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BOOK REVIEWS 357 Maury. One may question whether North was as incapable as Spencer asserts; indeed, based upon the author's central argument, North's actions could not have mattered. One may also wonder whether either nation was as committed to neutrality after 1861, as Spencer argues. Thoughhe calls it "coincidental" that the "keybattles" (p. 214) preceded British and French efforts to enforceneutrality, it seems more defensible to argue that had the South proved itself on the battlefield, the situation would have changed dramatically, probably causing the British (and then the French) to intervene in behalf of the Confederacy—for reasons of self-interest. But these are debatable points, and they suggest the major contribution of this book: it will stimulate more research into the Civil War. Howard Jones The University of Alabama Custer Victorious: The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer. By Gregory J. W. Urwin. (Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1983. Pp. 308. $29.50.) George Armstrong Custer's impressive record as a brigade and division cavalry commander during the Civil War has always been overshadowed by his subsequent career as an Indian fighter. His many victories over Confederate foes have been forgotten as hebecame identified with the 1876 slaughter of his regiment by Sioux and Cheyenne. In Custer Victorious, Gregory J. W. Urwin has attempted to put Custer's military career in better perspective by recounting his Civil War exploits. Urwin makes clear from the outset that his purpose is "to strike a blow against all those recent flawed and illiberal histories that have been foisted on the reading public [about Custer], to scrape away the fluff and facade, and to return to the historical grass roots" (p. 17). What he does, however, is simply add one more oversimplified, hagiographie monograph to the vast array of books on the most controversial American soldier of the nineteenth century. Urwin's book is a defense of Custer 's every action, not the judicious, well-balanced piece of scholarship that a university press imprint would lead the reader to expect. No one can arguewith Custer's achievements as a charismatic combat officer. His courage was legendary in the Army of the Potomac, and he was used to good advantage by steadier superior officers like Alfred Pleasonton, Wesley Merritt, and Phil Sheridan. Custer was, however, almost always in a subordinate role in the battles he fought. Urwin gives Custer far too much credit for winningkey engagements, while unfairly criticizing officers of equal or greater merit like James Wilson, Alfred Torbert, George Crook, and Wesley Merritt. The author's efforts to bloat Custer's reputation far beyond what the events justify become glaringly evident in statements like: "The Battle of Gettysburgwas over, 358CIVIL WAR HISTORY and thanks to George Armstrong Custer and his Michigan Brigade, as much as to any other commander and command in the Army of the Potomac, it was a Union victory" (p. 81). Such interpretaHons insult the reader's intelligence. Urwin has real talent as a writer, but his enthusiasm for his subject someHmes leaves his style hackneyed. His overuse of block quotes interrupts a usually smooth, fast-paced narrative. A strong editorial hand could have curbed his excesses and saved him from assaulHng the reader with sentences like: "While the 3rd Division pursued its hasty preparaHons , Mother Nature was marshaling her awesome might to chasHse the mere mortals who had dared to shake the cosmos for three days with their orgy of mass murder" (p. 87). Although Urwin's bibliography and notes list a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, his narraHve reflects only those accounts favorable to Custer. While Custer partisans will undoubtedly welcome this ringing defense of theirhero, students of the CivilWarin search of a balanced account of the cavalry operations in the East, and of Custer's role in them, will still want to consultJay Monaghan's Custer (1959) and Stephen Starr's The Union Cavalry in the Civil War, vol. 2 (1981). Paul A. Hutton Utah State University Cry Comanche: The 2nd Cavalry in Texas, 1855-1861. By Harold B. Simpson. (Hillsboro, Texas: Hill Jr. College Press, 1979. Pp. xii, 185. $10.50.) Ten More Texans in Gray...

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