DOC The Defence Of Duffer's Drift - A Lesson in the Fundamentals of Small Unit Tactics by Ernest Dunlop Swinton; Lieutenant Backsight Forethought in History

Description

In 1861; Lt. Col. William Hoffman was appointed to the post of commissary general of prisoners and urged to find a suitable site for the construction of what was expected to be the Union’s sole military prison. After inspecting four islands in Lake Erie; Hoffman came upon one in Sandusky Bay known as Johnson’s Island. With a large amount of fallen timber; forty acres of cleared land; and its proximity to Sandusky; Ohio; Johnson’s Island seemed the ideal location for the Union’s purpose. By the following spring; Johnson’s Island prison was born.Johnson’s Island tells the story of the camp from its planning stages until the end of the war. Because the facility housed only officers; several literate diary keepers were on hand; author Roger Pickenpaugh draws on their accounts; along with prison records; to provide a fascinating depiction of day-to-day life. Hunger; boredom; harsh conditions; and few luxuries were all the prisoners knew until the end of the war; when at last parts of Johnson’s Island were auctioned off; the post was ordered abandoned; and the island was mustered out of service.There has not been a book dedicated to Johnson’s Island since 1965. Roger Pickenpaugh presents an eloquent and knowledgeable overview of a prison that played a tremendous role in the lives of countless soldiers. It is a book sure to interest Civil War buffs and scholars alike.