Soldiers When They Go: The Story of Camp Randall, 1861-1865, and: The Hardtack Regiment: An Illustrated History of the 154th Regiment, and: Ruggles' Regiment: The 122nd New York Volunteers in the American Civil War (review)

BOOK REVIEWS89 individual and a government grappling with a set of crucial and timeless moral and ethical issues related to government policy, armies, and war. The book consists of three parts: an excellent brief introduction to Lieber, his Code, and international law; the heart of the book, the Code itself and an accompanying essay on guerrilla war; and a final section of correspondence and documents relating to the genesis, adoption, and reception of the Code. I cannot imagine any historian—military, political, intellectual, social , or otherwise—who would not find this fascinating reading. In addition to its historical significance, the shadow of Vietnam looms over every page. Perhaps it should be made required reading for members of Congress, the executive branch, military officials, and the CIA. Section IX, No. 148, includes one of many points in this book worth pondering and remembering: "Civilized nations look with horror upon offers of rewards for the assassination of enemies as relapses into barbarism ." Kent Blaser Wayne State College Soldiers When They Go: The Story of Camp Randall, 1861-1865. By Carolyn J. Mattern. (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1981. Pp. xi, 135. $7.95.) The Hardtack Regiment: An Illustrated History of the 154th Regiment . By Mark H. Dunkelman and Michael J. Winey. (East Brunswick, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1981. Pp. 211. $19.50.) Ruggles' Regiment: The 122nd New York Volunteers in the American Civil War. By David B. Swinfen. (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1982. Pp. xv, 159. $20.00.) The contemporary emphasis upon social history continues to influence military studies, where a number of recent works have chosen to focus upon the experiences and motivations of the common soldier. Such studies are particularly interesting in the Civil War era, when the largest number of nineteenth century civilians made the abrupt transition to military life. Each of these three volumes, although different in sources and methods, shares a concern for volunteer units whose particular records may shed light upon the larger social record of the Union forces. The Hardtack Regiment is the most traditional in approach of the three studies, tracing the career of western New York's 154th Infantry. Surely one of the war's more luckless regiments, it suffered heavy losses as part of XI Corps at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and later 90civil war history gained little distinction as part of XX Corps in the west. This book draws upon the usual sources of the late nineteenth century, supplemented by a variety of manuscripts provided by descendents. The bibliography notes nearly four hundred letters from twenty-two soldiers and six diaries from the latter part of the war, although in the absence of footnotes it may be difficult for the reader to determine the extent to which the new research alters the traditional record. The thin narrative offers a literal reading of the sources, illustrated by a good set of maps tracing the unit's travels and by the usual Harper's Weekly illustrations. Attached is a partial roster of the regiment, selected on the basis of individuals for whom photographs survive. Ruggles' Regiment is a much more innovative study of another western New York force, the 122nd New York Volunteers. The work derives its title from a remarkable set of postwar illustrations prepared by William Eugene Ruggles, an otherwise obscure veteran of the regiment . Swinfen notes that Ruggles's pictures may be unique in showing a unit in every action in which it participated in the war, and the book tells a fascinating detective story of the drawing, engraving, and preservation in Scotland of these unusual documents. The accompanying narrative reviews the regiment's successful career in VI Corps, giving considerable attention to the questions of the training, motivation, and personal behavior of the troops. Relying heavily upon a series of anonymously written newspaper letters, Swinfen finds strong links between Republican idealogy and the personal performances of the men. It is an imaginative study that merits attention as an example of the ways nontraditional sources can enhance our understanding of soldiers ' lives. Mattern's work probes one aspect of that life, training. Her study details the successful camp established outside Madison by Governor Alexander...