North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster. Volume IV: Infantry (review)

BOOK REVIEWS71 why he chose the role of a nationalist when he did is not adequately explained in Murphy's account. Within Lamar's life, particularly the early years which saw the suicide of his father and the substitution of the strong willed intellectual, A. B. Lonstreet, as a surrogate, there is much to lead to a psychoanalytic interpretation of his motivation. The example set by David Donald in Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War (1960) shows how inner drives can motivate a man's actions just as decisively as can outer forces. But if psycho-history is offensive, another way of viewing Lamar would be to see him as a representational figure within a class, perhaps Eugene D. Genovese's seigneurial class. As a leader of a particular class Lamar could use, as Murphy suggests, nationalism to achieve sectional and state-rights ends; and conversely his career should be evaluated on how well he represented his class. Seen in this way Dr. Murphy might well have revised the last word in the title from "patriot" to "paternalist." J. P. Harahan University of Richmond North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster. Volume IV: Infantry. Compiled by Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr. Unit Histories by Louis H. Manarin. (Raleigh: North Carolina Office of Archives and History, 1973. Pp. xv, 687. $12.00.) This fourth of twelve projected volumes continues a set that is already widely acknowledged to be the finest state roster of Civil War soldiers ever published. It is truly a model in its area; and with the appearance of each volume, the regret persists that a similar roster does not exist for every state involved in the war. The North Carolina project originated a decade ago under the auspices of that state's Civil War Centennial commission. Louis H. Manarin served as first editor-in-chief and practically lived in the National Archives while in the process of collecting, assimilating and verifying soldiers' records. Data from an incalculable number of Tarheel families, plus information gleaned from every other known source, broadened and enriched the holdings. No roster of its kind has ever been prepared with more thoroughness and care. Volume IV contains the man-by-man rosters for the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th North Carolina Infantry Regiments. Manarin has written the long unit history that prefaces each regimental listing. Professor Jordan has supervised the thousands of soldier-record summaries. A long introduction, a 64-page name index, endpaper maps and qualitative printing throughout make these volumes almost as handsome as they are usable. To be sure, this compilation is primarily a reference tool. Yet few sources will yield more nuggets of valor and cowardice, heartache and humor than do some of the entries. As a case in point: 72CIVIL WAR HISTORY in the service file of a deserter from the 5th North Carolina is this notation: "Stay in service brief (15 minutes)." James I. Robertson, Jr. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University John Mcintosh KeIl of the Raider Alabama. By Norman C. Delaney. (University, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1973. Pp. 270. $8.50.) American Civil War Navies: A Bibliography. By Myron J. Smith, Jr. Vol. Ill of American Naval Bibliography. (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1972. Pp. ix, 347.) The first of these volumes seems to indicate that there will be no lack of publications concerning the CSS Alabama in the near future, for Kell's claim to fame was solely that he served as her executive officer. One presumes that we can look forward to further biographies since Alabama carried a number of other officers. However, it is unlikely that we will learn much about her career from these, if the present example is any indication. Indeed, only some fifty pages are devoted to Kell's service in Afobama. But perhaps that is as well, for her exploits have been related repeatedly, while the details of "Captain" Kell's life, if not especially exciting, at least have a quality of freshness. Professor Delaney traces his subject's ancestry to the earliest days of the Georgia colony and then describes Kell's early years on a small plantation near Darien. In 1841...