Review of Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields

Jeff Shaara complements his own and his fathers historical novels with the publication of his book, Jeff Shaara’s Civil War Battlefields, Discovering America’s Hallowed Ground.

In this work, the author selects significant battles of the conflict and provides the reader with a recap of the battle itself and then conducts a personalized tour of the very ground where the battle was fought.

Shaara starts with vivid descriptions of the horrible carnage at Shiloh and Antietam and works his way through chronologically to the end of the war at Petersburg and Appomattox. For the most part, he presents the generally accepted views of the battles. For a different perspective, read U.S. Grant’s "Personal Memoirs."

Of course the bad decisions by the various commanders are exposed and a series of ‘what ifs’ is offered had a different decision been made. For example, Grant delayed his frontal assault at Cold Harbor by a single day allowing the Confederates an opportunity to fortify their position to an impregnable fortress. The result? 4000 union soldiers died the next day in a near massacre.

Issues of speed, communication, clarity of orders and lost opportunities abound throughout the telling of the battles. It is mostly the North’s lack of leadership on the battlefield that allows the war to drag on for four terrible years. Shaara does make the mistake that many historians make concerning this war, citing the Shenandoah Valley at the ‘breadbasket’ of the Confederacy. Except for the siege at Vicksburg, there was never a food shortage because of the vast size of the Confederate States. There was, however, a serious transportation problem that was increasingly exploited by the Federals.

One can argue the importance of a couple of the battles ( New Market is an example) and can also ask why the clash at Franklin, Tennessee was omitted. I would have liked to have seen more on the breakthrough on April 2, 1865 at Petersburg probably because one of my ancestors played a role there at Jones’ farm with the 110th OVI..

The number of unidentified dead from these battles is chilling, especially from the Rebel side. A generation of young men are wiped out, fallen somewhere, yet their kin knows only that they did not return and are gone forever.

A word of caution; the maps provided do not show well on my Kindle. The fonts used were unreadable. I ended up buying the hard copy to add to my collection.

As a Civil War buff, it is hard to be disappointed in this book. There are a few of the battlefields that Shaara cites that I have not visited and rest assured that this book will accompany me when I do tour them.


Thad McAfee is a novelist and civil war buff. His latest publication is Sulfur Creek, released in August, 2009.

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