JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Am endlessly reading and re-reading " The 6th United States Cavalry in the Civil War ", by Donald Caughey and Jimmy Jones. It's an ' easy' read on the surface- to get through it for a beginner not-so-much because you have to make sure you don't miss anything. Beginners tend to become distracted looking things UP- not a bad thing, that in itself is kind of fun, just adds a lot of time.
Honestly super book, the kind where you certainly will become immersed. Mr. Caughey never TRIES too hard, you know? Just never- he writes the action as it occurs without false literary methods of playing on one's emotions or making something simple sound like some military stroke of genius, you know? One thing I love is that he never takes off on tangents which chase his personal opinion all over a chapter- it must be there, you're just not aware he's done anything other than covered some section on say, Brandy Station, you know?
Having said that- also not too dry, lacks that ' thing' so many, many Civil War writers fall prey too. They tend to be SO well versed in their various subjects they forget a lot of us are not, and sprinkle references to divisions, companies, leaders, places etc. really frequently throughout some event. It's very, very good, sound research but is distracting if done more than once ' per' and breaks up the narrative to the point it is TOUGH to find the thread again.
Sorry- getting to the questions, it was difficult without raving about the book. Hope this does not do it a disservice. What if it is not a ' good' thing, if beginners find an in-depth work of non-fiction to be comprehensible and enjoyable?
So, question. At one point, while the 6th US cavalry is assigned elsewhere my grgrgrandfather's company, H, was not present. They are described as ' Still on Provost Duty '. What is this, does anyone know? How long would this kind of duty have lasted?
Also, there is a consistent and severe problem with lack of officers in the 6th US Cav, which seems to have been chronic. One trooper wrote that Pleasanton continually siphoned officers from the 6th, leaving the unit SP short handed that there just were not enough to fill all the duties. WHY would Pleasanton do this? Was it needed, or were the officers themselves needed on his staff to genuinely perform duties? Was he just addicted to the pomp- having a small crowd of underlings was his idea of being "Important " ?
He also literally swiped the band from the 6th- one which had signed up en mass for the duty in 1861- just decided to leave their home town, devote themselves to this forming unit. The band of a unit was much needed, literally part of them. Apparently their was extremely good plus the men were part of that team. Pleasanton just decided to reassign the entire band for his personal staff, which was one more dismantling of the 6th US cavalry by a commanding officer whose job it was to build UP his men. It sounds as if this man went out of his way to decimate. Did he, or was he merely not suited to his job? HOW on earth did the 6th manage their astonish reputation with THAT kind of leadership. I mean Buford of course- but he was so many levels away he could not have materially managed the regiment.
There are more, this is far too long, sorry!
Honestly super book, the kind where you certainly will become immersed. Mr. Caughey never TRIES too hard, you know? Just never- he writes the action as it occurs without false literary methods of playing on one's emotions or making something simple sound like some military stroke of genius, you know? One thing I love is that he never takes off on tangents which chase his personal opinion all over a chapter- it must be there, you're just not aware he's done anything other than covered some section on say, Brandy Station, you know?
Having said that- also not too dry, lacks that ' thing' so many, many Civil War writers fall prey too. They tend to be SO well versed in their various subjects they forget a lot of us are not, and sprinkle references to divisions, companies, leaders, places etc. really frequently throughout some event. It's very, very good, sound research but is distracting if done more than once ' per' and breaks up the narrative to the point it is TOUGH to find the thread again.
Sorry- getting to the questions, it was difficult without raving about the book. Hope this does not do it a disservice. What if it is not a ' good' thing, if beginners find an in-depth work of non-fiction to be comprehensible and enjoyable?
So, question. At one point, while the 6th US cavalry is assigned elsewhere my grgrgrandfather's company, H, was not present. They are described as ' Still on Provost Duty '. What is this, does anyone know? How long would this kind of duty have lasted?
Also, there is a consistent and severe problem with lack of officers in the 6th US Cav, which seems to have been chronic. One trooper wrote that Pleasanton continually siphoned officers from the 6th, leaving the unit SP short handed that there just were not enough to fill all the duties. WHY would Pleasanton do this? Was it needed, or were the officers themselves needed on his staff to genuinely perform duties? Was he just addicted to the pomp- having a small crowd of underlings was his idea of being "Important " ?
He also literally swiped the band from the 6th- one which had signed up en mass for the duty in 1861- just decided to leave their home town, devote themselves to this forming unit. The band of a unit was much needed, literally part of them. Apparently their was extremely good plus the men were part of that team. Pleasanton just decided to reassign the entire band for his personal staff, which was one more dismantling of the 6th US cavalry by a commanding officer whose job it was to build UP his men. It sounds as if this man went out of his way to decimate. Did he, or was he merely not suited to his job? HOW on earth did the 6th manage their astonish reputation with THAT kind of leadership. I mean Buford of course- but he was so many levels away he could not have materially managed the regiment.
There are more, this is far too long, sorry!