Book Notes

BOOK NOTES Civil War Railroads. By George B. Abdul. (Seattle, Wash.: Superior Publishing Co., 1961. Pp. 192. $12.50.) A special feature in Civil War History's September, 1961, issue on railroads was an unusual gaUery of photographs pertaining to the Iron Horse of the 1860's. These iUustrations were used through the permission of George Abdill and Superior Publishing Company, and were but a small sampling of the contents of this recently released work. Over 200 photographs in this elongated book are linked together with a narrative of railroad growth, conversion to wartime duties, raids, destruction, and overaU performance. The author, himself a railroad engineer, writes with clarity and authority. The photographs are not only of locomotives and rolling stock, but also include yard scenes, depots, bridges, wreckage—even portraits of such railroad officials as Herman Haupt, Craig McCallum and Thomas A. Scott. Not only is the sum result a reference work that wiU hold its own for years to come; it is also an interest-holding study of great appeal to anyone with a penchant for the Civil War or the Iron Horse of yesteryear. Politics and the Crisis of 1860. Edited by Norman A. Graebner. (Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1961. Pp. xii, 156. $3.00.) This short study is the product of five papers read at the 1960 Gettysburg College Civil War Seminar. If the work hangs together loosely around a rather broad theme, it nevertheless will surely spark meditation and new research. Each of the five writers is a recognized scholar; each writes of a subject in which he is particularly well-versed. Norman A. Graebner discusses The Politicians and Slavery"; Don E. Fehrenbacher analyzes The Republican Decision at Chicago"; Robert Johannsen recreates" Douglas at Charleston"; William E. Baringer develops "The Republican Triumph"; and Avery Craven summarizes the period adroitly with The Fatal Predicament." That the writers differ among themselves over major aspects of the period is not important, since interpretative historians are prone to arrive at different conclusions even though given the same basic facts. What is valuable in this study is its stimulation of thought and its seeds for further study. Moreover, readers will find throughout, provocative and quotable statements such as that of Avery Craven: "The old and ever-present problem of a just balance between local freedom and central efficiency cannot be solved by force—even by civil war—but must be sought in wise and tolerant statesmanship ." 103 104CIVIL WAR HISTORY Rebel Religion. By Herman Norton. ( St. Louis: Bethany Press, 1961. Pp. 144. $2.75.) In Civil War History's special religious issue (December, 1960) appeared an article on revivalism in the Confederate armies. The author was Rev. Herman Norton, a former army chaplain and now dean of the Disciples Divinity House of Vanderbilt University. Just as that article was taken from Rev. Norton's dissertation, so also is this small but valuable study. It treats of the Confederate chaplaincy, its duties and its members. While a majority of the chapters recount the spiritual aspects of the "padres in gray," additional sections point out the many, inconspicuous duties that chaplains performed— as well as the outstanding feats of valor that some of them performed above and beyond the call of duty. A long appendix contains as complete a roster of Confederate chaplains as has ever been compiled, and the bibliography is more than adequate. It is unfortunate that someone saw fit to delete all footnotes from the study, and to engage in that increasingly prevalent weakness of omitting an index. These shortcomings notwithstanding, Rebel Religion is a small study worthy of purchase and perusal. Index to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Introduction by Philip Van Doren Stern. ( New York: Antiquarian Press, Ltd. Pp. xviii, 457. $17.50. ) Other than the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records, no governmental publication on the Civil War has been more difficult to obtain than the relatively slim index to the thirty volumes of the ORN-the Official Records of the Federal and Confederate Navies. Therefore, researchers and coUectors alike should welcome eagerly the republication of the index. In contrast to the original edition, this...