I was browsing through recommendations on Amazon when this book caught my attention. As one would expect, the words Civil War stuck on the cover. However, the name LeRoy Wiley Gresham (1847-1865) did not sound familiar at all. My interest peaked and I decided to see why the book had earned a five star rating. And to say that it is a hidden gem would be an understatement. It is indeed special and the author did a remarkable job of putting it all together.
Janet Elizabeth Croon admits early in the book that she had no idea who Gresham was. I would wager that a majority of Americans are unaware of him as well. He was never mentioned in any of the history books I studied while in school. Nor is he mentioned in literature regarding the Civil War. But I firmly believe that this journal is one of the most overlooked accounts of the war from the point of view of the Confederacy. The story is told from the Gresham family home in Macon, Georgia. LeRoy is what we would call an invalid, having survived a dangerous accident in 1856 in which his left leg was severely broken by a falling chimney. Following the injury, he developed a dangerous and persistent cough in addition to other symptoms that were later diagnosed as tuberculosis, also known as the “white plague”. LeRoy is never told of the diagnosis and the journal was written by a young man who did not think death was coming for him until his very last moments.
Readers will notice instantly that Gresham is highly articulate for a young man of his age. It becomes obvious early on that his mobility is limited and he does not get out often. However, he is a keen observer of the news and those around him. His awareness and understanding of the raging conflict between the Union and Confederacy speaks volumes about his level of maturity. And although he was not always correct in some of his observations, that can partly be attributed to faulty reporting in a time before social media and live news broadcasts. In fact, news moved so slowly at times, that it could be an entire day or two before information reached its final destination. Regardless, LeRoy follows the war closely, offering detailed insight into the war’s progression.
As I read through the journal, I did notice that most of his days were actually quite eventful with relatives and friends coming and going constantly. Games are played, the weather detailed, various foods eaten and plenty of conversation takes place. Sadly though, LeRoy’s illness does not let up and he comments on his own physical condition nearly every day. Readers have the benefit of the doubt in knowing what was wrong with him but he was unaware of his terminal diagnosis. He mentions old medicinal treatments common during the time and some of the names will be foreign to some readers. The reports of the war’s battles may also be unfamiliar to those that are not Civil War buffs. But the author provides a ton of invaluable footnotes at the end of the chapter to explain almost everything contained in the journal for each year. Without these footnotes, the journal would have assuredly been a far more challenging read.
As a Black person, I could not ignore the “elephant in the room”. LeRoy’s family were slave owners and supporters of the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis (1808-1889). As I started the book, I did feel a bit of uneasiness about what I would find. I did not find anything extreme in the journal but I did notice he was not averse to using racial terminology that was commonplace at the time, in particular for a slave owning family. However, he does not lace his journals with it and refers to family slaves by their first names in describing the day’s events. But I was under no illusions that he believed in the abolitionist movement. LeRoy believed in the Confederacy and was no fan of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), but as the journal progressed, I did notice a few changes in his beliefs that will cause the reader to take notice. And had he lived, perhaps his views might have changed over the course of time.
The journal only covers between 1860 and 1865, so we do not know all of the details regarding the accident that caused him to break his left leg . The author explains the accident but LeRoy does not talk of his leg much in the journal. In fact, his back is the main focus in addition to his hacking cough and the abscesses that would plague him as the tuberculosis raged through his body eventually reaching his spine. As a bonus in the book, the author was able to get a doctor to examine what was known of LeRoy’s medical history, the medications he was taking and the care he received to render the most likely diagnosis. At the end of the book, the doctor takes a very detailed look at the medications which explain even further exactly what LeRoy’s condition was and why he would have been given them. Reading the journal did make me grateful for modern medicine.
I strongly advise and recommend that anyone interested in the Civil War to read this book. It is by no means an authoritative source on the war but it is a very intimate look at the conflict through a very different set of eyes.
ASIN: B07D6QQT77
In American folklore, there are two families whose names are recognized as being part of what is arguably the longest running feud to have ever taken place in the United States. The Hatfields and the McCoys have become ingrained in the American experience and the alleged feud between the two families has been re-told through films, documentaries, websites and books. In 2012, the History Channel released a multi-part miniseries about the feud starring Kevin Costner as William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield (1839-1921) and the late Bill Paxton (1955-2017) as Randolph “Ran’l” McCoy (1825-1914). The series is highly rated but just how accurate was it? And were the Tug Valley in West Virginia and Pike County in Kentucky, really that deadly in the late 1800s? Thomas E. Dotson is a descendant of both families and here he rescues history and sets the record straight about what really did happen between the years of 1882 and 1888. And what he reveals will undoubtedly change the way you view the “feud” between the two famous families.
America often has an uncomfortable relationship with its past. The dark moments in the founding of the nation are sometimes left out of history books and never discussed in conversation. Native Americans are either viewed with empathy or disgust, typically depending on the observer’s knowledge of history. Alcoholism, depression and economic instability have continued to plague Native American reservations, given as a token gesture by the United States Government. In Hollywood, they have often been presented as wild savages determined to murder Americans, only to be repelled by heroic soldiers and cowboys seeking to preserve the union. The reality however, is that there is much about the Native Americans of North America that remains largely unknown. In the State of New York where I reside, virtually nothing is taught about the Lenape Indians who owned what is today the Tri-State area, in addition to other vast territories. In the South, the once mighty Cherokee nation owned land, lived under their own rules and were content with life before the arrival of new nation, created following the independence of 13 colonies from British imperialism. Today the Cherokees are an afterthought for most, but at one time, they ruled large parts of what became the future United States of America. This is their story and that of the infamous “Trail of Tears”, that would permanently change the lives the Cherokee Indians.
I have often wondered why my uncle and many other veterans that I have met, were sent to Vietnam. He and others never speak of the war, choosing instead to internalize their memories and feelings. But from the few things about being Vietnam that my uncle has told me, I cannot image what it was like to be fighting a war in a jungle 13,000 miles away from home. Today he is seventy-two years old and his memories of Vietnam are as sharp today as they were when he left the country to return home. And there is a part of him that still remains in Vietnam, never to leave its soil. He is one of five-hundred thousand Americans that served in a war that claimed fifty-eight thousand lives.
Every summer, my parents make their annual visit to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut to continue learning about the Pequot Indian tribe who lived in what is now the State of Connecticut. They are one of the many tribes that called North America home prior to the arrival of European settlers and the creation of the United States. Today, they can be found largely on reservations having been forced off of the only lands they knew to make way for a country that had liberated itself from British colonization. Far too often, their plight is ignored and history books have traditionally re-written the history of the foundation of the United States of America. This book by the late Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown (1908-2002) challenges everything we thought we knew about our country and the scores of people often referred to simply as “the Indians”.
When I think back on the history classes I attended in elementary school, high school and then college, I remember that it seemed as if it took forever to go through any topic. And that says a lot for someone like myself who has always loved the subject and still does. For most people, history is beyond mind-numbing and often revisits events in the past to which most people do not give a second thought. But as we are often reminded through history, we need to know our past in order to reach our future. In comparison to the history of Europe, Asia and other parts of the world, the United States is a very young nation that has been in existence less than three hundred years. Incredibly, in that short amount of time on the world stage, some of the most memorable events in modern history have taken place in North America and had reverberating effects across the planet. If we were to study American in its entirety, that would be a course that would last a couple of years at least. But what happens when you cram that history into a book that is three hundred nine pages long?
On September 9, 1971, inmates at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, staged a revolt in protest of the treatment they received by prison officials and the living conditions employed therein. Several days later, New York State Troopers regained control of the prison after approval from Governor Nelson Rockefeller (1908-1979). The siege had tragic consequences and ended with the deaths of nine hostages and twenty-nine inmates. The fallout from the retaking was swift and to this day the story of Attica is considered the worst prison uprising in American history. The riot caused sharp division among people with some believing in the inmates’ actions and others supporting the State of New York. In fact, among Rockefeller’s most ardent supporters was President Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) who would himself resign in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. The riot and its aftermath were so powerful that even Hollywood became interested and produced the television series Attica (1980) starring Morgan Freeman and Against the Wall (1994) starring Samuel L. Jackson (1948-) and Kyle MacLachlan (1959-). Both film productions earned award nominations and the stars in each film would go on to have successful careers in Hollywood. However, the questions always remain, how much did the producers get right, how much did they get wrong and how much did they leave out? Further, how much do we, the public know about one of New York State’s darkest days?
Between August 5 and August 9, 1945, the United States Air Force changed the course of history when the B-29 pilots dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today, more than seventy years later, the debate regarding whether President Harry Truman (1884-1972) was right to give the final order to drop the bombs rages on. The images taken in Japan following the bombings are still shocking even today and upsetting for many viewers. And for many others, the concern remains that the world could once again see a nuclear weapon used in warfare. It is commonly believed that August, 1945, was the only time atomic weapons had been used in combat. But what actually constitutes “use”? That is a question Daniel Ellsberg addresses in this chilling and eye-opening account his time as a nuclear war planner. Some readers may be familiar with Ellsberg’s name due to his surrender, trial and the dismissal of all charges related to the Pentagon Papers which revealed the mistakes and poor judgment that allowed the United States to go to war against North Vietnam. In fact, Ellsberg’s papers were the target of the crew of burglars that would go on to be discovered at the Watergate Complex. Their arrest and the cover-up by Washington helped lead to the resignation of Richard Nixon. Incredibly, Ellsberg has outlived many of the major figures from that era and what he has accomplished, learned and ultimately disclosed are facts that should concern and be known to every American.
On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty was on a reconnaissance mission in the Mediterranean Sea near Sinai, Egypt. The morning started off normally until members of the ship’s crew noticed Israeli fighter jets circling above. The process was repeated several times more before a full-scale attacked was launched upon the unsuspecting ship. Thirty-four men perished in the attacks. Nearly all of the survivors were severely wounded with injuries that could only be described as horrific. The attack caused international outrage as the American and Israeli governments acted to contain the fallout from the nefarious attack. The official statement was that the attack was a grave error committed by Israeli forces upon a ship that allegedly had no clear markings identifying it as a United States Naval vessel. Members of the crew disputed this and some have made their voices heard in an attempt to tell what they know about that day tragic day in June, 1967. James M. Ennes, Jr., was a member of the crew and survived the attacked with a severely broken leg and other mental and physical injuries. He was one of the lucky ones and never wavered in his conviction to tell the truth about what he remembers from that day. Here he tells us the story from his recollections on record for the reader to digest and form an informed opinion.
FREETHINKING BIBLIOPHILE 
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