I recommend the trilogy by Peter Cozzens. I just finished "No Better Place to Die" (the battle of Stone's River) and "This Terrible Sound (the battle of Chickamauga). I look forward to starting the third "The Shipwreck of Their Hopes" (the battle of Chatanooga). For anyone interested in the Tennessee theater, these books are a must read.
Calicoboy
__________________ My dear mother:- I have come safely through two more terrible engagements with the enemy, that at South Mountain and the great battle of yesterday (Antietam). Our splendid regiment is almost destroyed. We have had nearly 400 men killed and wounded in the battles. Seven of our officers were shot and three killed in yesterday's battle and nearly 150 men killed and wounded. All from less than 300 engaged. The men have stood like iron....Maj. Rufus Dawes, 6th Wisconsin Volunteers
How does it Compare w/ Mountains Touched by Fire? I've been told that it doesn't really cover any new ground. I'll probably take a look see for them.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
How does it Compare w/ Mountains Touched by Fire? I've been told that it doesn't really cover any new ground. I'll probably take a look see for them.
Ah...a new book to search out. I haven't read that one yet. Thanks for the tip. I finished the third book of Cuzzons trilogy. I'll wait a year and read them again. Again...thanks for the reading tip....huzzah!
__________________ My dear mother:- I have come safely through two more terrible engagements with the enemy, that at South Mountain and the great battle of yesterday (Antietam). Our splendid regiment is almost destroyed. We have had nearly 400 men killed and wounded in the battles. Seven of our officers were shot and three killed in yesterday's battle and nearly 150 men killed and wounded. All from less than 300 engaged. The men have stood like iron....Maj. Rufus Dawes, 6th Wisconsin Volunteers
Cozzens' trilogy goes into much greater depth than "Mountains Touched with Fire." I've about worn out my copy of "This Terrible Sound" in doing research for my novel and for the battlefield tour I led a few years ago at Chickamauga.
A good overview of the 1863 Tennessee campaign is "Six Armies in Tennessee" by Woodward.
Hats off to Blue Zouave. You've got good taste in books. Another budding authour...eh? I've been researching for a book myself. About a young fella who joins the Sixth Wisconsin and survives the war. Three years of notes...I'm ready for the muse to hit me. Historical fiction that will make the "Red Badge of Courage" look like a fairy tale (I hope). Huzzah!
Calicoboy
__________________ My dear mother:- I have come safely through two more terrible engagements with the enemy, that at South Mountain and the great battle of yesterday (Antietam). Our splendid regiment is almost destroyed. We have had nearly 400 men killed and wounded in the battles. Seven of our officers were shot and three killed in yesterday's battle and nearly 150 men killed and wounded. All from less than 300 engaged. The men have stood like iron....Maj. Rufus Dawes, 6th Wisconsin Volunteers
Calico, I'm past being a buddin' author and on to being a bloomin' writer... on the third draft of my Civil War novel, the hero of which is a hospital steward. Now if the publishers just thought it was as good as I think it is!
Don't wait for the muse. She's a fickle thing. Go out, conk her over the head and drag her by the hair, chain her to your computer. Then chain yourself to your computer. And WRITE.
I don't like Cozzens. I appreciate his research and his commitment to the western theater but his books are just way too dry. He is a lawyer by trade so I guess that explains why.
For me it was a chore to plod through his Chickamauga book. It was like reading a school textbook.
I don't need to know all the nit picky tactical details like how 4 companies of the 15th TX went to the left of the big tree and 8 went to the right. Plus, Cozzens provides so few maps and so much detail that I easily get confused when reading his books.
I like Stephen Sears' battle histories because they flow like a novel and he doesn't bombard you with a mountain of useless facts. He provides plenty of maps.
"I don't need to know all the nit picky tactical details like how 4 companies of the 15th TX went to the left of the big tree and 8 went to the right. Plus, Cozzens provides so few maps and so much detail that I easily get confused when reading his books"
I love the level of detail. What's the point of a regurgitated, dumbed down summary? Ok, that was a too harsh. But lots of detail is appreciated.
I agree that some parts of a battle do need more detail especially if it's a critical point in the fight.
However, if every regiment in a brigade simply charges across a field and is repulsed I don't need 5 pages taken up by explaining every shot fired and every turn made by each company in the whole brigade. And that is exactly what Cozzens does.
He bombards you with so much info and so many names that I get easily confused and the maps he provides are of little help.
Maybe if his writing style wasn't so bone dry I could better handle all the tactical detail. I was sometimes confused when I read Larry J Daniel's account of Shiloh but it was nowhere near as frustrating when compared with Cozzens.
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