The book that I chose to write about for my book report is Mr. Lincoln’s Army by Bruce Catton. This book is the first book written in a trilogy called: The Army of the Potomac. This book highlights the beginning years of the Civil War especially when General McClellan was still in command.
Throughout the book he gives stories about Lincoln, McClellan, and soldiers who fought in the war. Instead of just giving details from one perspective he gives you details from many different people, which helps you to see the war in a way you never have before. In the very beginning of the book readers are introduced to Colonel Herman Haupt who is in charge of military railroads. It is also said that Lincoln raved about Haupt and the wonderful work that
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The chapter has sort of a dark feel to it. This change just happens to be Antietam. Antietam was a bloody battle that was fought in three parts one took place in a cornfield, one in the West Wood, and the last was “unco-ordinated” (Catton, page 305). The Army of Potomac lost its most men ever in one day at the Battle of Antietam. According to Catton, from the Battle of Antietam came the Emancipation Proclamation. They decided the McClellan should be reinstated after Antietam. But on November 7, someone came to tell him that he would no longer be in command. They had replaced McClellan with General Burnside who begged and said that he did not want to be in charge. On the last page it states that “they are no longer McClellan’s army, they were Lincoln’s army now” (Catton, page 321).
The author is trying to prove with his book that there was more behind the Civil War than we realized. I had never known that there was so much tension between President Lincoln and General McClellan. The people in Washington really didn’t like anything that McClellan was doing. He helped to show that throughout his book, that was one of the main topics that he
Brandon Smith Mr.Dittmar 12/14/2014 American History Book Report #2 “Killing Lincoln” Killing Lincoln is a very good easy to read historical book. I already knew some about when Lincoln was shot and how he died but this book put in so much more little details that any other thing I have gotten information from. I feel like Bill O'Rreilly did a very good job writing this book. I really like the way that it was wrote using the time and different days for the chapters. That helped give the book some detail and helped me understand what was going on in the book and when important scenes were easier to understand.
I liked the way he organized the book because it makes the book flow well with the events that lead to the outcome of John Brown. At the beginning, Horwitz mentions that John Brown’s grandfather was a Revolutionary War officer and Brown was descended from Puritans. “Brown was named for his grandfather, a Connecticut farmer and Revolutionary War officer” (9). “He descended from Puritans and Revolutionary soldiers and believed he was fulfilling their struggle for freedom” (3). I think the purpose of mentioning these extra details was to inform the reader that Brown had blood to lead and him being descended from Puritans, led him wanting the freedom of
With the aid of McClellan and other generals, Lincoln early became fully at home with his generals ' military conceptions.” This sentence from Hattaway and Archer Jones’ “Lincoln as military strategist’ serves as a topic sentence that serves to identify the main purpose of the paragraph as well as the main theme of the entire body of work: Lincoln is uncannily good at understanding military tactics despite a lack in formal military education. This is supported by the text when it refers to his understanding of entrenchments and ‘turning the enemy’ The structural elements of the paragraph itself form a coherent flow uniting the opening statement of the writing with evidence to support it. Lincoln is ‘at home’ with the battle tactics of those
Anthony Ibeziako, Professor Sue Hilton, ENGL 1113, April 12, 2017. A Look in Comparison and Contrasts. The essay was written by Bruce Catton; who compares the lives and characteristics of two Civil War leaders who put an end to the civil war in a meeting.
The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.
There are many different books that tell the story of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. One such book is Killing Lincoln, written by Bill O’Reilly. This book is not only about the assassination of President Lincoln, but it’s about the end of the Civil War too. O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln has many strengths and weaknesses, overall, it’s a good book.
Soldiers have given their lives to preserve and show devotion to our Nation. Lincoln would like to make it known that the troops that have died are not in vain (Document D). This supports the idea that Gettysburg is a turning point because this gave the nation an opportunity to end the causes of slavery and preserving the union. This also explains that mankind can rule itself in a democratic form which gives Lincoln a morale
He teaches the reader about a couple of the most important battles and generals of the civil war. Instead of being a plain research book about the civil war, he gives us accounts of true yet hilarious events during the civil war, such as a soldier rushing into battle with half of his hair shaved because he couldn’t finish his haircut. Or even about the time opposing soldiers did not fight and instead met at a river to trade goods like newspaper, tobacco, and card in makeshift boats. Steve Sheinkin explains the Civil war in simple, perhaps oversimplified tales and fact. This, however, does not take away the depth of the book, fully going into slavery and the impact of cotton, he does his part in explaining the Civil War.
Over all the book is more than just a collection of the diary and letters mashed together into a book, the author talks about what is going on at the time McClellan is writing his letters before showing them to us, he also helps the reader a lot with footnotes of places, people and events throughput the redaction, also citing his own research within the book, it is easy to read since they are letters and a diary, they were more of a narrative than a regular history book which made it more interesting. The author mainly uses primary sources such as letters, something I found interesting was that the author also picked letters addressed to him. I felt like the author did a great job and made the book really easy to follow, but I felt like the book lacked that attention grasp, it was smooth read and in all honestly not hard, but I always look for a book that grasps my attention for a long time span. When reading this book, even thought the footnotes where at the end of each letter or diary entry it was tedious having to turn the page when I did not know about a concept.
It helps the reader truly understand the events leading to the war, the results from the war, and what the soldiers went through both during and after the war. Most of the information presented in Adams book is not normally presented in History classes and helps the reader broaden their knowledge on the topic. The book is also well organized. Adams presents his information in order. He starts off talking about the myths of the war, then goes to the events leading to the war, the talks about the war and what the soldiers went through, and then finishes the book with the results of the war.
In September 1862, a battle was fought in a small town in Maryland. More lives were lost than any other battle or war that the United States has ever experience before or since. This battle had no true winner but it did have consequeses that changed the course of the Civil War. In James M. McPherson’s book Crossroads of Freedom Antietam The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War, he shows how small events added up to lead to the Battle of Antietam and ultimately to the North winning the Civil War.
(Swanson pg.9) He could not stand another Union victory over the Confederacy. Mr. Lincoln had sat by the first and last president of the Confederate State of America. (John was willing to throw away fame, wealth for a promising future for the cause of his Confederacy).(Swanson pg.10) Booth’s eyes lit up when he heard that the president would be coming to Ford’s theater.
What this Cruel War was Over: Chandra Manning Chandra Manning opens up her important book with a quote that states, " The fact that slavery is the sole undeniable cause of this infamous rebellion, that it is a war of, by, and for slavery, is as plain as the noon-day sun. "(p.3) This book is about what soldiers thought about slavery and what it has to do with the civil war. In 1862 the white southerners did not agree with the Wisconsin men on a lot of things but one thing they did agree on was that any man who believes that this is not a war for the freeing of blacks is either a fool or a liar. Getting to the question on how did white Union soldiers’ understanding of slavery change during the course of the war, well two years later black men
I would recommend this book to someone who is into history and Abraham Lincoln. Growing up I used to think Abraham Lincoln was cool and inspiring. This book has helped me realize who Lincoln was. This book is really good at going into details from every aspect of Lincoln 's life. This book starts from the very beginning to the the very end of Lincoln.
In chapter one of What They Fought For, I learned about the letters and diaries of the Confederate soldiers. The themes of the letters were home-sickness, lack of peace, and the defense of home against their invading enemy. The thought of soldiers fighting for their homes and being threatened by invaders, made them stronger when facing adversity. Many men expressed that they would rather die fighting for a cause, than dying without trying and this commitment showed patriotism. Throughout the letters, soldiers claimed their reason for fighting, was for the principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government.