What are we reading?

[Airborne Rifles]

200 pages in, the Spartans engaged the Syracusans and their allies...I have never read a battle description so well written and vivid. Not only did it read like he was there, it reads like he was a gifted writer who happened to be there.

Yeah, that's a great scene. I get chills every time I read the part where the Spartan spears snap down to the horizontal.

[Gusington]

The scenes of the drill instructors dressing down Xeo are unreal too. The Spartan instructors here make Army drill instructors or Marine gunnery sergeants look like cuddly pups.

[Toonces]

I have the Pressfield books downloaded on my Kindle, but I decided for some unknown reason to finish A Bright Shining Lie.  Since it's been so long since I left off, I re-started it.  Diggin' it so far (again).

[Gusington]

Found a copy of The Afghan Campaign for .95 cents so I'll definitely be reading it at some point this summer. I have become an ancients fan boi!!

[jamus34]

Currently reading the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka (currently on book 6 I think) and Tiamat's Wrath (book 8 of the Expanse series)

[besilarius]

New book on Chickamauga campaign.



by Eric J. Wittenberg

El Dorado Canyon, Ca.: Savas Beatie, 2018. Pp. xx, 268. Illus., maps, appends., notes, biblio., index. $29.95. ISBN: 1611214300

How Union Mounted Troops Opened the Ball at Chickamauga

Among the most prolific of Civil War historians, Wittenberg, author of One Continuous Fight, Like a Meteor Blazing Brightly, The Battle of Brandy Station, and many other works, has the knack of getting readers right into the front lines, while at the same time familiarizing them with the "Big Picture" and the conduct of war. This is well displayed in this look at the remarkable holding action by two rather weak Union mounted brigades on the eve of the Battle of Chickamauga that certainly saved the Army of the Cumberland from a disaster far worse than that which befell it over the following two days.

Wittenberg begins by introducing us to Col. H.G. Minty's "Saber Brigade", cavalrymen armed mostly with breech loaders, and Col. John T. Wilder's "Lightening Brigade", most mounted infantrymen armed with Spencer repeating rifles. He explains the circumstances that brought them to spend September 18, 1863, covering the front of the Army of the Cumberland as Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans desperately juggled his army corps to cope with an unanticipated Confederate offensive, and then plunges into a detailed account of their actions that day.

With a thorough knowledge of tactics, and excellent use of terrain, the two brigades, numbering hardly 2,000 men with a few pieces of artillery, held off far larger forces, in an action easily matching the more famous holding one by Brig. Gen. John Buford's cavalry on the first day at Gettysburg. At times Wittenberg gives us almost a minute by minute account of the events, drawing upon a large volume of personal accounts by men from both sides, while offering us a basic course in tactics; his description of vidette and outpost duty is the best summary this reviewer has seen.

Wittenberg covers the events of the 18th, and the role of the brigades during the Battle of Chickamauga through the Union retirement into Chattanooga, arguing that the battle, usually dated September 19-20 actually extended over a longer period. He follows with an overview of the careers of the two colonels and their troops through and beyond the end of the war, and then adds a mini-guidebook for anyone who wants to visit the scene.

This is an outstanding account of one of the most impressive, and very overlooked, feats of arms during the Civil War, and worth a read by anyone with an interested in the war or in mounted operations..


Note: Holding the Line on the River of Death is also available in several e-editions


---///---
Reviewer: A. A. Nofi   

[besilarius]

Most (but not all) of Wittenberg's books deal with cavalry actions; One Continuous Fight covers Lee's retreat from G'burg to the Potomac River, Brandy Station is self-explanatory, Plenty of Blame to Go Around is about Stuart's G'burg ride (and completely revised my admittedly superficial estimate of him), and Protecting the Flanks and The Devil's to Pay both cover the cavalry battles around G'burg.  I was a bit less excited by The Second Battle of Winchester - the information's great and it really does a good job of showing what a clusterf*ck the battle was, but Wittenberg's writing style was a bit different.  I don't know if it was because he had a co-author (Scott Mingus) or what, but I found it a bit less engaging.  Heh - remember Robert Milroy?
If you want obscure scenarios for the Civil War, or want to try something different, these are great resources.

[Gusington]

Down to the last few chapters of Gates of Fire. Damned if they are not making me teary. A lot in there about 'the comrade next to you' and brotherhood, etc. Pressfield is some writer.

[al_infierno]

Current to-read list:

• Platoon Leader by James McDonough
• Russia's War by Richard Overy
• Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder

This isn't including the backlog of books I've picked up because they seem so interesting and I might have time to read them sooner or later 

[Gusington]

^Welcome, we've been waiting for you...

[Staggerwing]

Gabba-gabba- we accept you! We accept you!

[Gusington]

About to begin Lords of the Sea - The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy by John Hale.

[Airborne Rifles]

Down to the last few chapters of Gates of Fire. Damned if they are not making me teary. A lot in there about 'the comrade next to you' and brotherhood, etc. Pressfield is some writer.

Yeah, an Amazing book. I love the end in at the Battle of Platea where you see Rooster as the Persians see him and not as the Spartans see him.

[Gusington]

I feel fortunate to have finally read Gates of Fire and unfortunate to have waited so long!!

[Airborne Rifles]

Not to make you jealous, but in a couple of months I'm going to be leading a group of officers on a guided trip to Thermopylae and Platea. I went a few years ago on my own and the battlefields are exactly as you imagine them.