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another great book is...

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:50 pm
by mcf
called "The Civil War" by Colonel GFR Henderson edited by Jay Luvaas.

Henderson was a Professor at the British Staff College before the Second Boer War. The reason why I would suggest this is a good read is that he walked the battlefields and wrote up a blow by blow account of various engagements. He then used these as a means of instruction at the Staff College asking students to put themselves in the shoes of each commander and figure out what had to be done next. So if you want a real operational/tactical view of key battles like Fredericksburg then Henderson may well be your man. :coeurs:

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:51 am
by Jonathan Palfrey
mcf wrote:called "The Civil War" by Colonel GFR Henderson edited by Jay Luvaas.

Henderson was a Professor at the British Staff College before the Second Boer War. The reason why I would suggest this is a good read is that he walked the battlefields and wrote up a blow by blow account of various engagements. He then used these as a means of instruction at the Staff College asking students to put themselves in the shoes of each commander and figure out what had to be done next. So if you want a real operational/tactical view of key battles like Fredericksburg then Henderson may well be your man. :coeurs:


I first became interested in the American Civil War in about 1970 when I found and read Colonel Henderson's biography of Stonewall Jackson in the school library. I don't know if that book is still available. Interesting to hear that Henderson wrote another one.

You can actually get Stonewall online

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:42 pm
by mcf
Jonathan Palfrey wrote:I first became interested in the American Civil War in about 1970 when I found and read Colonel Henderson's biography of Stonewall Jackson in the school library. I don't know if that book is still available. Interesting to hear that Henderson wrote another one.


as an ebook at the following: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12233

I prefer to read these things in a book so I bought the two volumes at a reasonable price at http://www.abebooks.com. These volumes were published in the 1900s and there haven't been any reprints. This means that in the originals you will find great fold out maps which you can use to trace the movement of units.

As far as the Civil War book is concerned, its a collection of essays covering key engagements from the war. Jay Luvaas is a really great historian of military thought and treats Henderson really well.

I enjoyed it anyway!

mcf