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Title: No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River by Peter Cozzens ISBN: 0-252-06229-9 Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: What are we fighting for?
Comment: a. Until now, only three book-length studies have been done on the bloody Tennessee battle near Stones River. Peter Cozzens has used No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River to recount the late 1862 campaign and battle in detail. Cozzens describes the battle in great detail, emphasizing the tactical fine points and their effect on the overall campaign. His viewpoints on the eccentric personalities of Bragg and Rosecrans at their higher level of commands and his accounts of the individual soldier on the ground allow Cozzens describe the battle to the reader in a personal and first hand account. It allows the reader to see the battlefield though the soldier's eyes, bringing to life the responsibilities of commanders and the effects of their decisions on the lives of their soldiers and the ultimate purpose of their mission.
c. The thesis of Cozzens' book deals mainly with the personalities of Rosecrans and Bragg and how their impulsive and sometimes brash decisions affected the outcome at Stones River. He writes, "No one had more stinging criticism for Bragg than two who would soon become his lieutenants, Lieutenant Generals Hardee and Polk, who had urged President Davis to recognize that only a change of commanders could save the army and salvage Confederate fortunes in the West. But Davis gave his friend Bragg a chance and took no action. His inaction, however, rendered Bragg's lieutenants insubordinate; the President fostered failure at Murfreesboro." As for Rosecrans, Cozzens writes, "All the Federals needed was to fight a war of attrition. Applying constant, direct pressure to the Confederates, they would guarantee that though they might lose a few battles, they would still, in time, win the War. Although he had provided the Bluecoats with the first evidence of how they could conduct the War and win, Rosecrans was no the man to lead them to that victory. His courage was a gift in battle, but his impulsiveness was a curse. Rosecrans would become too impulsive and fashion a foolhardy plan which would allow the Rebels to beat the Federals before they had won their war of attrition."
Rating: 3
Summary: He's just getting started
Comment: Cozzens' first book about the Civil War's western theatre admittedly is easily the least compelling, but still a good read. Calling this book "bad" as another reviewer did, is just bizarre. If you're not interested in the Civil War, don't read books about it. This is, for the most part, a well-written, fine account of the Battle of Murfreesboro, or Stones River. The main problem is a sometimes-confusing rundown of troop movements, not helped by even more perplexing maps. I had a great deal of trouble figuring out just where everybody was on the battlefield. Cozzens' next two books in this "trilogy" remedy most of the problems and are big steps forward.
Rating: 3
Summary: No Punch, No Verve.
Comment: This is a very complete, very detailed account of the Battle of Stones River but it lacks the intensity of other works by Peter Cozzens. As a result, I was disappointed with the narrative. However, it is a good work, deserving of your time.
Fought by two mediocre generals, Braxton Bragg and William S. Rosecrans, this engagement was intense and ugly. As the 24,000 casualties indicate, once begun, there was little strategy involved. The opposing armies simply mauled each other.
As mention in my review of Stones River by James Lee McDonough, this was the first major battle in the Union's plan to seize the Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta corridor. Claimed by many to be a tactical draw, it was a Southern defeat of the worst sort. The South lost control of an invaluable asset, middle Tennessee's railroads. It is from this spring board that Union armies once again sliced the Confederacy in two.
If you are a Peter Cozzens fan as I am, know ahead of time that this is not Peter Cozzens at his best.
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Title: This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga by Peter Cozzens ISBN: 0252065948 Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga by Peter Cozzens ISBN: 0252065956 Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 (Modern War Studies) by Albert E. Castel ISBN: 070060748X Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle by Kenneth W. Noe ISBN: 0813122090 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka & Corinth (Civil War America) by Peter Cozzens ISBN: 0807823201 Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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