Book Reviews

Book Reviews — June 2021

Originally published June 2021 · pp. 40–43

Civil War News book reviews provide our readers with timely analysis of the latest and most significant Civil War research and scholarship. Contact email: [email protected].

Revolutionary War on George Washington’s Engineer Washington’s Engineer: Louis Duportail and the Creation of an Army Corps. By Norman Desmarais. 2021, Prometheus Books, prometheusbooks.com, Lanham, MD. 424 pp., $29.95.

Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart

An 18th century army, to be effective, needed a field force of infantry, artillery, and cavalry supported by a quartermaster corps and an engineer corps. Upon taking command of the Continental Army in 1775, General George Washington found that his army contained only four of these five components as it was missing an effective engineer corps. An army needed an engineer corps to lay out defensive works, conduct siege operations, and build and maintain lines of communications.

While General Washington could find colonists with the technical skills to command his artillery, infantry, cavalry, and quartermaster corps, no such individuals could be found to head his engineer corps. American colleges were geared to producing ministers and lawyers, not engineers; thus, there was a total lack of trained engineers within the colonies. When the colonists in the past had needed engineer service for building fortifications and harbors, the engineers had been supplied by the British Army. If General Washington was to equip his army with trained military engineers, he would have to look to Europe.

During the 70 years leading up to the Revolutionary War, the colonists’ principal enemy had been France. However, once war broke out between with Great Britain, the old adage, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” came into play. The colonists turned to France to obtain the military engineers they so lacked. Among the French military engineers who traveled to America to assist General Washington was Lt. Colonel Louis le Begue de Presle Duportail who arrived in 1777.

Upon arrival in the colonies, Duportail was commissioned as a colonel in the American Army and placed in command of General Washington’s Corps of Engineers. Shortly thereafter, Duportail was promoted to brigadier general and, for the remainder of the war, Duportail, held the title Chief of Engineers, and would serve as a member of General Washington’s military staff. He held this position until 1783 when he resigned his commission.

Today Duportail is a completely forgotten military figure, enjoying only footnotes in the more detailed histories of the Revolutionary War. Professor Desmarais has rectified this oversight by offering an excellent biographical account of the life of Louis Duportail, with an emphasis on Duportail’s time as a military engineer in the Continental Army.

Duportail was born in France in 1743; in 1761 he entered the Military School of the Royal Corps of Engineers. Commissioned as a lieutenant in 1763, Duportail, over the next twelve years, undertook a number of military assignments for the French Army. In 1777, he Civil War News book reviews provide our readers with timely contacted Benjamin Franklin, the analysis of the latest and most significant Civil War research and Continental Congress’ Minister to France, about serving in the scholarship. Contact email: [email protected]. American Army. The result was that Duportail arrived in America in November 1777 and spend the winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge, working with General Washington in laying the groundwork for what would become the Corps of Engineers. However, it was not until the fall of 1778 that General Washington established the Corps of Engineers. Washington’s Engineer: colleges were geared to producDuring the course of the Louis Duportail and the ing ministers and lawyers, not Revolutionary War, Duportail Creation of an Army Corps. engineers; thus, there was a total and the men of the Corps of By Norman Desmarais. 2021, lack of trained engineers within Engineers rendered valuable serPrometheus Books, prometheus- the colonies. When the colonists vice to General Washington’s books.com, Lanham, MD. 424 in the past had needed engineer Army by supporting it during pp., $29.95. service for building fortifica- both defensive and offensive options and harbors, the engineers erations. Duportail and the men had been supplied by the British of the Corps spent much of 1778 Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart Army. If General Washington was developing fortifications along to equip his army with trained the Delaware River and strengthmilitary engineers, he would have ening the defensive works at to look to Europe. West Point on the Hudson River. During the 70 years leading up Duportail would be one of to the Revolutionary War, the col- General Washington’s key staff onists’ principal enemy had been officers during the Campaign France. However, once war broke of 1779. Then in 1780, General out between with Great Britain, Washington sent Duportail south the old adage, “the enemy of to Charleston, to serve under my enemy is my friend,” came General Benjamin Lincoln. His into play. The colonists turned to service here was short as he was France to obtain the military en- among those captured by the gineers they so lacked. Among British when General Lincoln the French military engineers surrendered Charleston. who traveled to America to asDuportail was exchanged in sist General Washington was Lt. early 1781 and spent the first part Colonel Louis le Begue de Presle of that year planning a campaign Duportail who arrived in 1777. to capture New York City. The Upon arrival in the colonies, plan to take New York was disDuportail was commissioned cardedwhenGeneralWashington An 18th century army, to be ef- as a colonel in the American moved south to attack Lt. General fective, needed a field force of in- Army and placed in command Charles Cornwallis’ base at fantry, artillery, and cavalry sup- of General Washington’s Corps Yorktown, Va. Following a forported by a quartermaster corps of Engineers. Shortly thereaf- mal siege operation, Yorktown and an engineer corps. Upon tak- ter, Duportail was promoted to was taken by American and ing command of the Continental brigadier general and, for the re- French soldiers in October 1781. Army in 1775, General George mainder of the war, Duportail, After the capture of Yorktown, Washington found that his held the title Chief of Engineers, Duportail was promoted to Major army contained only four of and would serve as a member General. Then on October 10, these five components as it was of General Washington’s mili- 1783, he resigned his commismissing an effective engineer tary staff. He held this position sion in the Continental Army corps. An army needed an engi- until 1783 when he resigned his and shortly thereafter sailed for neer corps to lay out defensive commission. France. works, conduct siege operations, Today Duportail is a comWhen Duportail returned to and build and maintain lines of pletely forgotten military figure, France, he found a country in communications. enjoying only footnotes in the economic and political turmoil as While General Washington more detailed histories of the the royal house of Bourbon had could find colonists with the Revolutionary War. Professor been overthrown and a republic technical skills to command his Desmarais has rectified this declared. He was soon promotartillery, infantry, cavalry, and oversight by offering an excel- ed to brigadier general in the quartermaster corps, no such in- lent biographical account of the French Army, and in November dividuals could be found to head life of Louis Duportail, with an 1790, Duportail became France’s his engineer corps. American emphasis on Duportail’s time

Minister of War was controversial with both the right and left political parties finding fault with his administration. As a result of these political controversies, when Duportail was relieved as Minister of War in December 1791, he had to go into hiding. Eventually he escaped to America where he bought a farm near Valley Forge and became an American citizen. In July 1801, he sailed for France to accept a position as an officer in Napoleon’s Army, but died before reaching France and was buried at sea, denying him a tomb. What happened to his estate after his death is a great sub story. The book is an interesting read concerning a forgotten man who played a critical role in helping forge General Washington’s Army into a combat ready force. Much of the book’s text consists of reproductions of reports written by

Duportail or others concerning the various military actions the Corps of Engineers undertook during the Revolutionary War. The book has no direct relationship to the American Civil War but does provide the Civil War student with a historical overview of the founding of the Corps of Engineers and how their wartime military missions developed. If the Corps of Engineers is of interest to you, this is a must read. Charles H. Bogart has a BA from Thomas More University and an MCP from Ohio State University. He is employed as a tour guide at the Fort Boone Civil War Battle Site in Frankfort, Ky., serves as President of the Frankfort Civil War Roundtable, and is a board member of the Kentucky Civil War Roundtable. He has written a number of books and articles on military and naval history.

The recent publication of Cecilia Lawton’s long-lost memoir adds to the expanding genre of literature chronicling the impact of the Civil War on the lives of noncombatants. Born in 1847 to a wealthy Georgia cotton planter and railroad entrepreneur, Cecilia Lawton was something of a real-life Scarlett O’Hara. While she was growing up, Cecilia’s father,

Robert Lawton, kept her socially aloof from what he called the country people. He did, however, attend scrupulously to the education of Cecilia and her siblings. Early on, Cecilia was taught by live-in tutors her father retained. When Cecilia was older, her father sent her to a series of female academies, including one in Pennsylvania, so by the time of her marriage she was exceptionally well educated per the standards of antebellum southern society. Cecilia’s life changed both rapidly and drastically shortly after she married a distant cousin, Wallace Lawton, in September 1864, and relocated to his cotton plantation near Lawtonville in southeastern South Carolina. In her memoir, Cecilia recollects: “Up to this time my life had been all gladness & sunshine and innocent joy…,” but “[o]ur honeymoon was scarcely over when Wallace had to leave me and join the Confederate Army.” Early in December 1864, Sherman’s army passed through the area in Georgia where Cecilia had grown up and burned much of her father’s property, besides carrying off his livestock and provisions. Fearing for her safety with Wallace away in the army, Cecilia fled to Georgia just as Sherman’s army exited that state and entered South Carolina. The scenes of ruin and desolation that Cecilia witnessed while in Georgia were still vivid in her mind when she commenced her memoir about 1878. She was horrified by the “[s]cores upon scores of blackened chimneys”she encountered in the aftermath of the Federal advance, left “guarding the ashes of once happy homes, where the laughter of children … were forever hushed.” The Yankees’ wholesale slaughter of horses and other livestock particularly sickened Cecilia. She laments: “Not a living animal… was seen on the entire route, but hundreds, yea, thousands, were seen lying dead and rotting on the roadside….” Not all the dead that Cecilia happened across in Georgia were animals. She mentions seeing “dead and putrefying bodies of men near the road,” mostly “negroes, camp followers, who had perished miserably from smallpox or other disease, even after gaining their newfound freedom.” Mercifully, Cecilia was absent from her plantation when some of Sherman’s bummers arrived in January 1865, torches at the ready. Upon her return, she found near total destruction. All that remained of her once “comfortable house was 7 stacks of chimneys and a heap of ashes.” Likewise all the barns, stables, gin houses, and other outbuildings were burned, except for a couple of slave cabins where the Lawtons took temporary refuge. “The ruin wrought by that one man, Sherman, in the Southern states,” Cecilia writes, “will not be repaired in a 100 years.” Reduced to genteel poverty by the war, the Lawtons struggled for years afterward to rebuild their lives and fortune. Reconstruction proved a particular challenge to the Lawtons as it did for many white southerners. Shortly after the war Wallace contracted with his former slaves to work his plantation on shares. A company of U.S. Colored Troops convinced the freedmen to give up their status as sharecroppers and to desert the plantation, telling them they no longer had to work and that Uncle Sam would care for them. Cecilia recalls that “[w] hen we next saw them the following spring … nearly all were pitted with smallpox marks, [which] they called … ‘de union mark’ (i.e. U.S.).” When the memoir abruptly ends in 1872, the Lawtons have returned to the Charleston area where Wallace grew up. By then the family had achieved modest prosperity, though their lifestyle was a far cry from that they had known before the war. Cecilia’s memoir is a joy to read. Her writing is both literate and crisp. The text is ably edited and footnoted by Karen Stokes, whose encyclopedic knowledgeof19th-centurySouth Carolinians knows few peers. Happily, Mercer Press went with footnotes over endnotes. The illustrations are few, but the one photograph of Cecilia shows her to have been a striking young woman. For Civil War enthusiasts, the primary appeal of this book is the gripping first-hand account of some of the hardships inflicted on southern civilians by Sherman’s army on its relentless march through Georgia and South Carolina. The memoirist’s accounts of plantation life in Georgia and South Carolina, both before the war and during Reconstruction, should also appeal to some readers of Civil War News. C. Michael Harrington is a retired lawyer, resident in Houston. He’s authored several published articles on South Carolina soldiers, and he’s lectured to Civil War organizations in Houston on multiple topics, including Yale’s Confederate alumni and South Carolinians in the war. He’s president of the Houston CWRT.

A Useful Firsthand Perspective of South Carolina during Reconstruction Writing War and Reunion: Selected Civil War and Reconstruction Newspaper Editorials by William Gilmore Simms. Edited by Jeffery J. Rogers. Notes, bibliography, index, 2020, 213 pp., University of South Carolina Press, www.uscpress.com, $59.99. Reviewed by Jonathan W. White

Writing War and Reunion reprints newspaper editorials written by William Gilmore Simms between September 1860 and October 1867. Although largely forgotten today, Simms was one of the South’s preeminent literary figures in the mid-nineteenth century.

Readers interested in Civil War military history will find little of interest in this volume. The 1860 editorials deal primarily with the literature of the day.The editorials covering the war itself only take up about thirty pages of the book. In fact, there is only one editorial from between November 1861 and April 1865 (dated November 24, 1863, it offers a wonderful description of the Union shelling of Charleston). Simms’s 1861 editorials discuss Confederate commerce and tax policy, coastal fortifications, southern optimism, ordnance, the construction of ironclad warships, and the Union capture of Port Royal. Simms’s writing is engaging, at times even funny. In May 1861, for example, he wrote, “The whole nation of Yankeedom is delivered up to vanity. They are the greatest braggadocios and humbugs that the world has ever seen.” Criticizing the New York illustrated newspapers, he wrote that the city’s “whole moral consists in a lying history with big pictorial illustrations.” Later in the year, he observed, “Our enemies are not to be scared by grimaces or summersaults, nor to be kept ignorant of our whereabouts by hiding like an ostrich.” The majority of the book reproduces editorials from the first few years of Reconstruction. The editorials from April and May 1865 reflect on the causes and meaning of the war, as well as Lincoln’s assassination and the elevation to the presidency of Andrew Johnson, whom Simms surmised “must be simply a tool in the hands of the experts by whom he will be surrounded.” The editorials from late 1865 through 1866 offer wonderful commentary on the postwar South from the perspective of an ex-Confederate who was trying to make sense of the social changes taking place around him. Simms discusses many important topics, including national politics, the free labor system, race relations, and the imprisonment of Jefferson Davis. His editorials offer pointed commentary from a southern white perspective. For instance, he wrote in December 1865, that southern whites “like” the former slave “much better than is possible for his radical friends to do… .Our good wishes continue to follow him in his new condition, and we are willing to do all that we can, consistently with the duty we owe to our own race and the country at large, to make him contented and happy in that condition.” Simms apparently saw no contradiction when he mocked the idea of educating former slaves two weeks later, writing that they may become a “race of wooly orators, more eloquent than Mr. [Charles] Sumner,” or a “choir of blubber-lipped poets.” A series of editorials from 1867 describe Simms’s travels in Florida. Strangely, the editor chose not to annotate Simms’s writings. People, places, and events that appear in the text are not identified, which is a major oversight, especially for a book published by a university press. Taken together, Writing War and Reunion will be of limited interest to readers of Civil War News. Readers interested in the early stages of Reconstruction will be most likely to find value in it. Jonathan W. White is associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and is the author or editor of ten books, including Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams during the Civil War (2017) and “Our Little Monitor”: The Greatest Invention of the Civil War (2018), co-authored with Anna Gibson Holloway. Visit his website at www.jonathanwhite. org or follow him on Twitter at @ CivilWarJon.

The Religious Trifecta First Chaplain of the Confederacy: Father Darius Hubert, S.J. By Katherine Bentley Jeffrey. Louisiana State University Press, lsupress. org. 2020. Fourteen halftones. Hardbound. 200 pp. $45. Reviewed by Richard J. Blumberg

Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson share a unique relationship with Father Darius Hubert. All three men were very religious; all served in the Army of Northern Virginia. Father Hubert grew up in France during the French Revolution. His Jesuit upbringing led him to missionary work in various Louisiana cities including, Baton Rouge, Grand Coteau, and New Orleans. For those not familiar with the S.J. notation after his name, it stands for Society of Jesus. This is a Roman Catholic Religious Order founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and noted for its educational, missionary, and charitable works. Father Hubert kept virtually no written records of his actions or accomplishments. Katherine Jeffrey, a freelance writer accepted the difficult challenge of documenting his life. Prior to the Civil War, Father Hubert served in New Orleans. He interacted with whites, enslaved blacks, and free people of color. He mentored and educated children and provided missionary and spiritual support to many, despite ongoing anti-Jesuit propaganda campaigns. In 1861 he was appointed Chaplain of the Army of Northern Virginia’s First Louisiana Infantry, where he served for the duration of the War. Ms. Jeffrey provides detailed descriptions of the situations he encountered. Some of these include: 1) ministering a soldier’s last rites; 2) religious conversions; 3) biblical interpretations; and miscellaneous aspects of spiritual mentorship and direction, too many to enumerate. Hubert’s work was appreciated enough that veterans of the EasternTheater battles unanimously elected him their chaplain after the war. After the war, he returned to New Orleans under harsh Reconstruction standards. Ms. Jeffrey gives good insight into what he encountered after four years of war. He came home to a city that did not look, smell, sound, or act like it did previously. Despite many obstacles, Hubert continued to minister to his congregation, the city of New Orleans. His congregation consisted of whites, free blacks, and Union militia forces. Ms. Jeffrey’s work provides readers with details of a chaplain’s daily life. Whether on bivouac, a hospital tent, or in the city, his duties required him to be available twenty-four hours a day. She gives readers a deeper appreciation of what today’s priests, pastors, and chaplains also encounter. Her research includes data from unit histories and genealogical records. I recommend this work to anyone wanting more background on how religion influenced the Civil War. Richard has served as a Book Reviewer for over eighteen years. He has published three articles for Civil War News.

A Succinct Look at Wisconsin Regiments in the 1862 Maryland Campaign Wisconsin at Antietam: The Badger State’s Sacrifice on America’s Bloodiest Day. By Cal Schoonover. Photos, notes, index, 126 pp., 2020. The History Press, www.historypress.com. $21.99. Reviewed by Jonathan A. Noyalas

On January 18, 1866, Lucius Fairchild, who had commanded the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry during the 1862 Maryland Campaign, forwarded a letter he received from A.A. Biggs, president of the board of trustees of the Antietam National Cemetery, to the governor of Wisconsin and the state’s legislature. Biggs’ message implored Fairchild to convince Wisconsin officials of the necessity of making a financial contribution to properly care for the graves of 125 Wisconsin soldiers buried in the cemetery. In complete agreement with Biggs, Fairchild implored the state’s legislature: “It seems proper that Wisconsin should honor herself by honoring the burial places of her gallant sons.”

Just as Fairchild hoped to honor While Schoonover provides Private William Taylor of the 2nd Wisconsin’s soldiers who fought an appropriate level of context Wisconsin processed the carnage and died at South Mountain and throughout his study, the author at South Mountain and simultaAntietam, Cal Schoonover aims never loses focus on the regi- neously maintained his readiness to do the same with this concise ments at the book’s core. for future combat. The author ofvolume. Individuals interested in trac- fers similar analyses of Antietam. Schoonover, currently pursu- ing the movements of Wisconsin While Schoonover’s study ing a Ph.D. in American history, regiments in the 1862 Maryland would have certainly benerelies largely on an array of pub- Campaign will find Schoonover’s fited from an analysis of the lished primary sources and the brisk narrative useful, but so too longer-term impact of South latest scholarship on the battles will those who seek deeper un- Mountain and Antietam on the of South Mountain and Antietam derstanding of how soldiers re- soldiers of these four Wisconsin to reconstruct the service and ex- acted to combat. Too often reg- regiments, things which could periences of the four Wisconsin imental studies become bogged be teased out of pension reinfantry regiments, the 2nd, 3rd, down in tedious tactical examina- cords, those interested in the 6th, and 7th, engaged in those tions and lose sight of how what 1862 Maryland Campaign or two battles. The author freely is being described impacted the Wisconsin regiments will find admits that this study is not in- soldiers involved. Fortunately, tended “to give a step-by-step Schoonover does not fall into account of the Battles of South that trap. For example, in the Mountain and Antietam,” but book’s fourth chapter, which exinstead “focuses on the role amines the period after South Wisconsin played” during the Mountain, but prior to Antietam, 1862 Maryland Campaign. the author powerfully conveys Schoonover directs readers who how soldiers coped with the orcrave in-depth studies of the cam- deal through which they had just paign and its consequences to the passed. Here the author provides more detailed campaign studies insight into how soldiers such as penned by Scott Hartwig, John Hoptak, Stephen Sears, and John Michael Priest. Broken into five chapters, Schoonover begins this succinct volume with a brief overview of each of the four Wisconsin regiments, three of which, the 2nd, 6th, and 7th, fought as part of the famed Iron Brigade. The author ably describes the establishment of these regiments in the late spring and early summer of 1861.

vides thumbnail biographies some officers in these regiments.

Throughout the book’s maining chapters the author gently discusses the into Maryland, the discovery

Special Order No.

tical ebb and flow of fighting

South Mountain and at value in Schoonover’s clearly and concisely written study. Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute in Winchester, Virginia, a professor in Civil War Era Studies at Shenandoah University, and founding editor of Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era. He is the author or editor of fourteen books. Noyalas’ latest book, Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era, was published by the University Press of Florida.