The War for the Union, Vol. 3: The Organized War, 1863-1864)

The War for the Union

by Allan Nevins

Probes the events and personalities that shaped America's history during this turbulent era

Genres: Civil War, History, Military History, American Civil War, Nonfiction, Civil War History, 19th Century

532 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Allan Nevins was an American historian and journalist, renowned for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as President Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller.

Reviews

[Brian Miracle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers the military, political, and international aspects of the Civil War in 1863. While it covers the devastating reverses at Gettysburg in the East and Chattanooga in the West, the book also shows how Lincoln deftly maneuvered through the political landscape with a coalition of Republicans and War Democrats. The book also covers diplomatic success in maintaining British and French neutrality.

[Geo Forman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nevins does such a good job explaining aspects of the war that are little known. For instance, the difficult and unforeseen problem of freed negroes entering Union lines made for disappointment and disgust. There were no plans to provide for them and there was nowhere for them to go. Shelter and food was scarce, idleness prevailed for many in spite of using the physically fit for manual labor to help the armies.

[Kathy Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, like all the others in this set, is very well written. The verbiage at times is a little old fashioned, but eloquent. The writers tendency to produce multiple examples of newspaper reporting of the times lends a real flavor of the attitudes in the country during the war.

[James Bechtel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

BW

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This seventh volume of Allan Nevins's "Ordeal of the Union" series nominally covers the American Civil War in the years 1863 and 1864. In fact, there are three chapters that deal with the events of the war: one each for the campaigns of Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga/Chattanooga. The other ten chapters of the book take a larger view of the changes brought by the war. In particular, Nevins focuses on the way the U.S. federal government became more centralized and organized in many respects. He also delves into an area where it did not organize as well as it should have, namely the treatment of freed men and women. On the Confederate side, he similarly investigates the challenges of governing that prevented it from becoming as centralized as the United States.

More than any of the previous volumes, this book exemplifies what makes Nevins's project unique. He analyzes and synthesizes sources that other historians ignore. For instance, he highlights Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the Union Army, as an unsung hero of the war. Nevins clearly read through copious records of the Quartermaster General's department to evaluate Meigs's work. If you read through "Ordeal of the Union" you will learn things you have probably never considered before or encountered in any other Civil War histories.

[Larry E · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good descriptive narrative of war.