The Continuing War

The Continuing War EDITED BY JAMES I. ROBERTSON, JR. Department of History, Emory University Atlanta, Georgia of the innumerable women's narratives that followed in the wake of the Civil War, Phoebe Yates Pember's A Southern Woman's Story ranks with the elite. The widow Pember exhibited keen insight into human nature while serving as superintendent of Richmond's Chimborazo Hospital . Her narrative, first published in 1879, is void of that glossiness incorporated by so many pro-Southern writers to disguise Confederate weaknesses, particularly the various shortcomings of Rebel soldiers. At the same time, Mrs. Pember displayed a deep appreciation of the solid qualities of the Southern masses, their uncomplaining manner, and the silence withwhich they enduredfouryears of extreme hardships. As the late Dr. Freeman said of the author, "If historians have lapsed since Mrs. Pember's day in realistic treatment of the war, the fault assuredly is not hers." This month McCowat-Mercer Press releases a new edition of Phoebe Pember's story, an edition containing much more than the simple republication of the narrative. Dr. Bell Wüey, who edited the work, has added over twenty of Mrs. Pember's letters—correspondence of such revealing insight that it ranks on a par with the ultra-scarce autobiography itself. Further enlightened by access to the author's personal copy ofher memoirs, Dr. Wüey has made extensive use of marginal notes and other insertions. Replete with new title and many illustrations, this new edition is an invaluable contribution to Confederate war literature, more than that, it is still a classic study of war psychology and human nature. One of the most sought-after items of collectors everywhere is the Bibliography of State Participation in the Civil War. The third and last edition of this government publication appeared in 1913. Its value lies in thearrangement of the bibliographical data by regiments both north105 106JAMES I . ROBERTSON ern and southern. Although the book is now fifty-six years out of date, it is very valuable as a guide to books and periodicals published in the immediate postwar period. C. E. Dornbusch of the New York Public Library recendy received a grant from the Emüy E. F. Skeel Fund to revise the work and issue a new edition. Mr. Dornbusch is now at work on this most welcomed venture, and the finished product is due sometime this year. Stanley Horn has finished The Great Panic, an account of the chaos and confusion revolving around the evacuation of Nashville. This month LSU will release Avery Craven's Civil War in the Making, which reexamines the causes of the war. Scheduled forpublication by Macmülan next year is the fifth volume of the late Kenneth P. Williams' monumental Lincoln Findsa General. Dr. Williams died soon after completing the manuscript for this fifth of seven proposed volumes. Appropriately enough, however, Volume V will carry the story through Chickamauga— when a general named Grant finally got his turn in the commanding officer's tent ofthe western Federal armies. Pat Jones is hard at work on a multi-volume naval history of the war. Bud Warner's Generals in Gray makes itappearance nextmonth. Irving Werstein, whose July, 1863 has been reissued in paperback form, has completed The Rebel and the Railsplitter. This comparison of Davis and Lincoln wül be released by Crowell late this year. Mr. Werstein is now laboring over a fictionalized biography of colorful Phü Kearny, whose cavalier career was ended by Confederate bullets at Chantilly. (Legend has it this one-armed fighter rode to his death waving his sword and guiding the reins with his teeth. ) Harold Klein of Pikesvüle, Maryland, is preparing a pictorial biography of John Wilkes Booth. A fellow Marylander, Samuel H. Miller, is near completion of his study of Colonel Henry C. Pate, Fifth Virginia Cavalry. Harold Manake is still working on a comprehensive history of the Maryland Line in Lee's army. No examination has been done of this famous Confederate unit since its major, W. W. Goldsborough, published his commentaries in 1869. The Detroit Historical Society wül soon publish the war letters of General Alpheus S. Williams, who proved his defensive mettle at...