New to the Civil War Memory Library, 04/06

After AppomattoxNote: You can now pre-order, Gary W. Gallagher and Caroline E. Janney eds., Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign [(University of North Carolina Press, 2015) Includes an essay of mine on the Crater.]

Greg Downs, After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War (Harvard University Press, 2015).

Ted Maris-Wolf, Family Bonds: Free Blacks and Re-enslavement Law in Antebellum Virginia (University of North Carolina Press, 2015).

Louis P. Masur, Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion (Oxford University Press, 2015).

William Marvel, Lincoln’s Autocrat: The Life of Edwin Stanton (University of North Carolina Press, 2015).

Justin S. Solonick, Engineering Victory: The Union Siege of Vicksburg (Southern Illinois University Press, 2015).

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15 comments… add one
  • elmer taliaferro Apr 7, 2015 @ 15:10

    Curious why you chose to start your “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” essay with a vignette of Lawrence Taliaferro. Perhaps you are also aware that Major Catlett C. Taliaferro carried the flag of surrender to Gen.Grant at Appomattox Court House.

    Dave Taliaferro

    • Kevin Levin Apr 7, 2015 @ 15:17

      I forgot how I came across that account, but it worked perfectly in the essay. Thanks for sharing the story about C.C. Taliaferro, which I had not heard of before, though I now wish I had. Hope you enjoyed the essay.

      • elmer taliaferro Apr 7, 2015 @ 16:05

        Yes I enjoyed the perspective on life following the surrender. I regret not having had more interest in the Civil War when I was stationed at Ft.Lee many years ago.

        In your post today there is a painting of the surrender; Maj. Taliaferro was likely present. He is also related to George Catlett Marshall. This link has some background on him :
        http://vagenweb.org/tylers_bios/vol4-28.htm

        The Taliaferros were a prominent Virgina family and quite a number of them served in the Confederacy. My g-grandfather was a Captain in the Union militia in Missouri as his branch had migrated through Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri.

        All the Taliaferros descend from the immigrant Robert Taliaferro, who came from England in 1648. It is likely that Robert’s grandfather Bartholomew Taliaferro was Jewish and left Florence, Italy in the 1500s to work as a musician in England. I should get a genealogy test and settle this bit of trivia.

  • jclark82 Apr 7, 2015 @ 14:07

    I ordered “Engineering Victory” and will eventually get some of the others.

    Every time you make a post about new books I hear my wallet scream out in agony! Between this and building vintage IndyCar models my disposable income is covered.

    • Kevin Levin Apr 7, 2015 @ 14:17

      I can think of a lot worse things that you could do with your disposable income. Happy building and reading. 🙂

  • Pat Young Apr 7, 2015 @ 6:32

    Please let us know what you think of the new book from Downs.

    What books on Reconstruction would you recommend apart from those by Eric Foner?

    • Kevin Levin Apr 7, 2015 @ 11:34

      Hi Pat,

      I am two chapters in and thoroughly enjoying the book. I am going to hold off on saying anything right now, but I do recommend that you pick up a copy. As for other books to read on Reconstruction, they include:

      Mark Summers, The Ordeal of the Union: A New History of Reconstruction
      Dougals Egerton, The Wars of Reconstruction
      Michael Ross, The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case
      Hannah Rosen, Terror in the Heart of Freedom

      That should be enough to get most people started.

      • Pat Young Apr 7, 2015 @ 11:54

        OK, thanks. I am rereading Foner’s masterwork and I am hoping to dive into at least two other Reconstruction books this spring. I will be taking The Immigrants’ Civil War into the post-war period with articles on veterans as well as on Reconstruction, so I expect to be reading like mad on both of these subjects.

        • Kevin Levin Apr 7, 2015 @ 12:02

          Definitely will want to read Brian Jordan’s new book on Union veterans, Marching Home.

          • Pat Young Apr 7, 2015 @ 15:15

            Just finished it, thanks. Also read Keith Harris’s new book.

      • Brad Apr 9, 2015 @ 11:08

        I haven’t read the others but thought the Egerton book was very good.

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