce Confederate Literature pubUshed by the Athenaeum in 1917 (popularly known to bibliographers and 120CIVIL WAR HISTORY cataloguers as "Baxter and Dearborn"). In addition to tiie holdings of tiie Athenaeum, however, the present work also includes those Confederate imprints Usted in the Union Catalogue of the Library of Congress, those reported to the Athenaeum by their owners, and those listed in selected modern bibhographies . An idea of its thoroughness may be gathered from the fact that it records 5,121 items, exclusive of newspapers and periodicals. It is the closest thing to a complete catalogue of Confederate imprints that is available to the student or collector today. The first volume of this work is devoted to the official publications of the Confederate States of America and of the various individual Confederate states. The second volume covers the non-official pubhcations produced in the Confederacy, including miUtary manuals, fiction, music, biography, history, Bibles, and many others. It is illustrated with a number of photographic reproductions of Usted items. Comment on this publication would be incomplete without paying tribute to the alert foresight of the Library Committee of the Boston Athenaeum which immediately after the...