Reviews for The Iron Brigade

The average rating for The Iron Brigade based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-27 00:00:00 Abujihed Alkabir This is a excellent account of the Iron Brigade, the "Black Hat Brigade", the only all western brigade in the Eastern army. This Federal unit fought at 2nd Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and they fought well. This book was a delight to read and is one of my favourite books on the American Civil War. The book is well written and the narrative of the battles is assisted by easy to understand maps. One of the best unit histories to be printed for some time.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-01-13 00:00:00 Kyle Foley A classic of American Civil War history writing, publ in 1961. Things change over time, and something I like about modern history writing is that more of the original source documents are included in the text, but here, as was normal for the mid 20th century, source document quotes are reserved for the extensive Notes section at the back of the book. In many ways the Notes section was my favorite part of this book. A particular strength of this book was the maps, which were all clear, well cross referenced, and a better aid to understanding the campaigns than any modern history book (post 1980) I know of. The story and writing style were superlative. The Iron Brigade, from my home state, was the fightingest unit in the Army of the Potomac during the war. They were the only unit that could fight Stonewall Jackson's division to a dead stop time & time again. At Gettysburg (153 years ago this weekend), the Black Hats were the first Federal Infantry unit to arrive, they fought like demons for the whole first day, and held the high ground against vastly superior odds until the rest of USA Gen'l Meade's Army arrived, and CSA Gen'l Lee lost the vitally important opportunity for a great victory on Northern soil that was necessary to bring Britain in on the side of the Confederates. The Iron Brigade in this battle lost 80% casualties, including more than 90% of the officers. Of the two remaining officers fit for duty, the senior Captain was a 22 year old former student who had left University of Michigan to fight for the Union in 1862, and his speech to the surviving troops on assuming command on the evening of July 1, 1863, was a genuine classic of inspiring military oratory. I almost wish I could repeat it here in full. It is given in full in the Gettysburg chapter of the book. Well worth a read for any military history buff.