Dread Danger: Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War

by Lesley J. Gordon

When confronted with the abject fear of going into battle, Civil War soldiers were expected to overcome the dread of the oncoming danger with feats of courage and victory on the battlefield. The Fire Zouaves and the 2nd Texas Infantry went to war with high expectations that they would perform bravely; they had famed commanders and enthusiastic community support. How could they possibly fail? Yet falter they did, facing humiliating charges of cowardice thereafter that cast a lingering shadow on the two regiments, despite their best efforts at redemption. By the end of the war, however, these charges were largely forgotten, replaced with the jingoistic rhetoric of martial heroism, a legacy that led many, including historians, to insist that all Civil War soldiers were heroes. Dread Danger creates a fuller understanding of the soldier experience and the overall costs and sufferings of war.

Genres: History

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2024

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Micro history with grand applications. With close examination of sources, Gordon reveals the “the secret history of the fight” that Alfred H. Colquitt (veteran of Antietam, Olustee, Petersburg and many other battles) mentioned in a letter in a letter to a friend. It is also a good read.

[Mark Harden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Through four of six chapters*. 99% research, 1% analysis. The text consists of about half footnotes, primarily references and quotations from contemporary newspapers. Author never offers any substantive analysis to defend her thesis about cowardice. In fact, any cowardice in the book is merely narrative and based primarily, again, on contemporary newspaper accounts.
Chapter four begins the part two account of the 2nd Texas, which, as I feared, is filled with Woke Presentism. innumerable references to “enslaved persons”, an entire paragraph spent on attempting to refute historian Joseph Chance’s depiction of the relationship of a Texan soldier and his manservant Green who accompanied him to war. Later, author writes (seriously, page 169) “Simons [Green’s master] added, without any recognition of what it might have been like for Green to be in the middle of training rebel troops to fight for his ongoing enslavement…” Worst of all, she repeats the slanderous lie that Texas Independence was fought “to ensure protection of slavery”.

* I intended to write this as a “partly finished” review and complete it when I finished the book. However, Goodreads seems to limit the characters for that, so I decided that was my clue to just write the full review and toss this Presentist garbage in the trash.