A Slight Demonstration

[Nathanb1]

http://cwba.blogspot.com/2007/01/carpenter-slight-demonstration.html

This book has already been reviewed, but we heard the author's daughter at the Hood Brigade Muster in San Antonio on Saturday and were intrigued. After his death, she was going through his papers and found the entire manuscript with bibliography, photos, etc. She is a graphic artist, so she basically did some tweaking and had the book published.

It's unique because it covers Decatur, which has pretty much been ignored. However, from some recent reading I had been doing, I was intrigued by the lost possibilities of this engagement -- on both sides. It seems to be a pretty clear indicator that things are not going to go well on the march to Franklin and Nashville.

My understanding is that it has some interesting primary source material, for those who are interested in the Western Theatre.

 

[Glorybound]

John Bell Hood and his subordinates are rightly criticized for the carelessness of their forward deployments. Patrick Cleburne failed to monitor his left flank near the river, allowing nearly the entire skirmish line on the Confederate left flank to be gobbled up by a brilliantly planned and executed sortie by the Union defenders. The Confederates badly mismanaged their artillery deployments across the board. Careless planning by A.P. Stewart on Hood's right allowed another Federal thrust to wreck a multi-battery earthwork aimed at interdicting shipping and breaking up the Union pontoon bridge. The bridge's continued operation allowed the garrison to increase its strength from that of a small brigade to around 5,000 men over the course of the demonstration.

This sounds like a good read. My reading on the Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville campaign has whetted my appetite enough to hunt down this book. I wonder what Larry C. knows of it. Thanks for the post, Nate.


Lee

 

[ole]

wonder what Larry C. knows of it.

Wonder what Larry doesn't know of it. That would make a shorter list.

Ole