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Title: Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle by Kenneth W. Noe ISBN: 0-8131-2209-0 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky Pub. Date: August, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.1 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book on neglected battle
Comment: Perryville has been pretty much ignored by Civil War historians except for Kenneth Hafendorfer's poineering book and this one, which is newer, better researched, and has better (but far fewer) maps. Professor Noe has pretty much written the definitive account of this fairly obscure battle. It covers, besides the battle itself, all of Bragg's campaign in Kentucky, from the viewpoints of generals, soldiers, and civilians alike and his views are reasonable, unbiased, and well thought out. Additionally, he writes well and the book was a real joy to read. Highly recommended.
Rating: 2
Summary: Kentucky Battlefield
Comment: Kenneth Noe's massively researched volume replaces Kenneth Hafendorfer's PERRYVILLE as the stock work on this little written-about Civil War battle. Noe has done yeoman work amongst the dusty shelves to bring to bear data from regimentals, family papers and personal accounts. He's accompanied his exemplary research with a good order of battle and decent maps. His bibliography will provide future students an excellent foundation for researching the war in Kentucky. I purchased this volume for the same reason I own Hafendorfer's work -a relative of mine served with the 24th Mississippi Infantry. Unfortunately I found the research more impressive than the writing; purely a personal judgement. I also found the author's attempts at psychoanalyzing key players less than convincing. Given the paucity of sources on Perryville and its modest price I would recommend this book for scholars of the war. Again, the author should be commended for a truly impressive research effort (& for depositing his notes at Perryville)
Rating: 4
Summary: Bragg versus Buell
Comment: Perryville may not be one of the best-known Civil War battles, but its story is well worth telling. Kenneth Noe does a good job in explaining the events of October 8th 1862, making a complex and confusing battle comprehensible. He puts the battle into context by explaining why Braxton Bragg's Confederate Army of the Mississippi headed into Kentucky. The prize at stake was the allegiance of the border state, whether it would follow the South or stay in the Union.
Noe is fairly critical of Bragg, even arguing that he suffered from mental illness. This is one of the least successful aspects of his analysis. Noe recognises the dangers of using modern psychiatry to investigate historical figures, but then proceeds to expose his analysis to just this danger by classifying Bragg as a manic-depressive. Bragg had his faults and in the Perryville campaign made mistakes, but the fact remains that his 16,000 men took on Buell's 55,000 man Army of the Ohio and beat them. Bragg's leadership does not look quite so insane when it is remembered that he won the battle. Noe is not nearly as critical of Buell, but it would be equally easy to apply a psychiatric analysis to a man who was miles away from the fighting while his army fought for its life. Noe's analysis generally does not give enough credit to the Confederate performance and rather whitewashes the Union army. Bragg's army faced odds at least as bad as Lee's army did at Chancellorsville, yet the Army of the Potomac is routinely condemned for its performance there, and Lee's leadership is generally praised while Hooker's is usually criticised. Bragg should certainly get some credit for the victory at Perryville and should not be put on the psychiatrist's couch.
Noe should however, be praised for the depth of his research and the clarity of his writing. He uses contemporary sources well to give the reader a sense of what it was like to be fighting the battle. His book is not an especially easy read, but this has more to do with the complexity of the battle, than any faults in Noe's style of writing. It would have helped to have a few more maps. The maps, which are provided, are adequate, but not as good as in some other Civil War books. These criticisms though, are outweighed by the merits of Noe's book. I very much enjoyed reading it and learned a great deal about an important and interesting battle.
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Title: No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River by Peter Cozzens ISBN: 0252062299 Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 1991 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: War in Kentucky: From Shiloh to Perryville by James Lee McDonough ISBN: 0870499351 Publisher: Univ of Tennessee Pr Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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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: Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West by William L. Shea, Earl J. Hess ISBN: 0807846694 Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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