This little soft cover book of just 48 pages in length covers its subject remarkably well. It is also profusely illustrated with nice sketches from the pen of Peter Dennis. The book is composed of four chapters, each of which examines the characteristics of Civil War battle from a different perspective. The first chapter gives us a good overview of the problems facing an Army Commander. The items covered include logistics, communication, manpower, gathering of strategic information, the order of march of an advancing army, length of marching columns, speed of march for the various arms, and an interesting table showing the average time necessary for orders to be transmitted from the Army Commander down to the other elements of his army. The second chapter explains in detail how an army deployed for battle. Griffith discusses important factors such as choosing a good position for battle, exploring the flanks, use of reserves, formations and their uses, terrain effects on the combatants, and the use of the three combat arms in battle. He also touches on the vulnerability of a defeated army, the pursuit of a foe by the victor, and the functions of the rearguard of a withdrawing force. The third chapter goes into further detail regarding the typical ACW battle to discuss the functions of the three arms, the use of skirmishers, snipers, infiltration tactics, tactics of the defense and field fortifications, the general sequence of a typical assault, the passage of successive lines of troops and other battlefield maneuvers. Griffith explains that the passing of the fresh second line of troops through their battered comrades in front to carry on the battle with renewed impetus gave the commander who could manage this a big advantage on the battlefield since by doing so, he is using his second line as reserves. The last chapter includes information on weapon types and their distribution among the combatants of the two sides, but I wish Paddy had covered this in more detail. Also discussed are cover and battle effects on the soldiers, field fortifications and trench construction, the importance of the regimental flag to its men, the effects of smoke and noise on battle, the effectiveness of bayonet charges and close combat, cavalry weapons and tactics, dusk and dawn attacks and effects of fog, the regrouping of units after the battle and the inability of medical science to cope with the quantity and severity of the wounds dealt out by the weapons of the period. An interesting section analyzes in great detail two small regimental-sized firefights which took place during the war. In the final analysis I found this book very informative, but was left with the wish that it had been much longer and had covered its subject in even more detail. It is an excellent addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the ACW period, particularly those interested in conducting a campaign game. The price of this book is $9.95 postpaid. Back to The Zouave Vol I No. 6 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com