The Union Army, 1861-1865: Organization and Operations. Volume I: The Eastern Theater (review)

346CIVIL WAR HISTORY western frontier, did more than just "garrison posts" among the Sioux Indians (357). The principal problem with this book is its lack of perspective. Krick does not take the paragraph or two necessary to put Cedar Mountain in place in the larger war. He does not mention the situation that led Lee to send Jackson to intercept Pope. Nor does he conclude by setting up Cedar Mountain as prelude to Second Bull Run. There is similar lack of perspective in the justified criticism of Pope's General Orders. Was there no provocation by Confederate irregulars who picked off stray Union soldiers? In four years of fratricide was this an isolated episode, or did other Union or Confederate officers publish orders of one kind or another that provided for harsh treatment of civilians or enemy troops? Krick used over eighty manuscript sources, more than 150 printed sources, and countless other references. He combed the material very well, indeed. This study, in its particulars, is monumental. Where sources disagreed on detail, Krick weighed the evidence carefully before concluding . The situation maps are good, and there are numerous illustrations , both adding to the strength of the volume. Overall, it is wellwritten , in spite of some repetitions in the text. For instance, Colonel James A. Walker of the 13th Virginia Infantry becomes "Stonewall Jim" on page 115 and again on 252. There is some overlapping of action as Krick takes up first one unit and then another, which is probably inevitable; but such lapses do not detract from the careful scholarship. Certainly this is the definitive account of Cedar Mountain. Robert H. Jones The University of Akron The Union Army, 1861-1865: Organization and Operations. Volume I: The Eastern Theater. By Frank J. Welcher. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. Pp. xv, 1065. $75.00.) Frank J. Welcher, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Indiana University, has produced the first volume of a massive reference book bound to perplex and frustrate students of the Civil War. In spite of its hefty size and sweeping title, its exclusions and omissions, most of which are candidly admitted by the author, are both so basic and extensive as to yield a work of narrow interest and limited usefulness. This book is not, as Welcher states, "a history of the Union Army" (xv). Nor is it, as he elsewhere asserts, "a detailed study of the organization , command and operations of all Union armies" (xiv). No work can justify either claim, which excludes the political, economic, and social issues of organization; which omits topics such as recruitment and the raising of troops, training and discipline, equipment and ordnance, supply and logistics; and which ignores consideration of strategy and book reviews347 tactics, personal experiences, evaluation of leadership, and strengths and losses. What remains after all the exclusions, limitations, and qualifications is prodigious coverage of a single, narrow topic, the larger units of the Federal army. In the first half of his work, Welcher chronicles the formation, composition, and organizational evolutions of Union departments , field armies, army corps, and other special units in the east. In effect, he has cast into expanded and narrative form a large portion of the organizational tables in Frederick Dyer's Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Whether or not this was done consciously is unclear, since Welcher nowhere acknowledges the existence of Dyer's work. Nor can it be said that Welcher supersedes Dyer. By dealing only with units down to the brigade level, Welcher has omitted regiments, the building blocks of all Civil War armies. It seems likely that students will continue to consult Dyer at least as often as they turn to Welcher. In the second half of his work, Welcher makes his most original contribution. Herein he traces the movements of Union armies and corps through the various battles and campaigns of the eastern theater. Nevertheless , even here, his skeletal battle accounts, stripped bare by the many topics excluded and featuring Confederates who are never more than shadowy presences, are at best one-dimensional. Frequently, they are little more than itineraries. Overall, there are other disappointments in the way Welcher has rendered even his narrow canvas. Nowhere will one find...