jazzeum
Four Star General
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 38,439
This truly amazing book has just been published and if you're interested in the Civil War, I think it's a must.
In 1883, two editors at The Century Magazine were debating which was the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Chickamagua or Cold Harbor and they hit on the idea of why not have the men who fought the Civil War, but particularly the leaders, do this instead in their magazine. They managed to sell the idea to the publisher and the owner of the magazine on the idea but unfortunately had very little success in getting the leaders to sign up to the notion. Grant, Johnston, Longstreet, Sheridan, Sherman, etc. turned the idea down.
Then, they got lucky. Grant was defrauded by one of his partners and was virtually penniless. They approached him and now he was interested. In short order, they were able to sign on other battle leaders or if those persons were deceased (such as Lee), their subordinates.
The series proved incredlibly successful and pretty soon all kinds of veterans, North and South, Privates to Generals wanted to write for the series and have their reminescences published in Century Magazine.
One of the aims was to promote the reconciliation of the two sides and the editors decreed there could be no discussion of the causes of the Civil War, just battles.
I don't know if this is the first time these articles have been re-issues (I suspect not). I had heard about this series but had never seen it in print.
It has now been re-issued, with an introduction by Harold Holzer and sections introduced by leading scholars in the field such as James McPherson, Stephen Sears, James Robertson, Craig Symonds and James Robertson.
The one deficiency in the series and noted in the introduction was the absence of any articles by the African-American troops who fought in the Civil War.
In 1883, two editors at The Century Magazine were debating which was the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Chickamagua or Cold Harbor and they hit on the idea of why not have the men who fought the Civil War, but particularly the leaders, do this instead in their magazine. They managed to sell the idea to the publisher and the owner of the magazine on the idea but unfortunately had very little success in getting the leaders to sign up to the notion. Grant, Johnston, Longstreet, Sheridan, Sherman, etc. turned the idea down.
Then, they got lucky. Grant was defrauded by one of his partners and was virtually penniless. They approached him and now he was interested. In short order, they were able to sign on other battle leaders or if those persons were deceased (such as Lee), their subordinates.
The series proved incredlibly successful and pretty soon all kinds of veterans, North and South, Privates to Generals wanted to write for the series and have their reminescences published in Century Magazine.
One of the aims was to promote the reconciliation of the two sides and the editors decreed there could be no discussion of the causes of the Civil War, just battles.
I don't know if this is the first time these articles have been re-issues (I suspect not). I had heard about this series but had never seen it in print.
It has now been re-issued, with an introduction by Harold Holzer and sections introduced by leading scholars in the field such as James McPherson, Stephen Sears, James Robertson, Craig Symonds and James Robertson.
The one deficiency in the series and noted in the introduction was the absence of any articles by the African-American troops who fought in the Civil War.
