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Campbell Brown's Civil War: With Ewell and the Army of Northern Virginia (review)
- Civil War History
- The Kent State University Press
- Volume 50, Number 1, March 2004
- pp. 92-93
- 10.1353/cwh.2004.0015
- Review
- Additional Information
Civil War History 50.1 (2004) 92-93
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Campbell Brown's Civil War: With Ewell and the Army of Northern Virginia. Edited by Terry L. Jones. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001. Pp. 488. Cloth $39.95.)
Official Compiled Service Records survive for 1,231,006 Confederate soldiers. Some of these files depict the same men in multiple units, but even so, nearly one million men carried arms for the South. A gratifying number of them left accounts of their experiences. Among that rich panoply of primary-source material, a handful of narratives stand out as unmistakable classics. Serious students of the war have long known that Campbell Brown's manuscript memoir belongs in the top tier of such accounts. Now that it has reached print, Campbell Brown's Civil War clearly becomes one of the dozen best books by a member of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
George Campbell Brown's mother had long been the object of General Richard S. Ewell's intense admiration. Eventually "the widow Brown," as Ewell called her, married the general. Her son found a place on Ewell's staff in that era of [End Page 92] casual nepotism. From Ewell's right hand, Brown observed at close range the famous leaders and most of the storied campaigns of Lee's army. His memoir covers First Manassas, spends more than sixty pages on Gettysburg, and includes a strong chapter on the Wilderness.Brown's powerful intellectual curiosity, literary bent, and peripatetic temperament made the young officer an ideal memoirist. The early date of the manuscript increases its reliability and value.
An appealing attribute of Brown's memoir is the author's knack for vivid expression and uninhibited caricature. Of staff colleague John Taliaferro, Brown charged that he had "the heart of a lion [and] the brains of a sheep" (42). Attacking columns "moved first quietly & darkly forward—then . . . breaking into a hundred distinct bands, each aiming for a little red crescent, which for a time disappeared from sight in wreaths of black smoke" (90). Riding over the battlefield of First Manassas a month after the engagement, Brown still discerned a "tainted breeze . . . reminding one of the atmosphere of a [cemetery] vault" (38).
As editor, Jones did yeoman's work transcribing the text of Brown's memoir. The footnotes, however, occasionally leave something to be desired. Familiar figures receive familiar treatment, while unfamiliar figures remain unexplained. For instance, Taliaferro deserves a note that establishes his credentials and background in a few lines. The editor supplies only a synopsis of Taliaferro's service, but says nothing about his age, background, or other career. To his credit, Jones does use the Compiled Service Records, a basic research tool which too many editors ignore.
A book that warrants repeated use must include a strong index, one that provides thorough guidance to the contents, including proper nouns and more subjective references. The index for Campbell Brown's Civil War fails in both respects. Sub-entries for Ewell and Brown himself serve their purpose well—but page numbers directing readers to other prominent subjects run on at great length without differentiation, becoming virtually useless. For example, Brown mentioned Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson on 120 separate pages. Many of those entries supply important and interesting information, but which among the 120 affords criticism of Jackson, or descriptions, or analysis? The index also would be substantially more useful if it included citations for significant subjects that are not proper nouns: foreign visitors; treatment of civilians; discipline; desertion; medical practices; black troops; cowardice; and other significant matters on which Brown supplies first-hand perspectives.
Annotations and index aside, this is a book of first-rate importance. From the moment it was published, Campbell Brown's Civil War assumed a place of honor on the short shelf of the very best Army of Northern Virginia books. There it is destined to remain.
Fredericksburg, Virginia
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