Essays on the American Civil War (review)

278CIVIL WAR HISTORY lier times, but its greatest achievement is its contribution to an understanding of abolitionism during its critical years. It is an extremely valuable study. Merton L. Dillon Ohio State University Essays on the American Civil War. By Frank E. Vandiver, Martin Hardwick Hall, and Homer L. Kerr. (Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1968. Pp. 107. $3.95.) The first of the Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures, delivered in 1966, are here printed in a slim volume devoted three-fifths to the Civil War and two-fifths to Webb. The Civü War portion opens with a review of Elkhorn Tavern or Pea Ridge, March 7-8, 1862, by H. L. Kerr of the University of Texas at Arlington. M. H. HaU of Arlington then examines with much learning the Confederate career of John R. Baylor , Texas frontiersman. As governor of Arizona Baylor ordered a subordinate to persuade the Apaches "to come in for the purpose of making peace, and when you get them together kill all the grown Indians, and take the children prisoners and sell them to defray the expense of killing the Indians." Jefferson Davis's repudiation of this order Hall interprets in terms of planter romanticism against frontier realism. The third essay, by Frank E. Vandiver, must have been delightful to listen to but wiU excite mixed reactions in print. Vandiver views the war as an "institutionalizing force" that stimulated religion, urbanism, industrialism , and strong government both North and South. Much can be said for this argument, but the counterindications, especially with respect to permanent changes, are also formidable. Thus, contrary to Vandiver's implications, the actual increase in the Federal civil service between 1861 and 1871 appears to have been at the lowest rate on record; neither government nor urbanism was exactly strong in the postReconstruction South; and economic historians presently tend to accept Thomas C. Cochran's view that the Civil War retarded industrialization . The Webb portion of the volume consists of his address at the inaugural luncheon of an Arlington president in 1960; a general introduction to the lecture series, by Professor E. C. Barksdale of Arlington; and a Webb bibliography by Margaret Franchie Morris. Webb's analysis of the lot of a college president before the day of student revolts is delightfully written, witty, mock humble, and compassionate. Barksdale's introduction is an informed and pungent addition to the growing literature about Webb. And the bibliography of Webb's writings by Miss Morris is the best yet published, very nearly complete except on occasional pieces, especially book reviews. A volume associating Webb with the Civil War involves the gentle irony that the honorée avoided the subject whenever he could. Yet this BOOK REVIEWS279 reviewer perceives, to his own surprise, an odd kind of connection: the person of whom Webb most reminds him, in various important respects , is Abraham Lincoln. Barnes F. Lathrop University of Texas, Austin Through the South with a Union Soldier. Edited by Arthur H. DeRosier , Jr. (Johnson City, Tenn.: East Tennessee State University Research Advisory Counril, 1969. Pp. x, 177. $4.50.) A Union Soldier in the Land of the Vanquished. Edited by F. N. Boney . (University, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1969. Pp. viii, 103. $5.00.) Lightning at Hoover's Gap: Wilder's Brigade in the Civil War. By Glenn Sunderland. (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1969. Pp. 237. $10.00.) Of the sixty thousand books treating of the Civü War, the largest single category consists of soldiers' letters, diaries and reminiscences. This is as it should be; after all, the opinions and observations of the soldiers themselves provide the most intimate pictures of what transpired. Yet when one compares the few thousand published memoirs with the three mülion Büly Yanks and Johnny Rebs who served, the continual need for such documents becomes plainly apparent. Hence, and despite the semblance of repetition, each new series of letters or recoUections printed throws additional light on American fighting men of a century ago. The three volumes under review are illustrative. Through the South with a Union Soldier is a mistitled collection of letters by two brothers in the 129th lUinois Infantry. Alburtis Dunham was...