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The Civil War #4
Road to Shiloh: Early Battles in the West
Beautifully bound and illustrated volume of the Civil War featuring The Road to Shiloh, Early Battles in the West.
175 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
76 people want to read
About the author
David Nevin
38 books27 followersDavid Reinhardt Nevin was born in Washington. His father, a veterinarian in the US Army when it had a horse cavalry, was soon assigned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Mr. Nevin joined the US Navy as a teenager and served in the Pacific. After the war he did poorly in college, but could write well enough to be hired as a police reporter for The Brownsville (Texas) Herald. That led to work for Time and Life magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 20, 2018
This third volume in the now 30 odd year old Time Life Civil War collectors set, written by David Nevin, covers a broad expanse of the early phases of the War Between the States.
Beginning with the truly chaotic, and extremely violent, fragmenting of Missouri's loyalties, the author does a very good job in the short space allotted him describing the Union's attempts to retain Missouri in the United States.
This early effort, however, was hampered in part by the poor generalship of John C. Fremont as well as the boldness of the Rebel General Sterling Price who emerged victorious against a surprise Federal attack at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861. While Price did assault north towards the northern part of the state (winning another little affair at Lexington), the Federals retained St. Louis, the most vital piece of Missouri real estate. And from the great river city, in 1862, they would launch the campaign that would sweep Missouri clean of Confederate forces.
The rest of the book focuses upon two men: the North's Ulysses S. Grant, and the South's Albert Sidney Johnston. Grant would begin as a junior officer, though steadily climb through the ranks until he was a Brigadier General and in command of his own Division. He would, in November of 1861, suffer a sharp reverse at Belmont in Missouri, but his aggressiveness impressed Washington who promoted him to a major field command despite the setback.
A.S. Johnston would have the unenviable task of trying to erect a defensive line stretching from eastern Tennessee all the way to Missouri with limited manpower and material resources. He was not aided by dillatory efforts to erect forts over key river junctions, or by commanders who got their outnumbered commands swatted by superior Union forces such as happened at Mill Springs Kentucky in January.
However it would be Grant's taking of the twin rover forts Henry and Donelson in February (aided by the US Navy's riverine fleet) that would put paid to any notions Johnston had of holding a defensive line against the Federals. Grant's twin successes entirely undid the idea of a Confederate western defensive position, and Grant's army was plowing down the riverways towards Mississippi while another Federal army under Don Carlos Buell seized Nashville and moved parallel to Grant's.
Johnston would concentrate a sizeable Rebel force at Corinth Mississippi and in early April 1862, moved northwards with 40,000 men to strike Grant's similarly sized force resting along the banks of the Tennessee River near Pittsburg Landing, not far from a tiny Methodist Church known as Shiloh.
Ironically, Shiloh is ancient Hebrew for place of peace.
On April 6th The Rebels smashed into the surprised Federal forces and badly mauled them, nearly pushing them into the river. However, sheer exhaustion, incredibly fierce Union resistance, and reinforcements under Buell, halted the Confederate offensive.
Grant and Buell counterattacked on the 7th, and here the books only major failing comes through.
This book was written around 30 years before Timothy B. Smith wrote his definitive, and somewhat revisionist, military history on the Battle of Shiloh. As such David Nevin repeats the now disproven notion of the Second day of Shiloh being a straightforward Federal march to victory. Smith actually shows the Confederates managed to sap the Federal drive well short of a decisive success, allowing them to retreat unmolested, and all while being exhausted and logistically on a shoestring from the day before.
Shiloh would end in a bit of a draw, though it battered to tatters the Confederate Army of Mississippi. A.S. Johnston fell in the first days fighting, and over 10,000 young men were lost in the bloodiest battle in American history to that time. Add over 13,000 Union losses and the two days of Shiloh were worse than all the wars the young nation had fought up till that time including the War for Independence.
For the limited space available this book does a good job covering the first phases of the war in the West.
Beginning with the truly chaotic, and extremely violent, fragmenting of Missouri's loyalties, the author does a very good job in the short space allotted him describing the Union's attempts to retain Missouri in the United States.
This early effort, however, was hampered in part by the poor generalship of John C. Fremont as well as the boldness of the Rebel General Sterling Price who emerged victorious against a surprise Federal attack at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861. While Price did assault north towards the northern part of the state (winning another little affair at Lexington), the Federals retained St. Louis, the most vital piece of Missouri real estate. And from the great river city, in 1862, they would launch the campaign that would sweep Missouri clean of Confederate forces.
The rest of the book focuses upon two men: the North's Ulysses S. Grant, and the South's Albert Sidney Johnston. Grant would begin as a junior officer, though steadily climb through the ranks until he was a Brigadier General and in command of his own Division. He would, in November of 1861, suffer a sharp reverse at Belmont in Missouri, but his aggressiveness impressed Washington who promoted him to a major field command despite the setback.
A.S. Johnston would have the unenviable task of trying to erect a defensive line stretching from eastern Tennessee all the way to Missouri with limited manpower and material resources. He was not aided by dillatory efforts to erect forts over key river junctions, or by commanders who got their outnumbered commands swatted by superior Union forces such as happened at Mill Springs Kentucky in January.
However it would be Grant's taking of the twin rover forts Henry and Donelson in February (aided by the US Navy's riverine fleet) that would put paid to any notions Johnston had of holding a defensive line against the Federals. Grant's twin successes entirely undid the idea of a Confederate western defensive position, and Grant's army was plowing down the riverways towards Mississippi while another Federal army under Don Carlos Buell seized Nashville and moved parallel to Grant's.
Johnston would concentrate a sizeable Rebel force at Corinth Mississippi and in early April 1862, moved northwards with 40,000 men to strike Grant's similarly sized force resting along the banks of the Tennessee River near Pittsburg Landing, not far from a tiny Methodist Church known as Shiloh.
Ironically, Shiloh is ancient Hebrew for place of peace.
On April 6th The Rebels smashed into the surprised Federal forces and badly mauled them, nearly pushing them into the river. However, sheer exhaustion, incredibly fierce Union resistance, and reinforcements under Buell, halted the Confederate offensive.
Grant and Buell counterattacked on the 7th, and here the books only major failing comes through.
This book was written around 30 years before Timothy B. Smith wrote his definitive, and somewhat revisionist, military history on the Battle of Shiloh. As such David Nevin repeats the now disproven notion of the Second day of Shiloh being a straightforward Federal march to victory. Smith actually shows the Confederates managed to sap the Federal drive well short of a decisive success, allowing them to retreat unmolested, and all while being exhausted and logistically on a shoestring from the day before.
Shiloh would end in a bit of a draw, though it battered to tatters the Confederate Army of Mississippi. A.S. Johnston fell in the first days fighting, and over 10,000 young men were lost in the bloodiest battle in American history to that time. Add over 13,000 Union losses and the two days of Shiloh were worse than all the wars the young nation had fought up till that time including the War for Independence.
For the limited space available this book does a good job covering the first phases of the war in the West.
December 21, 2018
It was a good read, interesting and in-depth. Two issues are that the maps are too few to track with the narrative and the narrative has so many people mentioned it is hard to keep track of who is who.
August 13, 2019
Great review of the civil war in the west and the battle of Shiloh. The Time life pictures are a special extra to basic history.
November 14, 2024
General discussion of the battle of Shiloh and its beginnings. Time Life series is a good starter set for those wanting to know about the war.
September 28, 2018
Very basic overview of the first year of the war in the Western Theater, wich much of the focus on the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson and the battle of Shiloh. Like other books in the Time-Life Civil War series, it is probably intended more for those who are just starting to get interested in the Civil War. For example, the section on the capture of Island No. 10 consists mostly of period illustrations, with only a half page of text (or less) per two page unit.
February 15, 2015
As usual, the little volumes in the Time Life set on The Civil War are generally at least good. This on, while no exception, it was quite good, suffered a bit from jumping around to attempt, in the limited space available, to cover far too much. The beginnings of the truly uncivil war in Missouri and the Trans-Mississippi, the collapse of the Confederates Western Defense Line, the Battles of Belmont, Mill Springs KY, Forts Henry and Donelson and, of course, Shiloh. Still it's a decent book that someone with the bent of military analysis cans till learn from.
The South, for all of their secessionist rhetoric and for firing the opening shots at Fort Sumter, failed to take the idea of war seriously. As a result, the Southern Confederacy was simply unprepared for the enormity of the war that the United States, following the drubbing at Manassas and the realization that the war was going to need some serious muscle, was willing to unleash upon them. The South while lacking the industrial base of the North, would make amends in an astonishing way by building up their own industry in a remarkably short time span, a sort of Southern 'Yankee Ingenuity'. However that would only occur after the thunderbolts that inflicted them in Kentucky and Tennessee. While the South would prove flexible enough, and nationalistic enough, survive these early calamities (and her armies and leadership would learn enough about the art of war to avoid many of these early mistakes in the following campaigns), she would forever be on the back step. For the rest of the war, save for only a few occasions, the South would be on the defensive, and if anyone knows anything about war, that is the last place you wish to spend your war.
All in all a decent little volume, well written, just attempts to cover far too much information in limited format. Also the second day of the Battle of Shiloh is glossed over in about three paragraphs, always a pet peeve of mine.
So hence the three stars. As part of the set however, not a bad deal if you can find a volume.
The South, for all of their secessionist rhetoric and for firing the opening shots at Fort Sumter, failed to take the idea of war seriously. As a result, the Southern Confederacy was simply unprepared for the enormity of the war that the United States, following the drubbing at Manassas and the realization that the war was going to need some serious muscle, was willing to unleash upon them. The South while lacking the industrial base of the North, would make amends in an astonishing way by building up their own industry in a remarkably short time span, a sort of Southern 'Yankee Ingenuity'. However that would only occur after the thunderbolts that inflicted them in Kentucky and Tennessee. While the South would prove flexible enough, and nationalistic enough, survive these early calamities (and her armies and leadership would learn enough about the art of war to avoid many of these early mistakes in the following campaigns), she would forever be on the back step. For the rest of the war, save for only a few occasions, the South would be on the defensive, and if anyone knows anything about war, that is the last place you wish to spend your war.
All in all a decent little volume, well written, just attempts to cover far too much information in limited format. Also the second day of the Battle of Shiloh is glossed over in about three paragraphs, always a pet peeve of mine.
So hence the three stars. As part of the set however, not a bad deal if you can find a volume.
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December 30, 2012FYI: The ISBN printed in the book is wrong (First printing, USA, retail edition hardback, 1986). They printed the ISBN for "Spies, Scouts, and Raiders" (of the same series) inside the book. 0-8094-4780-0
March 18, 2013
Liked this quite well, lots about U.S. Grant.. one of the best, for his time.
February 27, 2015
Good series of books.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews