Author: William Franklin Gore ShanksPublisher:
ISBN: 9781418112134
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Personal Recollections of Distinguished Generals. by William F. G. Shanks
Author: William Franklin Gore ShanksPublisher:
ISBN: 9781418112134
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Personal Recollections of Distinguished Generals
Author: William Franklin Gore ShanksPublisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1465518118
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
The purpose of this volume is to make more familiar to the general public the actual characters of some of our great military leaders during the late war. I have attempted to portray them not as on parade, but in undress uniform, and to illustrate not only their great military qualities, but more particularly their mental peculiarities and characteristics. These pages will be found to contain many facts about some of the great battles which official reports have left untold, with such recollections of our generals as history proper will not perhaps condescend to record, and to embrace singular facts about great campaigns and strange stories of great men. The portraits are freely drawn. They are made from actual studies, if not special sittings, and while taking care to give every beauty, I have omitted none of the deformities or blemishes of my subjects, though I have told in full detail their virtues, and have touched on their faults and vices lightly. I have avoided alike extreme extravagance in praise or censure. Still there is enough shadow to the pictures to give the necessary, if not agreeable contrast to the lights. The reader must not, however, mistake the stand-point from which I have written. Distance, unfortunately for truth, lends enchantment not only to objects, but to men. The atmosphere of Olympus produces many phantasmagoria, and the great at a distance exist to our eyes in a sort of mirage. The philosophy of perspective as applied to natural objects is reversed when applied to mankind, and there are very few men who do not grow smaller as one approaches them. Most men are pyramidal in shape only, not proportions. "No man is a hero to his valet." Even Jupiter was ridiculous at times to Homer. Very few generals have appeared great to the war correspondents; and though very few of the latter can claim to be descendants of Diogenes, they can assert, with equal positiveness, that very few of the generals have been Alexanders, and that "the very sun shines through them." I have written under the disadvantage of being too near the objects drawn; and those who do not know the subjects as well may imagine I have made them undeservedly Liliputian in dimensions. Writing contemporaneous history is the most thankless of tasks, and I discover also one of the least independent of labors. Still I have not written with a goose-quill, and there has been some gall in my ink, yet I do not think I have any thing in the ensuing chapters to blot. I do not think I have done any man injustice. I have written many sentences and made many assertions which will doubtless be termed strong, but in writing these I am only the amanuensis of truth; and I write with the firm belief that "historical truth should be only less sacred than religious truth."
Personal Recollections of Distinguished Generals (Abridged, Annotated)
Author: William F. G. ShanksPublisher: BIG BYTE BOOKS
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
One of the most remarkable books to come out of the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War was William F.G. Shank's book on the generals he observed up close and personal all during the war. As a correspondent for Harper's Magazine and the New York Herald, Shank followed through camp and battle, seeing the strengths but also the foibles and failings of some of our most prominent Union leaders. Shank does not shy from including illuminating details that he was later told may have offended the subjects of his treatments. But he is admiring of the men he met and admirably creates portraits of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Rousseau, Thomas, Hooker, and others that you will not read elsewhere. As he states in the preface: "Very few generals have appeared great to the war correspondents; and though very few of the latter can claim to be descendants of Diogenes, they can assert, with equal positiveness, that very few of the generals have been Alexanders, and that 'the very sun shines through them.'" An interesting note included about Rousseau (one of our least written-about generals) is that during his legal career, he successfully tried a veritable "To Kill a Mockingbird" case. No student of the war should be without this volume. For the first time, this long-out-of-print book is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE or download a sample
Personal Recollections of Distinguished Generals (Abridged, Annotated)
Author: William F. G. ShanksPublisher:
ISBN: 9781519045614
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
One of the most remarkable books to come out of the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War was William F.G. Shank's book on the generals he observed up close and personal all during the war. As a correspondent for Harper's Magazine and the New York Herald, Shank followed through camp and battle, seeing the strengths but also the foibles and failings of some of our most prominent Union leaders.Shank does not shy from including illuminating details that he was later told may have offended the subjects of his treatments. But he is admiring of the men he met and admirably creates portraits of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Rousseau, Thomas, Hooker, and others that you will not read elsewhere.As he states in the preface: "Very few generals have appeared great to the war correspondents; and though very few of the latter can claim to be descendants of Diogenes, they can assert, with equal positiveness, that very few of the generals have been Alexanders, and that 'the very sun shines through them.'"An interesting note included about Rousseau (one of our least written-about generals) is that during his legal career, he successfully tried a veritable "To Kill a Mockingbird" case.No student of the war should be without this volume."Whether extolling or condemning, [Shanks] is always interesting." New York Evening Post.
Lincoln and His Generals
Author: T. Harry WilliamsPublisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307948153
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Since it was first published in 1952, Lincoln and His Generals has remained one of the definitive accounts of Lincoln’s wartime leadership. In it T. Harry Williams dramatizes Lincoln’s long and frustrating search for an effective leader of the Union Army and traces his transformation from a politician with little military knowledge into a master strategist of the Civil War. Explored in depth are Lincoln’s often fraught relationships with generals such as McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Fremont, and of course, Ulysses S. Grant. In this superbly written narrative, Williams demonstrates how Lincoln’s persistent “meddling” into military affairs was crucial to the Northern war effort and utterly transformed the president’s role as commander-in-chief.
The Athenaeum
Author: Decision in the West
Author: Albert CastelPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 764
Book Description
Following a skirmish on June 28, 1864, a truce is called so the North can remove their dead and wounded. For two hours, Yankees and Rebels mingle, with some of the latter even assisting the former in their grisly work. Newspapers are exchanged. Northern coffee is swapped for Southern tobacco. Yanks crowd around two Rebel generals, soliciting and obtaining autographs.
Scott's Monthly Magazine
Author: Black Jack
Author: James Pickett JonesPublisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 0809335867
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
John A. Logan, called "Black Jack" by the men he led in Civil War battles from the Henry-Donelson campaign to Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and on to Atlanta, was one of the Union Army’s most colorful generals. James Pickett Jones places Logan in his southern Illinois surroundings as he examines the role of the political soldier in the Civil War. When Logan altered his stance on national issues, so did the southern part of the state. Although secession, civil strife, Copperheadism, and the new attitudes created by the war contributed to this change of position in southern Illinois, Logan’s role as political and military leader was important in the region’s swing to strong support of the war against the Confederacy, to the policies of Lincoln, and eventually, to the Republican party.
Civil War Dynasty
Author: Kenneth J. HeinemanPublisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 081477301X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
Brings to life the drama of political intrigue and military valor of the Ewing family.