CIVIL WAR BEACH BOOKS?
by Jon Saunders

Civil War beach books?   

Well, yes.

Certainly historian David Detzer's highly readable account of the start of the war qualifies as a light, even breezy, summer read. It's not as if you have to know Sharpsburg from Shiloh to be caught up in ALLEGIANCE: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War. Which, of course, is not to say Civil War cognoscenti will not also find this nonfiction work worthwhile...

At the center of Detzer's dramatic narrative is U. S. Army Major Robert Anderson, newly named commanding officer of Fort Sumter. A former slaveholder married to a woman from Georgia, 55-year-old career soldier Anderson is not altogether unsympathetic to Southern traditions and rights.

This sympathy, however, never gets between Anderson and his sworn duty. And unlike those who menace his fort from the shore, Anderson has seen war --- enough of it to convince him that war is the worst form of policy. With no guidance from his government and precious little help, Anderson attempts, almost single-handedly, to forestall the beginning of the war. With Washington unable or unwilling to resupply the fort, the little garrison soon runs short of rations and Anderson's men begin to sicken. Then, with the elaborate courtesy of the day, the Confederates request his surrender. When Anderson refuses, they almost reluctantly open fire. (In one of the book's many touching vignettes, a Confederate officer, recently resigned from the U. S. Army, fights back tears as he orders his battery to fire on the flag he had long served.)
   
The heroic stand of Anderson and his tiny garrison wins the admiration of the people of Charleston and the besieging Confederates --- so much so, in fact, that on the day the Union troops are transported to safety after their surrender, a watching Southern regiment spontaneously salutes their battered foe.

A bona fide academic, Detzer certainly doesn't write like one. And that's a good thing --- especially for a beachy read. He doesn't hesitate to call the governor of South Carolina a "ninny" (which he assuredly was), to opine that Abraham Lincoln was "covering his backside," or to suggest that the plight of Fort Sumter was more the result of bungling by both Buchanan and Lincoln than a 19th century display of "realpolitik." Although some of the history establishment might blanch at some of his characterizations and chapter titles, Detzer writes to entertain as well as to inform.

At 910 pages, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Douglas Southall Freeman's LEE'S LIEUTENANTS: A Study in Command might not be every reader's idea of beachfare. But for the serious student of the Civil War, the work has long been held as essential reading. Fortunately, it's easier reading now --- thanks to Stephen W. Sears's skillful one-volume abridgment of this Civil War classic. Sears accomplishes this by moving Freeman's myriad and somewhat distracting footnotes to the rear, deleting peripheral material and paring everything not relevant to the command structure of the Army of Northern Virginia.   

LEE'S LIEUTENANTS is, of course, a study of the leading figures of the Army of Northern Virginia who served under Robert E. Lee and of the battles these men fought. Most of Lee's generals had been junior or midlevel officers in the "Old Army" with no experience in commanding large groups of men. Freeman shows the reader how these men were forced to learn the art of command under fire --- some were better learners than others. In Freeman's classic, we meet such fascinating characters as wannabe Bonaparte Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (whose overly elaborate battle plans led to confusion at First Manassas and late at Shiloh), the uncommunicative and retreat-prone Joseph E. Johnston, the flamboyant "Jeb" Stuart, and the almost mythic Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as well as such lesser known generals as Jubal Early, A. P. Hill, and Wade Hampton.

In this massive work, Freeman is straightforward in his evaluation of Lee's subordinates. Just as Lee did not hesitate to rid himself of those who did not measure up --- usually by dispatching them West (as if that theater had need of more poor generals) --- neither does Freeman shy from detailing their mistakes and weaknesses. At the same time, Freeman is fair and courteous in his treatment of his subjects, remaining true to his aim of preserving the memory of "the heroic figures of the Confederacy."  
   
But if LEE'S LIEUTENANTS seems too hefty a tome to pack for the beach (it is paperback though), then try William C. Davis's AN HONORABLE DEFEAT: The Last Days of the Confederate Government. Davis offers a well-written, often exciting account of the flight of Jefferson Davis and his cabinet from doomed Richmond through the Carolinas and finally into Georgia. Doing his utmost to protect the Confederate president in his flight, while attempting ceaselessly to persuade him to surrender, was his Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge. A vice president under Buchanan and a candidate in the 1860 presidential election, the handsome Breckinridge hoped to end the war on honorable terms and avoid having the Confederate epic "end in farce." Above all, he feared that Davis meant to continue the war as a guerilla struggle. Which, of course, was exactly what Davis had in mind.
   
But it was not to be. Surprised by Union troops in Georgia, Davis attempted to escape and grabbed the first coat he could reach. Unfortunately, it turned out to be his wife's, giving rise to the widespread rumor --- fueled by Northern newspapers --- that he had tried to flee disguised as a woman. Breckinridge faired better. Despite harrowing close calls, the former cabinet officer managed to escape to Cuba, where he found brief refuge before returning to his native Kentucky.

Why must beach reading always imply thrillers and romances? Who's to say you can't sip margaritas poolside while enmeshed in Davis's AN HONORABLE DEFEAT, Freeman's LEE'S LIEUTENANTS or Detzer's ALLEGIANCE? These books deserve a place on the history lover's bookshelf, so why not their beach bag?

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