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Title: Compelled To Appear In Print: The Vicksburg Manuscript of General John C. Pemberton by John C. Pemberton, David M. Smith, Edwin C. Bearss ISBN: 0-9673770-0-5 Publisher: Ironclad Publishing Pub. Date: 15 December, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Worth The Wait
Comment: "Compelled To Appear In Print, The Vicksburg Manuscript of General John C. Pemberton" was a work-in-progress for the past 137 years. David M. Smith brings it to the light of day with the justice it deserves. His views and those of Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus, National Park Service will secure this work among the finest written on the Confederacy for years to come. Let's hear more from him!
Rating: 5
Summary: Pemberton presents his case...finally!
Comment: This book is built on a newly-discovered, never published manuscript by Confederate General John Pemberton, commander at Vicksburg when it surrendered to Grant. The manuscript itself is substantial...85 pages in this book's format. To position the manuscript, Dave Smith has written an excellent summary of the Vicksburg Campaign. Further, he adds a chapter on the conflicts and issues in the relationships among Pemberton, General Joseph Johnston (Pemberton's superior), and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. After the manuscript, he adds a chapter on his conclusions from his study of the Pemberton manuscript.
Pemberton wrote the document in the late 1870's before his death in 1881, to respond to Johnston's autobiographical NARRATIVE OF MILITARY OPERATIONS. Even after 120 years, the anger and hurt comes through. Johnston had essentially placed the blame for the loss of Vicksburg on Pemberton, citing his incompetence and disobedience of orders. Pemberton takes each of Johnston's eight charges, and argues his side of the case. Smith has made this more understandable for the reader by inserting (in easily distinguishable font and italics) the specific exerpts from the Johnston book to which Pemberton was referring; many of Pemberton's points would have been lost to me without those insertions.
Another specific contribution which Smith made to the manuscript itself was his description of a visit by Davis and Johnston to Pemberton and Vicksburg in December, 1862 (before the Vicksburg Campaign would escalate in the spring and culminate on July 4th). Given the fact that Davis, Johnston, and Pemberton seemed only a few weeks later to have no agreement or common thinking on their strategy, one wonders what they talked about during their several days together. Certainly, they MUST have talked about whether Vicksburg must be held at all costs....but in the spring, Johnston seemed to think not while Davis and Pemberton certainly thought it must. Perhaps they never considered what to do in a siege....but, if not, what were they really expecting Grant to do? He certainly had given no indication of giving up easily! This lost opportunity for strategic alignment echoes through the Pemberton manuscript, as I read it.
For me, Pemberton presents his case in a compelling, convincing, and interesting manner. To my (amateur) reading, he does not often imply that he knew in 1863 everything that he would know when writing in the late 1870's. However, on one occasion, he did allow himself to refer to Johnston as "the great master of retreat", taking advantage of the reputation Johnston would get during his portion of the Atlanta Campaign in 1864.
Johnston does not come out of this book in very good shape. In fact, the picture of Johnston is very reminiscent of that in Jeffrey Lash's DESTROYER OF THE IRON HORSE. In fact, one of Lash's primary examples of Johnston's misuse of the railroads occurred during the Vicksburg Campaign, when he lost of large quantity of Confederate rolling stock and engines by waiting too long to order their movement to safer locations. Smith summarizes Johnston's failure to take any action to relieve Pemberton in Vicksburg by saying that he "either had no intention of acting or was incapable of mustering the courage and energy to face the situation". Personally, it seems to me to have been the latter. The puzzling, frustrating impact of Johnston's inertia comes through clearly in the Pemberton manuscript.
This is an excellent book, very readable and quite interesting. Smith's background chapter will assist the reader who is not familiar with the Vicksburg Campaign to understand it well enough to follow Pemberton's discussion. That understanding is aided by several simple, clear, excellent maps. One does not need to be a military history scholar to appreciate this book. However, as Ed Bearss' introduction makes clear, even the elite class of military history scholars will likely also find this book worth their while.
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Title: The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History by Gary W. Gallagher, Alan T. Nolan ISBN: 0253338220 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title:Gods and Generals ASIN: B00009OOFA Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 15 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $20.99 |
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Title: Pemberton: The General Who Lost Vicksburg by Michael B. Ballard ISBN: 1578062268 Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi (Trd) Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Vicksburg: 47 Days of Siege by A. A. Hoehling ISBN: 081172980X Publisher: Stackpole Books Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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