Return to Bull Run
To the Gates of Richmond

Book Reviews

by David Brauer

The 1992 Christmas season brought a fresh supply of new books on the American Civil War to the shelves of the large chain bookstores. Two of these I received as presents (thanks to the thoughtfulness of my family) are reviewed here.

Return to Bull Run

The first, Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas, by John Hennessy appears to be the thesis available on Second Manassas. The book is hard-bound containing 606 pages, of which 472 are text with the remaining being footnotes, appendices, etc. I was quite pleased to receive this book on Second Manassas because I very much enjoyed one of Hennessy's earlier books, The First Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence July l8 -21, 1861. The book on First Manassas is part of a multibook volume entitled "The Virginia Civil War battles and Leaders Series." During a recent trip to the Manassas battlefield, I noticed a number of other books in this series in the park's visitor center.

Hennessy's work on the Second Manassas campaign starts with the defeat of the Union army at Cedar Mountain and chronicles the movements and fights of both armies until September 4, 1862, the beginning of Lee's Maryland campaign. The style and attention to detail that I found in earlier work on First Manassas has been brought to this treatment of the 1862 campaign. The events are revealed through a mixture of narrative text and samplings of contemporary writings from foot soldiers and officers alike. Interspersed among the facts is a critical analysis that is well referenced and documented. This combination of information and analysis enables the readers to understand the events that happened and the most likely reasons why those events occurred. The last chapter of the book is a thoughtful analysis, the impact of the campaign on the armies and the high ranking officers.

The book contains 15 full page maps and 4 pages of mid-19th century photographs of the participants and battlefield. Each map includes a ground scale and is of sufficient detail for those interested in designing scenarios to simulate the battlefield. One of the appendices at the back of the book provides an order ofbattle, but it lacks figures on troop strength. Many of these numbers, however, can be gleaned from the text. All in all, much of the information one needs for creating scenarios can be found in this book.

To the Gates of Richmond

The second book featured in this review, To the Gates of Richmond by Stephen W. Sears, describes the campaign fought earlier in 1862 between the northern and southern armies on the peninsula between the James and York Rivers. The book begins with the planning to move the Union army to some site adjacent to the Chesapeake River basin and ends with the Union army entrenched at the Harrison Landing awaiting transport back to the Washington, D.C. environs. The arrival of troops on the Peninsula, their movement and siege at Yorktown and the Seven Days Battle are well chronicled in 468 pages (356 of which are text, the remainder being references, appendixes, ete.).

Although the book is a thorough review of the campaign and a worthy addition to one's library, I would rate this book a bit below that of Hennessy's, for two reasons: I have found the author's approach to the history to be more on an operational in scope than that of Hennessy's, i.e. less concern with the movement of regiments and companies, detailing actions more at the brigade and division level. Secondly, the thorough analysis of why events oeeurred as they did was less apparent to me in the Sears' manuscript.

Fifteen maps are included in To the Gates of Richmond. However, further information than that present in these figures would be necessary for recreating the battlefields on one's gaming table. Three of the appendices provide order of battles at three distinct points in the campaign. Like the Hennessy book, troop strengths are omitted. However, many of the facts for producing both maps and order of battles for scenario generation could be gleams from either the text or cited references.

All and all, both books are well worth the time to read. If you have to choose one, my recommendation would be the Hennessy book. Information necessary to obtain the three books mentioned above, if not stocked in your local bookstore, is provided below.

The First Battle of Manassas, An End to Innocence July 18-21, 1861. Author: John Hennessy. Publisher: HE Howard Ine., Lynchburg VA. Copyrighted 1989. ISBN #-0-930918-83- 1

Return to Bull Run, The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas. Author: John Hennessy. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, NY. Copyrighted 1993. ISBN # 0-671-79368-3.

To the Gates of Richmond Author: Stephen W. Sears. Publisher: Ticknor and Fields, NY. Copyrighted in 1992. ISBN # 0-89919-790-6

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© Copyright 1993 The American Civil War Society

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