This book; containing the detailed recollections of a Union combat engineer; will add immeasurably to our understanding of the logistical complexities of the Civil War campaigns and introduce an important new point of view amid the array of available Civil War diaries and memoirs. Wesley Brainerd was a twenty-eight-year-old businessman living in Rome; New York; when the war erupted in 1861. Enlisting after the first Battle of Bull Run and eventually achieving the rank of colonel; he served as an officer in both regiments of the Volunteer Engineer Brigade of the Army of the Potomac; a unit that distinguished itself throughout the war by building bridges; fortifications; batteries; roads; and temporary shelters. After the war; Brainerd drew on his diaries to recount his experiences in a memoir originally written for his son. As appealing in style as it is informative; Brainerd's account is told with a strong sense of the war's importance and of the part his unit played in the larger scheme of things. Modest and truthful; Brainerd sought to relate the story of his service in a meaningful and straightforward way; ever mindful of the lessons he had learned and that he wanted to impart to his son. Now available with carefully researched annotations and an introduction; this unique document will fill and important gap in the literature of the Civil War.
#761842 in Books Naval Institute Press 1978-01Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.58 x 7.37 x 10.27l; #File Name: 0870210971402 pagesHard Cover book with dust jacket
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. The Reference Other Books UseBy R. E. JettExcellent history that is as much from the Japanese point of view as possible. This book describes what happened and what went wrong without all the drama and personal "stories" that more recent histories have. I can tell the more recent books borrowed from this one because they almost quote some passages word for word. If you like WW2 and history; (not over dramatized fluff); from a military analysis perspective; this book is highly recommended.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Loved this book from the stand point of the detail ...By Scott BaileyLoved this book from the stand point of the detail provided. Not like many other books that cover the war in the pacific; this book shows the reader the many small actions that the Japanese navy conducted in other theaters of operation that do not get the coverage in many other books such as the action in the Indian ocean; and the many successful evacuations the Japanese navy did for the army on bypassed islands. Good maps and black and white pictures give this book a plus. A must have book0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Thorough overview of the IJNBy Lower Slower GeorgePaul Dull's work is shorter than Morison's compendium on the US Navy in WWII; but no less important. Published 30 after the war; it presents a tidy account of the IJN. Research from hundreds of reels of microfilm. Maps/illustrations suffer only from the technology used in 1978and the small size format of the book. Don't expect detailed discussion on doctrine or decisive battle. One can find other works that expand on any of the battles or campaigns.Best read as an overview of the IJN in WWII. Later works may call some of the book into question; but that is the fate of any book that covers a topic for the first time in history: to suffer the slings and arrows of further study. Ditto Samuel Morrison's compendium on the US Navy in WWII.
