Turning Points of the Civil War (review)

368CIVIL WAR HISTORY Roosevelt and various G.A.R. orators had in mind, yet one quite recognizable as a part of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America. James P. Jones Florida State University Turning Points of the Civil War. By James A. Rawley. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Pp. ix, 230. $5.75.) After conceding diat die North should have defeated the Soudi because it had an established government, a preponderance in population, statesmanlike leadership, and complex economic and transportation systems capable of sustaining a modem war, the author calls attention to the fact that the outcome of the Civil War (like the outcome of any great national event) was due to the existence of certain turning points—"when force meets counterforce with such intensity as to make possible a change in the expected direction of development." He counters the force of his own statement that a different outcome of a turning point might have "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory," by pointing out that there is no reason to conclude that the North would have lost the war had any crisis taken a different turn. Each turning point is interpreted moderately; the author does not seek to give the impression that the outcome was predetermined or shaped by a single climactic incident. He avoids any temptation to speculate about how history might have been changed had one of his turning points been resolved differently. Professor Rawley picked seven turning points for his study. He leaves the reader free to add others to the list. Although it is impossible to divorce any of his seven key chapters from the general background of military events that must lie at the heart of any history of a war, the fighting is a dominant note in only three chapters. However, even in these chapters it is not allowed to become completely dominant. His selection of Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg and Vicksburg is not wholly unexpected ; few would question that each of them was a turning point. A chapter on Kentucky and die borderland provides an important introduction to the war and gives the author an opportunity to discourse briefly on the changing interpretation of Lincoln's Border State policy. A chapter on the Trent Affair provides the author with an opportunity to analyze one of the most significant diplomatic developments during the war. The Emancipation Proclamation is treated in a chapter that provides a logical capstone for the book. Following, as it does, the chapters on the Trent Affair and the battle of Antietam it places this important historical event in perspective with the fight and the foreign incident with which it is closely associated. The work concludes with a chapter on the election of 1864. Again, the military situation provides a backdrop for the political drama, but the author's main purpose seems to be to analyze the various interpretations that have been placed upon die election. BOOK REVIEWS369 The author has tied his slim volume togedier with such persistent themes as slavery, democracy, and British policy. One can find references to the key personalities who were cast in prominent roles and brought into conflict with each odier to produce die elements from which a turning point was made. George B. McClellan, for example, strides across die stage to play a prominent role both in military and political affairs. The author has done a creditable job of packing some basic historical information and his own incisive comments into seven brief essays. The book contains an adequate bibliography of published sources and secondary literature. Of archival materials, only William E. Gladstone's papers in die British Museum were consulted. The author apparently has derived a great deal of pleasure from interpreting each turning point according to his own interest. Some of his inferences and insights may be hard to prove, but they certainly will give Civil War students something to ponder. The Civil War reader who is used to gauging turning points in terms of tons of grape and canister will find die book unrewarding. William F. Zornow Kent State University The Brandywine Home Front during the Civil War, 1861-1865. By Norman B. Wilkinson. (Wilmington: Kaumagraph Company, 1966. Pp.viii...