Appomattox Commander: The Story of General E. O. C. Ord (review)

book reviews91 away from home, match those of a nineteenth-century partisan out to kill his neighbor with a Harper's Ferry musket? Suchreservations do not necessarily invalidate, but they do enjoin caution. This is not to suggest thatPaludan is disingenuous. On the contrary, he forthrightly discloses his aim and methodology atthe outset. Nor is there reason to suspect that more conventional sources, had they been available , would have contradicted his interpretations. Victims probably is a "true story." The question is whether it is true in the Thucydidean or Rankean sense. Whichever the case, this book deserves careful study by every serious American historian. James L. Morrison, Jr. York College of Pennsylvania Appomattox Commander: The Story of General E. O. C. Ord. By Bernarr Cresap. (San Diego and New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1981. Pp. xii, 418. $15.00.) According to Bernarr Cresap, West Pointer Edward Otho Cresap Ord was an "inventive and resourceful" troop commander—an Indianfighting subaltern in Florida, a general in the Civil War, a general and director of Indian-fighting along theTexas-Mexican border in the 1870s. He retired from the army in 1880. Theauthor carefully detailsOrd'swar service, but it is obvious that the general held no significant positions until 1864. In 1861, Ord was forty-three years old and a captain serving on the Pacific coast. Cresap points out that Ord pulled strings in the Adjutant General's Office to gain his promotion to brigadier general of volunteers . Ord victoriously led a brigade against inferior Confederate forces in a skirmish at Dranesville, Virginia, leading to his promotion to major general of volunteers. Ord then got a transfer to the West. The author gives a good account of Ord's abilities as a division commander at the small battle of the Hatchie River in Tennessee, where Ord impressed Ulysses S. Grant. Coming east after Grantbecame general-in-chief, Ord commanded a corps. He conducted a successful assault in September 1864 on Fort Harrison, part oftheRichmond defenses. Ord's victory was marked as exceptional by contemporaries—including Grant—and historians. Ord replaced Benjamin F. Butler in January 1865 as commander of the Army of the James. Grant wanted Ord to be part of the final pursuit. Taking three divisions out of the Richmond line, Ord marched his infantry hard and reinforced Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry at a critical moment to block the escape of Lee's Confederates near Appomattox. Cresap emphasizes that Ord was Maryland-bom, married to a Virginian, and a Democrat who opposed rights for blacks. Not surprisingly , Ord found his postwar duty doubly difficult; he commanded the Fourth Military District (Arkansas and Mississippi) during Radical 92CIVIL WAR HISTORY Reconstruction. Despite Ord's conservative handicaps, the author shows that he tried to be fairminded, removing Democratic officeholders , disbanding the Arkansas legislature, and using military commissions to replace civil courts. Cresap gives a creditable account of Ord's arrest of Mississippi newspaper editor William H. McCardle, the action that inspired the controversial ex parte McCardle case. Cresap, who retired as professor of history from the University of North Alabama in 1977, made Ord's biography his Ufe's work. His research was thorough; he used scattered Ord papers inprivatehands as well as utiUzing many other manuscript collections. The author included helpful maps and a good index. However, Cresap often broke up the flow of thenarrativeby usinglines ofstars within thechapters. There are several well-chosen photographs in the book, but placing the same picture of Ord before each of the twenty-one chapters was redundant. Nevertheless, Cresap has provided a well-researched and readable biography of an interesting nineteenth-century soldier. Joseph G. Dawson III Texas A & M University at Galveston ...