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  • “Forward My Brave Boys!” A History of the 11th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, CSA, 1861–1865 by M. Todd Cathey, Gary W. Waddey
  • Blakeney Hill
“Forward My Brave Boys!” A History of the 11th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, CSA, 1861–1865. M. Todd Cathey and Gary W. Waddey. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0-88146-544-0. 503pp., cloth, $35.00.

Regimental histories have become an important and interesting avenue for Civil War scholarship, providing intimate details of everyday life in Union and Confederate armies. Such localized studies also provide glimpses into soldiers’ relationships with one another, the larger command structure, and their places within the broader war. It comes as no surprise, then, that M. Todd Cathey and Gary Waddey have provided such a detailed account of the 11th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry in order to tell the story of the regiment’s involvement in the nation’s great struggle.

The work follows the life of the regiment, from its inception through its surrender at Bentonville, North Carolina, and even offers a look at its veterans’ postwar reunions. Mustered from Humphreys, Dickson, Davidson, Hickman, and Robertson Counties in middle Tennessee, the various companies formed their regiment on May 31, 1861, and elected Capt. James E. Rains as colonel. It then joined the brigade of Gen. Felix Zollicoffer and moved into Eastern Tennessee to quell unionist dissent and keep men from joining the Union army. The 11th spent over a year in the region, occupying the Cumberland Gap, making several moves into neighboring Kentucky, and skirmishing with Federal forces. In the fall, the regiment became part of Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee and remained there for the rest of the war.

As part of the Army of Tennessee, the regiment participated in all of the army’s major engagements from Murfreesboro to its surrender in North Carolina as part of Benjamin Cheatham’s division. At both Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, the troops made up part of the flank attack on the Union right, and at Chattanooga they occupied a position on Missionary Ridge and [End Page 324] suffered heavy casualties. During William Sherman’s Atlanta campaign, at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, the 11th occupied a position in the “dead angle,” one of the bloodiest parts of the battlefield. The 11th constantly found itself in the midst of hard fighting throughout Sherman’s campaign, sustaining substantial casualties and eventually consolidating with the 29th Tennessee. As part of John Bell Hood’s Middle Tennessee campaign, the regiment made up a segment of the brigade that broke through Union lines at the Carter House during the Battle of Franklin, again sustaining heavy casualties. At the Battle of Nashville, Union forces shattered what was left of the Army of Tennessee, including the 11th, and the regiment eventually ended the war by surrendering in North Carolina with what was left of the army.

The book itself is well produced, with fine artwork on the cover and very well done maps. The details found in the work are a testament to the time and efforts of Cathey and Waddey, as the authors combed many archives and read a wide array of sources in order to tell the regiment’s story. Using Union and Confederate sources, the authors created a more complete story, providing precise battle details and giving impressions of the fighting from both sides. The book’s many maps and appendixes offer faces, names, and personal stories that connect the reader to the regiment and where it fought. Cathey and Waddey certainly accomplish their stated goal of telling the regiment’s story—almost excessively.

The tales and detail are fascinating and offer possibilities beyond a simple blow-by-blow account of the regiment’s life. Yet the authors offer little in the way of interpretation or discussion beyond what the regiment actually did. The story of a servant joining the regiment with his master in 1862 and remaining with it for the war receives no discussion (101). Additionally, the authors do not examine the effects of the home front at any length, nor is there substantial consideration of how men viewed battle or even death. Opportunities for deeper discussions about the...

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