Bloody Crucible of Courage - Softcover

Nosworthy, Brent

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845292200 ISBN 13: 9781845292201

Publisher: Constable, 2005

Synopsis

In this groundbreaking achievement in American Civil War scholarship, acclaimed military historian Brent Nosworthy leads an all-out attack on the many myths and misunderstandings about how the North and South fought, and covers for the first time in any book the variety of Civil War combat methods in their entirety. Now everything from grand tactics to hand-to-hand combat during America's costliest war is given its proper due in the development of warfare. Nosworthy weaves 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 methods of warfare from General Irvin McDowell's first tentative efforts at Bull Run to Lee's and Grant's final exertions at Petersburg and Appomattox, the author examines tactical variations due to regional differences and the distinctive circumstances of each campaign. Along with maps, diagrams, and illustrations throughout, "The Bloody Crucible of Courage" recognizes the primacy of the war's most compelling voices, and contains hundreds of firsthand accounts from the front lines.

About this title

About the Author

Brent Nosworthy's two previous books on military history, Battle Tactics of Napoleon and His Enemies (Constable, 1996) and The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics 1689-1763, are considered classics in their field. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

From Publishers Weekly

This massive study of Civil War weaponry, tactics and combat practices covers so much so well that it's indispensable; it's also so densely written that even series students of the conflict may find it slow going. The author, a distinguished independent scholar, has written similar studies of the 18th century's wars (The Anatomy of Victory) and Napoleonic ground combat (With Musket, Sword and Cannon), and here, as in those books, is politely revisionist. Civil War generals were not ignoramuses who mindlessly pitted mass infantry formations against rifled muskets, but men who had studied the revolution in both tactics and weaponry in more detail than is usually allowed in conventional Civil War historiography, of which the author has no high opinion. (It also neglects the prewar roots of the ironclad ship, which Nosworthy does not.) The need for a revolution had not been proven in 1861, and the outstanding merit of the book is the way it pulls into a single narrative how that revolution was completed-or in some cases not completed. Competent officers soon learned that the rifle was potent but not invincible, until it became a repeater (which it should have been in the Union Army by 1863) and the riflemen were snug behind field fortifications, supported by rifled artillery. But the smoothbore Napoleon (for Napoleon III, be it noted) saw out the war because of its greater mobility, and the much derided bayonet retained a psychological impact and the cavalry saber a physical one, both at close quarters. With its first-hand accounts, diagrams and all-in-all exhaustive coverage, this volume is an exceptional reference.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Constable
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1845292200
• ISBN 13: 9781845292201
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 752