Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country. By Fay A. Yarbrough. Bibliography, index, notes, maps, 280 pp., University of North Carolina Press, uncpress.org.
Choctaw Confederates is an attempt to explore motivations behind the enlistment of over 3,000 Choctaws in the First Choctaw and Chickasa Mounted Rifles and their alignment with the Confederacy. An extensive portion of this book however, deals with three crucial elements: national sovereignty, states’ rights, and the survival slavery, and how they affected Choctaw culture. The text traces the Choctaw experience with the U.S. government before the war, the treaties that shaped Choctaw relations with Washington, and the cultural and social attribute Choctaw society. Essentially, the Choctaw experience before the war was a Southern experience, wherein slavery played an integra part; the Choctaws thus saw their support of the South as crucial t their own survival as a separate, sovereign nation, with slavery preserved. The author exhaustivel details how the Civil War offered Choctaw men an opportunity to recover their identity as warrior altered gender and property roles and gave the Choctaw common ground with their Confederate
neighbors. Hence, combination of Choctaw reliance on slavery, geographic proximity, pressure from neighbors in Texas and Arkansas, Southern promises of national sovereignty, and the assumption of annuity payments compelled their alliance with the Confederacy. In 1861 enlistments for the South ran high, although initial battles, e.g. Round Mountain, Chusto-Talasah and Chustenahlah were basically fought against Creek Indians who initially sought neutrality. Enlistments began to wane by late 1862; as the war dragged on supplies, clothing, arms, food, and victory became scarcer. Unfortunately, the author gives only passing treatment to combat where Choctaws were engaged. Battles like Honey Springs, Boggy Depot, Perryville, Backbone Mountain, Caving Banks, and Locust Grove receive virtually no treatment. Valuable insight into the Choctaw performance in these encounters, the impact on their communities, and their military significance is never discussed. Rather sociological perspectives, such as a necessity for warriors, marriage customs, and political participation take center stage. short chapter on Reconstruction and the Choctaw Freedom Bill of 1883 was almost exclusively a discussion regarding the rights o the newly freed slaves. The author’s first book on Race in the Cherokee Nation could easily have served as the title of this book by substituting the word Choctaw. For the historian who wishes to delve into the sociological and cultural basis of Choctaw society, this book would be helpful; but for any understanding of the contribution of Choctaw Confederates to the war effort there is little to tan the military historian.
Wayne L. Wolf is Professor Emeritus at South Suburban College, the author of over thirt Civil War books and articles, and past president of the LincolnDavis Civil War Roundtable.
Insightful, Inspiring, and Powerful Letters My Work Among the Freedmen: The Civil War and Reconstruction Letters of Harriet M. Buss. Edited by Jonathan W. White and Lydia J. Davis. Photos, notes, index, 244
When Harriet Buss passed away on October 10, 1895, a correspondent for The News and Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote that throughout her distinguished career as an educator Buss “enjoyed the high esteem and friendship of teachers and pupils.” Historians particularly those who have studied the education of African Americans after the Civil War, have made excellent use of Buss’ correspondence. Now through the efforts of historians Jonath White, a prolific author and professor at Christopher Newport University, and Lydia Davis, an educator at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Buss’ correspondence ranging from March 1863 to April 1871 is available in this valuable an brilliantly edited collection. Born in 1826 in Sterling, Massachusetts, Buss, began her teaching career in 1850 as an assistant teacher at Charlestown Female Seminary in Massachusetts, proved an important figure in the educatio of formerly enslaved people on the Sea Islands of South Carolin during the Civil War and in Norfolk, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina, in the conflict’ aftermath. While this signifi collection of letters offers muc to individuals interested in the
education of African Americans during and after our nation’s most tumultuous momen this superb assemblage offers
important insight into the ways teachers who journeyed south
formed bonds with each other, coped with the various pressures they confronted, established relationships with their student and the manner in which formerly enslaved people commemorated emancipation. Additionally, Buss letters provide critical insight figures who played important roles in the establishment, perpetuation, and expansion of educational institutions for African Americans after the conflict. Particularly noteworth are Buss’ musings about Henry Martin Tupper, a veteran of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry, who established the Raleigh Baptist Institute for the Education of Colored Men for the Ministry after the Civil War’s end. By 1875 this institution evolved in Shaw University, a place near and dear to Buss’ heart as she not only taught there and assist in raising funds to help sustain it, but upon her death in 1895, gave a portion of her estate for perpetuation. Beyond this volum usefulness to understanding the education of African Americans during and after the Civil War and the challenges confronted by students and teachers, Buss’ correspondence offers a lens through which one can gain a more cogent understanding of the Civil War era from a woman’s viewpoint. Throughout, Buss peppered her correspondence with thoughts about various military figures she encountered in her work. For instance she found James Montgomery colonel of the U.S. Second South Carolina Volunteers, a regiment of largely escaped slaves, “quite interesting,” whi she possessed “no high opinion”
of Union general David Hunter. Additionally, Buss’ letters are filled with opinions about polit matters, including criticism of
Senator Stephen Douglas and President Ulysses S. Grant, and
what she believed should have been the fate of the Confederacy leaders. For example, after Buss visited Fortress Monroe and the place Jefferson Davis was held for two years, Buss seethed with anger. She did not believe that Davis and other former Confederate authorities suffered severe enough punishment. “I am afraid a large number of them would go to the gallows if I was to sit as judge and pronounce sentence when they were tried fo treason,” Buss explained. Finally, Buss’ letters offer important insight into the ways which women utilized the Civil War era to assert themselves and create new opportunities. Buss’ letters are powerful, insightful, and valuable to anyo desiring a deeper understanding of education’s critical role in aiding African Americans realize emancipation’s promise. As an educator, I find Buss’ letters inspiring. Editors White and Davis are to be commended for producing such a terrific volume that deserves wide readership.
Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University McCormick Civil War Institute in Winchester, Virginia, a professo in Civil War Era Studies at Shenandoah University, and founding editor of Journal of th Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era. He is the author or editor of fourteen books. Noyalas’ latest book, Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era, was published by the University Press of Florida.
The Civil War Memoir of a Boy from Baltimore: The Remembrance of George C. Maguire, Written in 1893. Edited by Holly I. Powers. Foreword by David Price and Jake Wynn. Photos, notes, index. 106 pp. University of Tennessee
This slim, handsomel illustrated volume is worthy of the attention of Civil War enthusiasts. Writing three decad after the war, George Maguire recollected his experiences as a young teenager during the most tumultuous years in American history. During the presidential election of 1860, he participate in a Republican parade in Baltimore, a decision that led him to be grievously wounded. “Now! Let them have it,” he heard a voice yell. “I saw the men drop. Lanterns were bursted by stones and bricks and while
wondering what the trouble was, ‘bang’ my head felt as if a stea car was pushing through it, and something wet was running all over my face and down my neck. I drew my hand over my face,
looked at what it collected and saw blood.” Maguire fainted, the first of several times he did so the memoir. After joining the 5th Marylan Volunteers, not as an enlisted man, but more as a “mascot,” since he was underage, Maguire soon found himself in Newport News, Virginia, one day after th famous Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862. “For a week or ten days afterwards the dead would be continually washed up on the beach,” he wrote. “All around this part of Virgini the waters were full of crabs, June 2022
nt Kind of Narrative ay Through the 31, 1865, there is in Georgia. By and every day of
and every poor sailor that was washed ashore had his face and every other part of his body thes crabs could reach eaten off or partly eaten off.” Ever a collect of relics and souvenirs, on one occasion, Maguire attempted to pilfer a flag from the mast of th Cumberland, which still waved above the waterline after the ship had been sunk by the CSS Virginia, but an officer “gave me a lecture and said he was ordered to send me back up that mast and place that Union Jack just where had got it from.” In Virginia, Maguire was “horror struck” the first time he saw an amputation, and he ran from the tent and cried for an ho Soon, however, he found himself assisting medical personnel in their duties. At Antietam he even met Clara Barton on the battlefield. His description of h experiences at Antietam is vivid, at times moving. From late 1862 to early 1863, Maguire was stationed at Harper’s Ferry, where he assisted his brother-in-law, who had been appointed provost marshal in the town. Today, tourists can visit a recreated provost marshal’s office at the National Park site. Maguire did routine clerical work, such as writing ou passes, but he also recorded his experiences searching for spies and contraband materials. The remainder of his war experience was back in Baltimore, where he worked at Hicks U.S. General Hospital. His brief description of this period is richly detailed he even described the dreams of one patient, and will be of inter
to readers curious about medical history of the war.
The Civil War Memoir of a Boy from Baltimore is a quick, excellent read. There are very fe published primary accounts by
Union soldiers from Maryland. Hopefully more like this one will
Jonathan W. White is associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and is the author or editor of twelve books. In October 2021 he will publish To Address You As My Friend: African Americans’ Letters to Abraham Lincoln (UNC Press) and My Work Among the Freedmen: The Civil War and Reconstruction Letters of Harriet M. Buss (UVA Press). Visit his website at jonathanwhite.org.
try for each book to what happen r. In 1862 Georgia, with limited Michael K. Shaffer. Footnotes, bibliography, index, appendices, maps, photographs, illustrations hardcover. 442 pp., 2022. Mercer
From the title of historian Michael Shaffer’s newest book, one might expect a reference work, akin to E.B. Long’s The Civil War Day by Day. The work is quite different, however, and (to my knowledge) unique. This fine volume is not intended to live on a shelf until you want t look something up; it is to be r all the way through. To merit inclusion, as Shaffe states in the preface, an entry had to be derived from “a quill scrolling the parchment or a press imprinting type on the day the activity occurred.” These are real primary sources and include messages and orders sent by military and civil officers,
diaries, letters, and newspapers The reader hears from a wide variety of people reporting on a wide variety of events. On one page a newspaper editor reports on a battle and
presents an optimistic view of his army’s prospects. Further
down, a general orders troops transferred from one hard presse place to another. Following that the reader sees a testy message sent by Georgia’s governor to th Confederate Secretary of War. Then a soldier writes a letter t wife and diarist traveling throu the state describes conditions in places visited by Sherman’s troops. The book begins on November 21, 1860, when Gov. Joseph Brown called for a convention to consider “the crisis in our national affairs.” From the firs day of January, 1862, until May
e e and most of 1863, much of the action occurs on the coast, where the Federals imposed a naval blockade, held strong points, threatened Savannah, and raided other cities on and near the coas Afterwards the focus shifts to Chickamauga, then to the Atlanta Campaign and the March to the Sea. The book concludes with a few key events in the immediate post war days. The final entry is for July 15, 1870, the date Georgia re-joined the Union. By listening to these diverse voices, the reader follows the course of events from before the war starts until after it end This is a narrative history with a different kind of narration, an approach that presents a little of everything: military and naval events; the efforts of the Confederate leaders to manage shortages of manpower and every other necessity; the impact of th war on civilians; an economy stressed by war; the coverage of the war in the press; and, of course, the political goings on. Almost all sources are used multiple times. As we follow Governor Brown we come to know him rather well, and understand how he became a thorn in President Davis’s side. Diarist Fanny Andrews pops up frequently to report on her experiences and to share her observations, as does another diarist, Sam Richards. These, and all the other contributors, are woven into a highly readable account of the war fought in this one state. The author devotes most of the
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of battles in other places in wh Georgians fought and which, of course, left an impact at home. All readers will be grateful for the plentiful notes which ar placed where they belong, at the bottom of every page, informing the reader about the sources and pointing him to where he can go for more information. Appendices include the texts of Georgia’s Declaration of Secessi Alexander Hamilton Stephens’s Cornerstone Speech, the state’s 1861 Constitution, proclamations issued by Governor Brown and General Johnston, and Sherman’s Special Order 15. Shaffer’s approach has no space for in depth treatment of any one thing, but we get a tast of everything. The reader floats along in the stream of history, catching a glimpse of everything along the way, not stopping, but knowing that, aided by the footnotes and bibliography, he can go back anytime and linger at any point along the stream an learn more.
Gould Hagler is a retired lobbyi living in Dunwoody, Ga. He is a past president of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table and the author of Georgia’s Confederate Monuments: In Honor of a Fallen Nation, published by Mercer University Press in 2014. Hagler speaks frequently on this topic and others related to different aspects of the Civil War and has been a regular contributor to CWN since 2016. He can be
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