That Body of Brave Men: The U.S. Regular Infantry and The Civil War In The West

by Mark W. Johnson

Using old regimental records from the Civil War, as well as diaries and letters, Mark W. Johnson has unearthed a wealth of new material about this long-neglected topic: he covers every unit and every battle in compelling narrative and exhaustive detail and reaches some surprising conclusions about the significant role these troops played in the Union's eventual victory.

Genres: Civil War, American Civil War

784 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2003

About the author

Mark Johnson is co-founder and Senior Partner of Innosight, an innovation and strategy consulting firm Innosight, which he co-founded with Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. He has consulted to the Global 1000 and start-up companies in a wide range of industries—including health care, aerospace/defense, enterprise IT, energy, automotive, and consumer packaged goods—and has advised Singapore’s government on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Reviews

[WKOCH · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle is a bit misleading as to the scope of the work. While the subtitle implies that the book discusses the overall activities of the US Regulars in the Western Theater of the war, the book focuses only on the four regiments that fought in the Army of the Ohio under Buell and the Army of the Cumberland under Rosecrans/Thomas - the 15th, 16th, 18th, and 19th regiments. The activities of the Regular Infantry with Grant at Vicksburg in 1863 and with Lyon in Missouri in 1861, among others, are not discussed in this book.

The book is well-written, and it is obvious that Johnson did very thorough research, but readers should be aware that the scope is narrower than the title suggests.

[Shane Pinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book about the US regulars during the American Civil War

[Brittany Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Iain]

Too long / detailed to be read cover to cover. I do plan on reading set chapters as interest in a given battle/campaign arises.