Boyd B Stutler

Being a disorganized jumble of a book which gets around to treating its subject adequately. The book consists of very short chapters which treat of one battle or incident in the state during the war. It roughly follows a chronological order, but there is no attempt to link the various episodes; it reads like a collection of newspaper columns which many states' historical societies generated for the centennial years. None of this is helped by the fact that half the book deals with 1861 and its chaotic mishmash of skirmishes. There is also almost nothing on the state's fascinating politics during the war. In many ways, the best part of the book is the author's nose for quaint minor figures (I had previously missed out on Mudwall Jackson and Clawhammer Witcher, among many others) and his grumblings about the selection and management (or lack of same) of the state's battlefield monuments and parks.… (mehr)