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book reviews351 The Papers of Andrew Johnson: Volume 6, 1862-1864. Edited by Leroy P. Graf and Ralph W. Haskins. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1983. Pp. xciv, 797. $27.50.) The sixthvolumeof ThePapers ofAndrewJohnson covers the portion of the tailor president's tenure as military governor of Tennessee. It was a period in his career of great personal and historical importance. He occupied a post for which there was no American precedent and no legal definition. He faced the enormous, in some ways impossible, task of trying to establish a pro-Union civil government in a state where the majority of the people supported secession and where largeareas either were dominated by the Confederates or subject to invasion, cavalry raids, and guerrilla warfare. At no time did he have the means to control the whole state; at one time he barely managed to hold out in Nashville. Yet, in spite of everything, he not only made substantial progress toward what he called the "reformation" of Tennessee, but he also advanced his own political fortunes. When this volume ends he is Lincoln's running mate on the Union (Republican) ticket and thus on his way, as it tragically will turn out, to becoming president. Unfortunately, the story of Johnson's struggle and success as military governor is merely illustrated, not told, by his papers per se. As in the previous volumes of this series the editors have had to contend with the awkward problem of a subject who was barely literate, who found writing physically painful, and who relied on the spoken word both in private and public. Consequently only twenty percent of the documents in this volume bear Johnson's signature (most of these being official), and only a few are in his hand (the most interesting being the only surviving letter he wrote to his wife, who had taught him to write). The other eighty percent consist mainly of letters to him and newspaper reports of his speeches. To be sure, such materials can be informative and even intriguing, as for example a letter from Eli Thayer in which that ultraRadical expresses regret that Johnson has been nominated for vicepresident because he now will be "the shadow of a man who opposes your views at every point!" Nevertheless the most valuable part of the volume—again as in previous ones—is the editors' introduction. Written in a lively, although somewhat flowery, style, it provides an excellent summary of Johnson's manifold activities as military governor, offers much data on conditons in war-torn Tennessee, gives a superb analysis of how and why Johnson got the vice-presidential nomination, and illuminates the development of his thinking on Reconstruction, thereby putting his policies as president in perspective. It has become a cliché to say that the editing of the Papers of Andrew Johnson is of the highest scholarly quality: meticulous accuracy in the reproduction of documents, awesome thoroughness in identifying persons and clarifying references, and what surely must be a complete 352CIVIL WAR HISTORY harvesting of all significant extant sources relating to Johnson. The present volume is no exception, and it joins its five predecessors and six projected successors in forming, despite the inherent limitations of its materials , one of the finest works of its kind. Albert Castel Western Michigan University The Diary of James A. Garfield: Volume IV, 1879-1881. Edited by Harry James Brown and Frederick D. Williams. (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1981. Pp. 689. $40.00.) Almost fifteen years after the publication of the first two volumes (which together cost five dollars less than this book), the welcome appearance of the fourth and final volume of the Garfield diaries brings to completion a set which now takes its place as one of the indispensable source books for mid-nineteenth century America. As before,'the editors have diligently tracked down each name and event mentioned in the diaries, no matter how trivial or obscure, and identified and described them (with a few minor errors), often in graceful and illuminating little essays. No longer need James A. Garfield or his times languish in the obscurity to which they have too long been relegated. Professors Brown and Williams...

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