Tim Prince’s Top Ten Civil War Books

Originally published November 2020 · pp. 23–24

Tim Prince’s Top Ten Civil War Books When Civil War News publisher Jack Melton sent an email asking if could contribute a list of my top ten Civil War books for the November 2020 issue, I sort of chuckled and said to myself, “sure, it will be easy to whittle a list of hundreds of books down to ten….” As a full-time dealer in Civil War and related period antique and collectible weapons, I have a research library that is quite vast, so thinning down the list to a “Top Ten” was daunting. Interestingly, I had complied a list of my “Top Ten Civil War Gun Books” for my monthly column back in 2017. However, upon reflection I realized that there were a number of Civil War related books that I would give the honor of “Top Ten” to, for a variety of reason and in a variety of categories. Obviously, I could come up with many more books worthy of being on this list, but these are the ones that I picked this time. They books fall into three basic categories: 1) Civil War History, 2) Civil War Material Culture, and 3) Civil War Fiction. The third category may seem strange, but I sometimes think we forget how much popular culture can influence the perception of, and interest in, a particular period in history. So, without further ado, here are my “Top Ten,” in no particular order, grouped by category. Civil War History 1. Entrepôt – Government Imports into the Confederate

States by C.L. Webster III. Edinborough Press, 2010. If you have the slightest interest in the way the Confederacy obtained and imported their arms, equipment and materiel from foreign and other outside sources, this book is a must for you. The book is divided by the various ports of entry for goods and provides the contents of manifests and details from period documents that are really interesting. Some of the convoluted ways in which items were exported from places like the Union North only to be reimported to the Confederate South are mind boggling. This is one of those gems that many people missed when it debuted at the Civil War Show in Nashville about a decade ago and is certainly worth adding to any serious research library. It is also a compelling and interesting read. 2. General Lee’s Army – From Victory to Collapse by Joseph T. Glatthaar. Simon & Schuster, 2008. The UNCChapel Hill history professor has written several books about the Civil War, but for me this is his most compelling. While it sometimes drags a little as he goes through some in depth statistical analysis of Lee’s Army, it is probably the most detailed look at the men who really made up the Army of Northern Virginia. It dives so much deeper than the more typical Civil War book that tends to look at broader sweeping political and social forces that resulted in the war. This gives you the view of the men in ranks, carrying the muskets, and fighting the fight. While many books are about providing that “view from 40,000 feet,” this is about the view from the battle lines. A must for any Civil War library. 3. The Class of 1846 – From West Point to Appomattox by John C. Waugh. Ballantine Books, 1994. This book looks at luminaries of the West Point graduating class of 1846, almost all of whom went directly to the war with Mexico within months of graduation. Among the wellknown graduates of that class were Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, George McClellan, George Stoneman, A.P. Hill, George Pickett, and Cadmus Wilcox, just to name a few. Many went on to serve as generals in their respective armies during the War. The book gives interesting background and back story to some well-known Civil War personalities and really helps to flesh out their characters as well as providing some insight into the personality traits that affected their performance in the field and their subsequent successes and failures. 4. As If It Were Glory edited by

Michael Stevens. Madison House Publishing, 1998. The perspective of the War from the person who actually participated in it at the ground level is always intriguing, assuming that person has the ability to write coherently and does not become overly concerned about trying to cast themselves in the best possible light. This last issue is a failing in nearly every post-war memoir. However, author Robert Beecham, who fought as an enlisted man in the Iron Brigade’s 2nd Wisconsin from May 1861 through his capture at Gettysburg, manages to avoid most of the typical pitfalls of such a memoir. Beecham would go on to serve at a Lieutenant in the newly formed 23rd U.S. Colored Troops after his release by the Confederacy and would discover a newfound respect for the AfricanAmerican soldiers he would lead. Although the memoir was written at the turn of the century and certainly takes shots at the rising “Lost Cause” mythos in the south and the nation’s treatment of its African-American citizens at that time, it also provides an amazingly clear view of life for the common solider, free of the politics and agendas of those who commanded them. 5. Company Aytch, Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment: Or, A Side Show of the Big Show by Samuel Watkins. Chattanooga Times Printing Company, 1900. If you are a Civil War buff and have not read this “memoir” of the war you are really missing out. If you have not heard of it, you clearly never saw Ken Burns’ series The Civil War, as Sam Watkins and his Mark Twain style commentary about the war were certainly stars of the show. Like the Beecham memoir, this was written well after the war, but only a couple of decades later. It was originally serialized for publication locally, certainly a factor in how he presented his fellow soldiers. As you read the book, take all of Sam’s commentary with a grain of salt as he knew his former “pards” were reading his word. As a result, the life at war of Sam and his comrades was certainly sanitized and cleaned up to make it more palatable and to make the men appear in the best possible light. However, if you have any interest in the Army of Tennessee and want to hear some perspectives from one of the men who fought, this is a must read book. Material Culture: 6. Echoes of Glory, Arms & Equipment of the Union and Confederacy, 3 vols., edited by Henry Woodhead. Time Life Books, 1992. This coffee table set is well known to Civil War buffs. While short on text and in depth information, this was one of the first Civil War books that provided big, clear, color photos of real artifacts from the war. Many artifacts were from the best known and most advanced collections of the period. In my opinion this series set the standard for all the material culture books of the last couple of decades, and signaled the death knell of the research book with low quality, black and white photos. 7. Civil War Guns by William B. Edwards. Stackpole Books, 1962. This classic tome was one of the first scholarly looks at Civil War firearms; in particular, it was one of the first to take a serious look at imported arms used during the conflict. While some information is dated and some represent Edwards’ best guesses, it is still a classic that belongs in any Civil War arms library. 8. The English Connection, Russ Pritchard Jr and C.H. Huey with Mike Nichols, Tim Prince and Dean Thomas. Thomas Publications, 2014. I’m biased here because of my involvement, but few books on material culture have this level of detail and photographic quality. No matter what your interest is in Confederate arms and equipment imported from Great Britain, it is probably covered here and in fairly good detail. It is certainly a “must have” book for any Civil War arms and equipment library. 9. Shrouds of Glory, From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War by Winston Groom. Grove Press, 1995. While the late Groom is probably best known as a novelist and for his loveable character Forrest Gump, he is an historian at heart. I debated whether to list this book in this category or in “Fiction.” Although it is not a fictional story, the fact that it is “narrative” history written with the skills of a novelist without footnotes instead of an academic leads it to have the occasional factual error. However, like the great Shelby Foote, who also wrote wonderful “narrative histories” rather than “academic histories” of the war, Groom makes this story of John Bell Hood and the death of the Army of Tennessee very compelling. Living most of my life and all of my adult life in Nashville has made the battles of Franklin and Nashville near and dear to my heart. This is a very humanizing account of those brutal and horrible events and is a book that many people missed when it was published some 25 years ago. It is well worth the read. Fiction: 10. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Ballantine Books, 1974. This 1975 Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the Civil War is probably the best piece of historical fiction written about the conflict and is probably responsible for more people developing a strong interest in the war than any other similar book. The resulting movie Gettysburg, bad reenactor uniforms and horrible beards aside, brought more new blood into the hobbies of Civil War reenacting and collecting than any other movie. Like all historical novels there are faults and inaccuracies, but these are minor given the overall quality of the work and the compelling story that Shaara tells, from Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine’s defense of Little Round Top to the disastrous results of Pickett’s Charge. His interpretations of the real characters who spring to life from the book’s pages have influenced students of the war both directly and indirectly for more than three decades. If you have never read this book, please do. No Civil War buff should miss it. Tim Prince is a full-time dealer in Civil War and antique military arms. He has been the contributing author to two major books on the subject of Civil War arms, has authored some 60 articles on the subject and contributed his time, research, photography and other resources to many additional recent publications on the subject. Tim also appears as a featured appraiser on the PBS television series Antiques Roadshow, as one of the Arms & Militaria experts.