Member Review Chancellorsville: Lee's Greatest Battle

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Copyright 1958. 375 pages of text including Order Of Battle and Strength/Casualties Summary. 30 Maps. 59 photos/illustrations. Good first book to read on Chancellorsville. 3rd book written by Gen. Edward J. Stackpole on major battles of the Civil War. Even though he's very critical of Gen. Joseph Hooker,it's still very balanced and he gives Hooker credit when it's due. Original retail price was $5.75. I got a good used one for $0.01 on Amazon in November 2015.
 
I’m looking at doing some reading on Chancellorsville very soon. Other than this book, are there any others you know of that you would recommend?
 
I’m looking at doing some reading on Chancellorsville very soon. Other than this book, are there any others you know of that you would recommend?
I have not done any other reading on Chancellorsville yet. I am sure someone else will come along with a good book recommendation.
 
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Copyright 1958. 375 pages of text including Order Of Battle and Strength/Casualties Summary. 30 Maps. 59 photos/illustrations. Good first book to read on Chancellorsville. 3rd book written by Gen. Edward J. Stackpole on major battles of the Civil War. Even though he's very critical of Gen. Joseph Hooker,it's still very balanced and he gives Hooker credit when it's due. Original retail price was $5.75. I got a good used one for $0.01 on Amazon in November 2015.


Thanks for sharing. I just looked this book on Amazon now sells for $2.70
 
I’m looking at doing some reading on Chancellorsville very soon. Other than this book, are there any others you know of that you would recommend?
John Bigelow wrote a book about the Chancellorsville campaign: https://archive.org/details/campaignofchanc00bige/page/n7

According to reviews on Amazon for the reprint (without the maps), it's extremely detailed and therefore a difficult read but apparently well worth it if you're interested in that much knowledge. Bigelow wrote the book at the beginning of the 20th century and he used lots of primary sources. Not sure if he even talked to veterans that fought there. I haven't read it myself so can't give a recommendation, but it's on my to read list.
 
John Bigelow wrote a book about the Chancellorsville campaign: https://archive.org/details/campaignofchanc00bige/page/n7

According to reviews on Amazon for the reprint (without the maps), it's extremely detailed and therefore a difficult read but apparently well worth it if you're interested in that much knowledge. Bigelow wrote the book at the beginning of the 20th century and he used lots of primary sources. Not sure if he even talked to veterans that fought there. I haven't read it myself so can't give a recommendation, but it's on my to read list.
One thing about the Stackpole books...they all have plenty of good maps.
 
One thing about the Stackpole books...they all have plenty of good maps.
:thumbsup:

I don't know why any publisher would reprint a book without its maps when the original had them or publish a book on a battle/campaign without any maps. The reader needs them to understand what happened where and how. The link I gave above has Bigelow's maps, I made certain of that.
 
I recently read the Sears book and thought it very good. Thanks to posters for information regarding the Stackpole and Bigelow books.
 
One thing about the Stackpole books...they all have plenty of good maps.


Ok, so I’ve ordered Edward Stackpole’s study on Chancellorsville, which was the main subject of this thread. I think I picked it up on Amazon for $5.75. For posterity’s sake I’ll explain why I chose Stackpole’s piece above every other.

It seems that the definitive study on the battle of Chancellorsville is John Bigelow’s The Campaign of Chancellorsville: A strategic and tactical study. Every review I found of this work seems to verify the consensus opinion that this is the definitive study on the subject, though there are two major issues. First and foremost, it was published originally in 1910 with world class maps. It was reprinted by Morningside maybe a few decades ago, also with great maps. That’s where the good news ends, unfortunately every other reprint on the market is far below average in both print quality and maps (most lack maps completely). You can pick a copy up for less then $10, but it seems to be text only and of the lowest quality (many printing mistakes and 0 maps). To compound the issue further, a used copy of the Morningside edition is currently going for $475 on Amazon, and the original 1910 publication is seemingly priceless.

The only other work that I considered purchasing was Sears’ study. I’ve heard some good reviews and the maps appear to be of decent decent quality, but as some one commented above, Sears has his own inherent issues and not everyone will enjoy his point of view (personally I’m no fan of Sears). That said, some people really like Sears and it’s one of the newer works on the subject and you can get a brand new copy for a reasonable price.

Back to Stackpole’s: it’s of the admirable generation of civil war studies that came out around the centennial anniversary of the war, it’s map quality appears to be second only to the Bigelow and Morningside editions stated above, and seems to be well written. It may contain less unfiltered knowledge of the campaign then Bigelow, but it still seems to present its information in a fair and unbiased way (something Sears generally struggles to do, imo).
 
Ok, so I’ve ordered Edward Stackpole’s study on Chancellorsville, which was the main subject of this thread. I think I picked it up on Amazon for $5.75. For posterity’s sake I’ll explain why I chose Stackpole’s piece above every other.

It seems that the definitive study on the battle of Chancellorsville is John Bigelow’s The Campaign of Chancellorsville: A strategic and tactical study. Every review I found of this work seems to verify the consensus opinion that this is the definitive study on the subject, though there are two major issues. First and foremost, it was published originally in 1910 with world class maps. It was reprinted by Morningside maybe a few decades ago, also with great maps. That’s where the good news ends, unfortunately every other reprint on the market is far below average in both print quality and maps (most lack maps completely). You can pick a copy up for less then $10, but it seems to be text only and of the lowest quality (many printing mistakes and 0 maps). To compound the issue further, a used copy of the Morningside edition is currently going for $475 on Amazon, and the original 1910 publication is seemingly priceless.

The only other work that I considered purchasing was Sears’ study. I’ve heard some good reviews and the maps appear to be of decent decent quality, but as some one commented above, Sears has his own inherent issues and not everyone will enjoy his point of view (personally I’m no fan of Sears). That said, some people really like Sears and it’s one of the newer works on the subject and you can get a brand new copy for a reasonable price.

Back to Stackpole’s: it’s of the admirable generation of civil war studies that came out around the centennial anniversary of the war, it’s map quality appears to be second only to the Bigelow and Morningside editions stated above, and seems to be well written. It may contain less unfiltered knowledge of the campaign then Bigelow, but it still seems to present its information in a fair and unbiased way (something Sears generally struggles to do, imo).
Hope you like it. Not much of a book review I wrote and it has been awhile since I read it. I just recall it being a good starter book on Chancellorsville. Any good starter book has to have good maps and plenty of them.
 
Try Theodore A. Dodge's work. Written before Bigelow and more objective. Sears's book is so biased that it's a waste of time and money. Enjoy your research!
 
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