Member Review "for Cause & for Country"

[bdtex]

Checked the forum before posting this. I saw a discussion thread about the book in 2014 but it looked like the discussion stopped at page 245 of a book with 482 pages of text,footnotes,maps,pictures and Order Of Battle. So I thought I'd post my own review,sorta,and give the book some fresh air. I also thought about posting a review in the new format announced by Mike for featured reviews but this book is pretty well known and I have some comments that don't really fit the format Mike set forth.

Visited Franklin for half a day in June last year and Eric A. Jacobson was the recipient of our annual Vandiver Award at the Houston CWRT in May 2016. The Hood's Texas Brigade Association Re-activated's 2017 battlefield Tour is next week at Spring Hill/Franklin/Nashville. Eric's book is on the suggested reading list for tour attendees. I had intended to read it eventually anyway. Picked up a copy some months back and put it in the queue. Finished it a coupla weeks ago and been trying to find the time to post about it.

This is the 3rd book I've read about Spring Hill/Franklin/Nashville(to a lesser extent) and by far the best. It's very well written and gripping. Very fair treatment of the commanders on both sides and consistently follows the chronology of events. The other 2 books I've read didn't go into Spring Hill as much so I really enjoyed that. The description of the troop deployments in the campaign is often at the regiment and company level. Not all of the maps in the book are that detailed. I found it helpful to have the maps open on the Civil War Trust pages on the battles. At times it was a difficult book for me to read. The descriptions of the Federal breastworks at Franklin,obstacles in front of the breastworks and the carnage of the battle outside and inside the breastworks is vivid. Very difficult to imagine what it was like for the troops.

I've read some good books this year. for Cause & for Country ranks in the Top 3. If this were Amazon it would be a 5 star review.

 

[bdtex]

Don't usually do this but I was looking at my book again this morning to look at the battle maps. Hard to believe it's already been 18 years since it was published in 2006.