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The Bloody
Crucible of Courage Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil
War In the mid-1970s after playing the original La bataille de la
Moscova, I became interested in Napoleonic tactics and set out to design a
hyper-realistic simulation of how troops fought on this level during this
period. It quickly became obvious, however, that it was impossible to obtain a
true understanding of Napoleonic warfare without first tracing the development
of weapons technology and fighting methods throughout the entire era of the
musket. No period in military history should ever be examined in isolation. The
extension of the analysis to the immediately preceding and the immediate
following periods invariably affords new, valuable insights. Often, what is
initially considered unique to a period or a particular place takes on a more
iterative, developmental quality.
It was equally apparent that few
modern works delved into this matter and most of what existed was limited to
one or two pages of "received wisdom" per book. Sensing the need for books that
looked at tactical level warfare in detail, I began on what would turn out to
be a trilogy on fighting methods employed during the musket era. The first
work, The Anatomy of Victory (1990) explored the nuances of tactics during the
eighteenth century while the second, With Musket Canon and Sword (1996) sought
to do the same for the Napoleonic period.
I have spent the last eleven
years working on the third work in the trilogy, The Bloody Crucible of Courage:
Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War, about to be published
by Carroll and Graf.
More than a comparison of the two sides' fighting
methods and no mere abstract discussion about military theory, this work
attempts to present the most thorough study of the true origin of Civil War
military practices available. Every effort has been made to weave together the
story of newly emerging weapons, the resulting changes in military doctrine,
and the combatants' experiences as these innovations were applied to the
battlefield. Detailing the four-year evolution of warfare from General Irvin
McDowell's first tentative efforts to Lee and Grant's final exertions at
Appomattox, it examines tactical variation due to regional differences and the
distinctive circumstances of each campaign, such as the methods used in the
eastern theatre versus those in the west; the confused fighting in the
Wilderness; the "trench" warfare at Vicksburg and in front of Petersburg; and
the techniques used in other famous battles, like Gettysburg and Antietam. The
book also recognizes the primacy of the war's most compelling voices,
containing hundreds of first-hand accounts, graphic and emotional descriptions
of what it was like to see and hear the Minié balls striking a nearby
companion.
Praise
for The Bloody Crucible of Courage
Gordon C.
Rhea Books about the American Civil War's battles and participants
abound. The literature, however, is surprisingly devoid of studies about
weapons and tactics used during that conflict. Existing tomes delve into
discrete areas of Civil War military doctrine and armaments, but serious
students will search in vain for a single work that explicates that critical
body of knowledge in a cogent, comprehensive, and authoritative manner. Mr.
Nosworthy's book fills that important gap.
Here, for the first time
under one cover, is the story of the evolution of weaponry and tactics in the
Civil War era that puts those military developments in historical perspective.
Employing clear prose, Nosworthy walks readers through the development of
rifled muskets and artillery; the evolution of defensive field works; the
growth of ironclads, torpedoes, and other destructive contrivances; and the
impact those innovations had on the deployment of men on the battlefield. In
the process of narrating the military realities of civil war combat, Mr.
Nosworthy challenges a host of misconceptions that have clouded our
understanding of America's bloodiest conflict. I have learned much from The
Bloody Crucible of Courage and only wish that it had been available years
ago, when I began my set of books about the Overland Campaign. Mr. Nosworthy's
book deserves an honored place on the shelf of every Civil War scholar and
buff.
Gordon C. Rhea; Author, Cold Harbor: Grant and
Lee, May 26 - June 3, 1864 (LSU Press, 2002).
Jack Greene Utilizing numerous primary sources, including
many foreign language documents, Nosworthy has written a provocative account
that goes to the heart of how and why of tactical level combat during the Civil
War. This is a book that anyone interested in Civil War combat will want to
read and study to more fully understand that great struggle. It will also level
a blast at many of the myths and misunderstandings still propagated today.
Jack Greene; Co-author, Ironclads at War
(Combined Books, 1998).
Joseph G.
Bilby Brent Nosworthy, who has earned an enviable reputation as a
scholar of military tactics from 1689 through the Napoleonic era, has now
turned his attention to the American Civil War. Nosworthy's The Bloody
Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil
War is a landmark work that establishes a new standard of excellence in the
field. Nosworthy has expanded the study of Civil War tactics and weapons use
beyond the pioneering work of Paddy Griffith and my own conclusions on small
arms in Civil War Firearms. In doing so, he has effectively deconstructed the
long unchallenged "conventional wisdom" in the field. No future Civil War
campaign or battle study will be written without extensive reference to The
Bloody Crucible of Courage.
Joseph G. Bilby has written numerous articles/books
on the Civil War, including Civil War Firearms.
Paddy Griffith Brent Nosworthy's new book on the weapons,
tactics and battle experience of the Civil War is hugely welcome and long
overdue. Of all the thousands of works written in North America about this
conflict, barely a handful have treated those particular aspects in a modern
and analytical manner: but now at last we have a really serious and
deeply-researched volume which tackles all the key issues head-on. 'The Bloody
Crucible of Courage' is indeed the book we have long been waiting for!
In common with Stephen Crane's classic novel, to which its title pays indirect
homage, Nosworthy's new work lays bare all the emotions and quirkiness of men
in combat, while setting them within a higher intellectual structure. Unlike
Crane, however, Nosworthy presents the full historical and technical
documentation, chapter and verse, for every step of the way. Admittedly, this
makes for a text that is too closely-textured and carefully-argued for it to be
swallowed whole in a single sitting. It is nevertheless essential reading, not
least for the wider European perspective that it casts upon a war that has too
often in the past been viewed through very parochial spectacles. And beyond
that refreshing historiographical perspective, 'The Bloody Crucible of Courage'
also offers us a truly magnificent quarry of facts, explanations and pertinent
interpretations that every student of the Civil War will surely want to keep
constantly at hand.
Paddy Griffith, Instructor, Royal Military Academy,
Sandhurst, U.K.
Joseph Pereira
The most common error of the historian, both professional and amateur, is
to concentrate so completely on one area and one period as to neglect to study
what came before and thus look at their subject as a snapshot. In the case of
the American Civil War, the political evolution is well documented and studied,
but the art and machinery employed during the war are typically looked upon as
unique to the period and viewed in a vacuum creating a sad misconception. In
The Bloody Crucible of Courage, author Brent Nosworthy examines the fighting
methods and "innovations" of the Civil War as no other single volume has done.
This well researched and comprehensive work dispels many myths of "firsts" and
lays out a clear provenance of the way in which the war was fought and the
machinery employed in its execution. As a long time re-enactor, I recognize the
value of knowing the history before the history I represent. I strongly
recommend this book as a must have for the library of anyone interpreting the
military history of the War Between the States and as the quotable resource for
the student of military tactics of the 19th century.
Joseph Pereira, PhD Colonel Commanding, The
Liberty Greys 6th Battalion, 1st Division, Army of Northern Virginia