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278CIVIL WAR HISTORY analysis puts the reader out of touch with the realities of the war that goes on all around these people. There is sometimes needless repetition in his narrative, as with the battle of Fort Donelson for instance. There is no new light cast on such leading controversies of the battle as General Lew Wallace's late arrival and his ineffectiveness on the second day of the battle. Sometimes the author is a bit confusing with his words as with the instance of Sherman resigning from the Louisiana Academy in 1861. At the time of his resignation, he found his position "untenable," but he "reluctantly resigned." The book is sometimes a more poignant accounting of the tragedies of people, General C. F. Smith and the Wallaces included, than itis an attempt to put thebattleinto proper perspectivein that war and beyond. Whatever is said, however, Wiley Sword has written an exciting book, piecing together many of the complex elements of a major battle. When the battleis raging, he is at his best as his astuteand sensitive pen uncovers the intimacies of life and death and the personalities of the participants . The story he tells here was indeed "untold" before his telling, and indeed it was worth the telling. Robert Hartje Wittenberg University Enclave: Vicksburg and Her Pfontations, 1863-1870. By James T. Currie . (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1980. Pp. 284. $16.95.) In this book Professor Currie treats in detail at the local level a subject that most historians of the Civil War and Reconstruction pursue at the state level. He presents a social and economic history of Warren County, Mississippi, from the capture of Vicksburg to the readmission of the state in 1870. This seven-year period contains enough variation in circumstances to allow comparison and analysis of the effects of wartime occupation and postwar reconstruction. For the first two years Vicksburg and environs were an enclave of Union control in Confederate territory. The city enjoyed rapid growth after the siege ended. Population soared to ten times the pre-secession figure. It appeared that Vicksburg would enjoy an enviable role in the postwar period; however, the promise never became reality. A combination of changing transportation patterns, land tenure, mercantile practices, and natural forces served to prevent the city from reaching its potential. The structure is straightforward and combines topical and chronological approaches. Currie devotes much attention to the freedmen, whose position was a major concern both to planters and townspeople, and to civil-military relations, an ongoing administrative problem. The longest and most interesting chapter narrates the famous experiment at Davis Bend, where under the leadership of ex-slave Benjamin Montgomery, blacks formed an independent settlement, successfully raised cotton BOOK REVIEWS279 and food crops, and even cleared a profit. This experiment in black self-support on the plantations of Jefferson Davis and his brother has been told before, but nowhere so clearly and cogently as here. Currie says (p. 144), "The place, the people, and the potential were right. The time was unfortunately wrong." He concludes, in agreement with Vernon Wharton, that a more farsighted government could have provided more encouragement and financial support—a conclusion historians often apply to a variety of Reconstruction endeavors. Most of the interpretations are what would be expected; the biggest difference is Currie's finding that the crop-lien system had greater flexibility and less debilitating results in Warren County than its general reputation suggests. The reasons are not fully clear, and Currie notes that Warren County may not have been typical of the South or the rest of the state. The author has done extensive research in a variety of national and local sources. The style is clear, though not particularly engaging, for individuals (even leading ones) never get to wear their full personalities, and everypage labors under theweight ofthe passivevoice, from which neither authornor editorknew how to escape. Students of theperiod can profitably read this volume and apply its approach and methodology to a variety of other questions. James E. Sefton California State University, Northridge General John Sedgwick: The Story of a Union Corps Commander. By Richard Elliot Winslow III. (Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1982. Pp. xiii, 205. $20...

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