Bookshot #48: Nothing But Victory

When I decided to go see a Civil War Battlefield (since it was the 150th Anniversary of the war) I wanted to try and find out where Iowans had actually fought. I was surprised to learn that, from what I could tell, none of them fought at Gettysburg and I was surprisingly OK with that. I figured that Gettysburg will be the highlight of the 150th Anniversary celebrations and everyone will want to go. So I did a little digging and found out that most Iowans had fought mainly in the Western theater, playing prominent roles in the Battle of Shiloh and the Siege of Vicksburg as part of the Army of the Tennessee. Ken Burns' amazing documentary aside, I wanted to do some more homework before actually going down there, so when Steven E. Woodworth's book Nothing But Victory caught my eye, it seemed like the perfect way to do just that.

Woodworth tells the story of the Army of the Tennessee from start to finish- from the recruitment of volunteers from all across the Midwest, including Cedar Falls and strangely enough, Upper Iowa University in Iowa City. (The Quiet Man said he was going to email Woodworth with a correction. I wonder if he's managed to do that yet.) Camp Randall outside of Madison was used to stage new Army recruits (one of the Wisconsin regiments picked up a mascot, Abe the Eagle which stayed with them throughout their service.)

The Army gathers itself, moves into Southern Illinois and then the story shifts slightly to tell the story of the emergence of Ulysses S. Grant as one of the most effective generals the Union had during the Civil War. What shocked me about this was just how political Generalships were back then. Grant was booted from command of his Army a couple of times before finally being brought back east towards the end of the war to take command and try and outfox General Lee.

But from the initial captures of Fort Donnelson in Tennessee and leading through to the Battle of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and Chickamauga Woodworth builds a fascinating story of how an army of rough and tumble Midwesterners became the most effective fighting force in the Union army- and their experience served them well later in the war, when they faced long odds during the battle for Atlanta and the march through South Carolina.

All in all, this book changed the way I viewed the Civil War. It's not that the Western theater gets short shrift in traditional curriculum- I remember learning about Vicksburg in school but it's engagements like Shiloh, Chickamauga and Chattanooga that helped break the Confederacy. It was Atlanta and the much maligned March To The Sea that shattered their spirits (it was actually a fairly orderly procession- not the orgy of looting and mayhem that's been inflated to legend.) While the Army of the Potomac was fighting inconclusive battles across Virginia, the Army of the Tennessee just kept winning, victory after victory and, as Woodworth amply demonstrates, they became an effective fighting force that helped break down the Confederacy for good- their story is one that is eminently worthy of telling.

Overall: I learned a ton from reading this book- if you catch the Civil War bug during the 150th Anniversary Commemorations these next couple of years, this is an incredibly detailed, rich book that illuminates a large chunk of the Civil War that I knew nothing about. For history buffs, fans of the Civil War or just people looking to learn a little more about America, this book is well worth a read.