tmh10
Major
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2012
- Location
- Pipestem,WV
I have this book in my library and thought others may enjoy it.
With Sheridan in the Final Campaign against Lee, by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Edited by Eric J. Wittenberg.
Maps, bibliography, biographical references, 192 pp., 2002. Louisiana State University Press, P.O. Box 25053, Baton Rouge, LA 70893, $34.95 plus shipping.
With Sheridan in the Final Campaign against Lee, by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsylvania Cav-alry recounts the final days of the Civil War through the eyes of Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsyl-vania Cavalry, and Gen. Philip Sheridan's trusted assistant adjutant.
Descended from English and colonial high society—his father was a prominent member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and his mother traced bloodlines back to the Mayflower—Newhall lived a life of privilege and opportunity. When the war erupted Newhall enlisted in the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry and served his various assignments honorably as he rose through the ranks until attaining the position of assistant adjutant to General Sheridan in February 1865.
This memoir serves two purposes, a point made clear by editor Eric J. Wittenberg in his Preface. Newhall not only rehashes the climactic days of April 1865, he acts as defense counsel for Sheridan's misunderstood character and for his contentious decision to remove Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren from command of the Fifth Corps following the Union victory at Five Forks.
Newhall opens his memoir with a fiercely loyal vindication of General Sheridan the man and General Sheridan the soldier. Habits common to many Civil War soldiers like cigars and swearing were apparently comfortable within the confines of Philip Sheridan and Newhall felt compelled to justify his superior's penchant for both, stating that Sheridan swore no more than any other man under like duress and that military genius is probably configured on clouds of cigar smoke. He then seeks to secure the Union Cavalry's nascent reputation as a valuable component of the Union war effort.
Newhall's rabid defense of Sheridan then subsides as he trades the pulpit for a podium. He describes in surprising detail the progressions of Five Forks and Saylor's Creek as well as the fracases, reconnaissance missions, and "rides" between the two battles. The battle descriptions emphasize the labors of the Union horsemen but do not ignore the infantry and give appropriate credit where it is due.
The longest portion of the memoir not only recounts the battles fought but leads the reader on a tour of the final footsteps of both armies making temporal and spatial sense of places like Dinwiddie Courthouse, Jetersville, Burkeville, Prince Edward Courthouse, Appomattox Station, and Appomattox Courthouse. A series of maps helps the reader though this section of the memoir and is invaluable in their assistance.
Eric Wittenberg has edited this memoir with his established competence and accuracy. His footnotes are complete and in many cases are dossiers of the denoted officer. After the text three appendices tighten the reader's compre-hension of Newhall's work, the most interesting one being appendix two, General Warren's vindication of himself.
Interestingly, Mr. Wittenberg has dedicated the book in part to General Warren who has "been largely forgotten by history as the result of an injustice." With Sheridan in the Final Campaign against Lee, by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry is a worthy read.
Chuck Romig
http://www.civilwarnews.com/reviews/bookreviews.cfm?ID=406
With Sheridan in the Final Campaign against Lee, by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Edited by Eric J. Wittenberg.
Maps, bibliography, biographical references, 192 pp., 2002. Louisiana State University Press, P.O. Box 25053, Baton Rouge, LA 70893, $34.95 plus shipping.
With Sheridan in the Final Campaign against Lee, by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsylvania Cav-alry recounts the final days of the Civil War through the eyes of Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsyl-vania Cavalry, and Gen. Philip Sheridan's trusted assistant adjutant.
Descended from English and colonial high society—his father was a prominent member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and his mother traced bloodlines back to the Mayflower—Newhall lived a life of privilege and opportunity. When the war erupted Newhall enlisted in the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry and served his various assignments honorably as he rose through the ranks until attaining the position of assistant adjutant to General Sheridan in February 1865.
This memoir serves two purposes, a point made clear by editor Eric J. Wittenberg in his Preface. Newhall not only rehashes the climactic days of April 1865, he acts as defense counsel for Sheridan's misunderstood character and for his contentious decision to remove Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren from command of the Fifth Corps following the Union victory at Five Forks.
Newhall opens his memoir with a fiercely loyal vindication of General Sheridan the man and General Sheridan the soldier. Habits common to many Civil War soldiers like cigars and swearing were apparently comfortable within the confines of Philip Sheridan and Newhall felt compelled to justify his superior's penchant for both, stating that Sheridan swore no more than any other man under like duress and that military genius is probably configured on clouds of cigar smoke. He then seeks to secure the Union Cavalry's nascent reputation as a valuable component of the Union war effort.
Newhall's rabid defense of Sheridan then subsides as he trades the pulpit for a podium. He describes in surprising detail the progressions of Five Forks and Saylor's Creek as well as the fracases, reconnaissance missions, and "rides" between the two battles. The battle descriptions emphasize the labors of the Union horsemen but do not ignore the infantry and give appropriate credit where it is due.
The longest portion of the memoir not only recounts the battles fought but leads the reader on a tour of the final footsteps of both armies making temporal and spatial sense of places like Dinwiddie Courthouse, Jetersville, Burkeville, Prince Edward Courthouse, Appomattox Station, and Appomattox Courthouse. A series of maps helps the reader though this section of the memoir and is invaluable in their assistance.
Eric Wittenberg has edited this memoir with his established competence and accuracy. His footnotes are complete and in many cases are dossiers of the denoted officer. After the text three appendices tighten the reader's compre-hension of Newhall's work, the most interesting one being appendix two, General Warren's vindication of himself.
Interestingly, Mr. Wittenberg has dedicated the book in part to General Warren who has "been largely forgotten by history as the result of an injustice." With Sheridan in the Final Campaign against Lee, by Lt. Col. Frederick C. Newhall, Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry is a worthy read.
Chuck Romig
http://www.civilwarnews.com/reviews/bookreviews.cfm?ID=406
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