45 Strategies, Tactics, and General Military Aspects (U.S. Civil War Reading List)
Description
This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
45 Strategies, Tactics, and General Military Aspects (U.S. Civil War Reading List)
Douglas Freeman, Lee's Lieutenants. 1944.
A study of the generals of the Army of Northern Virginia who served
under Lee. Primarily intended as a study in the makings of commanders, it
also gives a solid history of Lee's strategy for the war in the East as
well as providing a good working biography of nearly all the important
Confederate generals in the Eastern theatre.
Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the American Civil War.
Presents the thesis that the Civil War tactics were dominated by
Napoleonic thinking that was never really supplanted until after the war.
A somewhat controversial book.
Hattaway and Jones, How the North Won. 1983.
An excellent introduction to 19th century strategy, logistics and
grand tactics. Essential for an understanding of why and how battles came
to be fought where and as they did. Concerns itself less with battle
accounts than with operations and command organization.
George Edgar Turner, Victory Rode the Rails (1953, reprinted by the U of
Nebraska Press, 1992).
A description of the impact that railroads had on the battles and
strategy of the Civil War, both North and South. Contains many
fascinating tidbits and insights missed by larger and more general works
on the war.
John Waugh, The Class of 1846. Warner Books, 1994.
The West Point class of '46 was probably the most remarkable in its
history. George McClellan, Stonewall Jackson, A.P. Hill, George Pickett,
Dabney Maury and Darius Couch all graduated that year. The book traces
their schooling and Mexican fighting together. Most interesting is the
contrast between McClellan, who was the star of that class, and Jackson,
who was the one who came to the Point with determination, but no academic
skills. The portaryal of the West Point education shows why just about
every ACW star went to the Point.
Kenneth P Williams, Lincoln Finds a General. 5 volumes. 1949.
A study of the command problems of the Union army.
T. Harry Williams, Lincoln and his Generals. 1952.
A shorter version of the same material.
Stephen R. Wise, Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During
the Civil War (U. of South Carolina, 1988).
A thorough study of blockade running-- how cargoes were obtained, the
effect of blockade running on the Confederate war effort, and the
companies involved in activity. Contains a chronological list of runners
by port of entry and a descriptive list of all known vessels used in
blockade running.
Steven E. Woodworth, Jefferson Davis and His Generals. 1990.
A penetrating examination of the failure of Confederate command in the
West. This includes brief biographies of all major commanders in the
Western theater, an evaluation of their performance, and Jefferson Davis's
successes and failures. A clear, sucinct portrait of why there was so
little good news from the West for the Confederacy.
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