Unwritten Subjects

[Whitfield's Legion]

I am going on a road trip soon and want to write to pass the time. What are interesting parts of the war that are still largely unwritten?

 

[danny]

What's that? In history class, we learned Robert E. Lee bombed Fort Sumter and then surrendered to Grant at Apple Court House.

That's Florida State for you!

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I had an idea to do a study on Maryland in 1861.

A book came out a year or so ago on the subject. Which I might have read if not for a long argument with the author suggested dubious conclusions about Lincoln, in 1861, being ready to indiscriminately bomb civilians.

 

[tony_gunter]

Nobody's ever written a biography on Secretary of the Army Lorenzo Thomas, the red-headed stepchild of High Command.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Nobody's ever written a biography on Secretary of the Army Lorenzo Thomas, the red-headed stepchild of High Command.

Adjutant General of the Army. Though he was briefly Secretary of War during Andrew Johnson's administration. He was also Winfield Scott's last chief of staff (1853-1861).

His predecessor as Adjutant General? Samuel Cooper, who took the same role with the Confederate Army, and seems to have been deliberately sidelined by Jeff Davis for most of the war.

A dual biography of Thomas and Cooper might be worthwhile. They were only six years apart in age. Cooper was born in Virginia; Thomas was born in Delaware. Both were West Pointers, but neither did very well - Thomas in the middle of his class and Cooper near the bottom.

 

[damYankee]

The parallel careers of Union Gen. George Sears Greene (May 6, 1801 – January 28, 1899)
and Confederate Col. Isaac Williams Smith (1826-1897) would make for a good read, both were engineers, both served in the war, on opposite sides, and both were railroad engineers, both designed advanced drinking water systems and civic utilities systems that are still in use today.
Smith is the lesser known of the two, here is a short biography of Col. Smith

Isaac W. Smith (surveyor) - Reference.org

reference.org

Here is Gen. Greene's

George Greene was a Civil War General and Civil Engineer

George Greene was a Civil Engineer and Civil War General notable for his successful defense of Culp's hill during the Battle of Gettysburg.

civilwarintheeast.com

 

[General Casey]

Nobody's ever written a biography on Secretary of the Army Lorenzo Thomas, the red-headed stepchild of High Command.

Actually Michael Eggleston wrote President Lincoln's Recruiter: General Lorenzo Thomas and the United States Colored Troops in the Civil War which was published by McFarland in 2013

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Actually Michael Eggleston wrote President Lincoln's Recruiter: General Lorenzo Thomas and the United States Colored Troops in the Civil War which was published by McFarland in 2013

My local university has a copy. Maybe I ought to get around to reading it one of these days.

 

[General Casey]

My local university has a copy. Maybe I ought to get around to reading it one of these days.

Report back and let me know what you think. I haven't read it nor do I know much about the author.