Grant as Military Commander, and: Ulysses S. Grant (review)

book reviews361 and glory, the Yankee cavalrymen who served with the Western armies during the Civil War were not disappointed." The key words in appreciating the truth of the statement are "cavalrymen" and "Western." In spite of their frequent exposures to danger and hardship which are evident on many pages of the book, the wide ranging western troopers, when compared to the eastern cavalry campaigning in northern Virginia, or the relatively stationary infantry in either the East or West, knew a war of movement. It was a war with frequent scouting, foraging, skirmishing and raiding, in addition to participating in major battles at Perryville, Chickamauga and Bentonville. Their exploits took them over large areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In some four years of military duty the western cavalrymen probably saw the South in more detail and traveled more miles than any other group of soldiers in the Union Army. One comes away from the book with the feeling that Rowell has supported his statement concerning adventure, excitement, and glory. This book contains a minimum of errors and should be of interest to local historians of the southern states in which the Ninth Pennsylvania campaigned, as well as to anyone interested in cavalry operations during the Civil War. James L. McDonough David Lipscomb College Grant as Military Commander. By General Sir James Marshall-Cornwall . (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1970. Pp. xi, 244. $9.95.) Ulysses S. Grant. By John A. Carpenter. (New York: Twayne Publishers , Inc., 1970. Pp. 217. $4.95.) For more than a decade each publishing season has produced a harvest of books dealing with the character and career of Ulysses S. Grant. One of the two books considered here shows that certain pathways have been so frequently traveled that ruts are being worn into grooves; the other demonstrates that many paths remain which historians can pursue with profit. With only one brief chapter dealing with Grant before the Civil War, and no discussion of his later life, Sir James Marshall-Cornwall, British soldier, geographer, and military historian, has retold the stories of Grant's campaigns, relying largely on Grant's own Memoirs. Neither the bibliography nor the notes indicate any familiarity with the books of Bruce Catton and many other modern authorities; nor do they indicate the use of the Official Records and many other major primary sources. In fact, the bibliography is downright embarrassing. When MarshallCornwall concludes that Grant was by far the greatest commander of the Civil War because of "his wide strategic vision and his fixity of pur- 362CIVIL WAR HISTORY pose," the cautious reader will simply have to wonder whether or not this is correct. All too rarely has Marshall-Cornwall drawn on his own experience in two World Wars or his scholarly knowledge of the Napoleonic campaigns to bring some new perspective to his twicetold tale. His work suffers by the obvious comparison with that of the earlier British soldierscholar , J. F. C. Fuller, lacking both Fuller's critical scholarship and breadth of vision. What remains is a straightforward, clearly-written derivative account, with rather handsome maps and illustrations, which may please the Civil War beginner, but will disappoint the scholar. Although John A. Carpenter, who teaches at Fordham and is the biographer of General O. O. Howard, has written a biography of Grant which covers his entire life, the focus is on Grant after the Civil War. In a book with 183 pages of text, the Civil War begins on page fourteen and ends on page sixty-two, and only fourteen pages cover Grant's life after leaving the White House. For this reason, Carpenter's work is best viewed as an updating and revision of William B. Hesseltine's 1935 study of Ulysses S. Grant, Politician. As Hesseltine's book was pervaded by a then-fashionable hostility toward Grant and his party, Carpenter's reflects many of the newer currents in the historiography of Reconstruction , financial policy, and foreign affairs. In addition, Carpenter utilizes much manuscript material, a great deal of which had been unavailable to Hesseltine. Carpenter's President Grant is a man of far more ability and perception than Hesseltine's. Carpenter...