Reviews for Steel Helmet and Mortarboard: An Academic in Uncle Sam's Army

The average rating for Steel Helmet and Mortarboard: An Academic in Uncle Sam's Army based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-06-24 00:00:00 David Ledford A Jewish immigrant who left Germany and relocated to Ohio distinguished himself as a Union Army colonel during the American Civil War; and in the heroism of Colonel Marcus Spiegel, one sees a specific, individual example of the many vital ways in which Jewish Americans have contributed to the life of the United States of America since the nation's beginnings. And it is fortunate that Colonel Spiegel's great-great-granddaughter, Jean Powers Soman, worked with Frank L. Byrne to publish Colonel Spiegel's letters home under the title A Jewish Colonel in the Civil War: Marcus M. Spiegel of the Ohio Volunteers. Thanks to their efforts, the service and sacrifice of this American hero can be remembered. A bit of background: Marcus Spiegel was born in Abenheim, Germany, in 1829, the son of a prominent rabbi. As a young man, he participated in Germany's failed democratic revolution of 1848; and in the climate of reaction that followed the quashing of the revolution, he traveled to America to begin a new life in the New World. He married Caroline Frances Hamlin, the daughter of a prominent Quaker family, in 1853. By 1860, he was living in Millersburg, in northeastern Ohio's Holmes County; and it was from there that he went to war as a captain in the 67th Ohio Infantry. Spiegel took to soldiering right away, and distinguished himself as a line officer in the campaigning against Stonewall Jackson's Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley. While he was practical about reconciling the dictates of his faith with the practical demands of military service - he did not balk at eating the standard soldier's meat ration of pork or bacon - his pride in his religious and cultural heritage was consistent. From near Woodstock, Virginia, on May 2, 1862, he wrote that I have had lots of fun since I am in the Service and more Especially in Virginia with Yehudim [Jews]. I generally know them by the name as well as ponim [face] and then I go in and…talk about buying and then say a "loshon hakodesh [Hebrew] word" and you ought to see them jump up and ask Yehudah? Yes Sir and then I can assure you they are "Mehanah" [Mekane = envy] and do me all the "covet" [Koved - respect?] in the World. (p. 106) In October 1862, Spiegel, who had hoped in vain for promotion to a colonelcy in the 67th Ohio, was named a lieutenant colonel in a new unit, the 120th Ohio Infantry; and where the 67th had fought in the East, the 120th was a Western unit that did its fighting in the West. Spiegel went west to serve in the campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi - one of the most important and consequential campaigns of the war. It was while Colonel Spiegel and his regiment were making their way down the Mississippi River, on their way from Memphis, that one of the strangest events of the war - one that specifically affected Jewish Americans - occurred. On December 17, 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant, responding to reports of corruption in the Southern cotton trade, issued General Order Number 11; the infamous order expelled "The Jews, as a class," from his department that included parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Editors Soman and Byrne report that "Nothing in Spiegel's letters indicates knowledge of the order by their writer, who was at that time probably the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the Department of the Tennessee. Indeed, he expressed growing admiration for his general" (pp. 191-92). Another interesting example of Colonel Spiegel encountering Jewish American culture - in this case, Southern U.S. Jewish culture - occurred at that same time. On December 21, 1862, from on board the troop transport U.S.S. Key West, Spiegel wrote home to his wife about meeting some members of the Jewish community of Memphis: After I had my people in the boat, I walked along the riverbank and saw a Yehudah and his wife. I remembered the Sabbath and decided to have a kosher lunch. So, as my friend and his wife came closer, I said, "Happy Sabbath, dear people," frightening the gentleman and probably his wife, being offered "Happy Sabbath" by a man in uniform with sword, spurs, and so forth and so forth. I asked where one could eat a kosher lunch. The gentleman said I could go with him, or to Mr. Levy who was holding a Jewish Boarding house. I went to Levy and found him and about 30 Jews very surprised when I asked if I could have a Chanukah lunch (my friend at the river bank told me Sabbath Chanukah). But when I sat at the table and Levy took a good look at me he said, "I think the face looks familiar" and when I told him my name he said, "Dear God, a son of Rabbi Mosche of Abenheim, a Lieutenant Colonel." (p. 202) It's clear that Colonel Spiegel was an inspiration to the members of that Jewish community - an exemplar of what one could achieve in America. Order Number 11 showed that anti-Semitism was a problem in America, as it is in every country; but Colonel Spiegel's success showed that opportunities were available to Americans of the Jewish faith that would have been unimaginable in most of Europe. Through all of the challenges that he faces, Colonel Spiegel comes across as an exceptional officer - solicitous for the welfare of the enlisted men who are his responsibility, thorough in his training of them. For all of those reasons, he was popular with the enlisted men under his command, and with his fellow officers, as is clear from the third-party testimony provided by editors Soman and Byrne. Additionally, Colonel Spiegel was a devoted husband and father. It is obvious that he loves and misses his family, as when he expresses gratitude for the way in which "the Grand Architeck [sic] of the Universe has preserved me, the good father and God of Israel has favored me with his gracious kindness of being a loving husband to a good wife and a kind father to my beloved children" (p. 257). And in one particularly moving letter, he tells wife Caroline that he feels guilty about the challenges that she faces with her husband away at the battlefront, but adds: "[R]est assured, my love, that if kind providence spares me my life and health, it shall be my object to atone for all. Loving as I do you, I feel that I shall be able to do it" (p. 276). As commander of the 120th Ohio Infantry, Colonel Spiegel made a vital contribution to the Union victory at Vicksburg. On July 4, 1863, Vicksburg capitulated to General Grant's Union army; the Confederacy was split in two, and the Mississippi River was opened to Union navigation from its source to its mouth. Colonel Spiegel's jubilation at this triumph is understandable: My dear dear Wife! This is a glorious day for our noble boys here; all of us feel wild with enthusiasm; our forces entered Vicksburg this A.M. We took 27,000 prisoners and 227 pieces of artillery. The grandest Victory of modern history. We raised a Liberty Pole in my Regiment, made Speeches and hurrah and so forth. My God, such a happy set of boys; this splits the Confederacy....Such a fourth of July I never saw, without anything to drink and yet everybody wild. (p. 300). Eight days after reporting the joyous news of the fall of Vicksburg, Colonel Spiegel found it necessary to report to his wife some unhappy news; and one can see, in the tender and somewhat awkward way in which he shares the news from Jackson, Mississippi, how difficult it is for him to tell his wife of the battlefield wound that he has received: "My dear dear Wife, This morning I was very severely but not in the least dangerously wounded in my left leg, by a shell, a large flesh wound, in the groin. Dont be scared by reports; I am doing as well as I could" (p. 301) It is interesting to wonder how that news was received back home in Millersburg, Ohio, by Mrs. Spiegel. I was very severely but not in the least dangerously wounded in my left leg. How many American soldiers and officers, from Lexington and Concord to Helmand Province and Fallujah, have had to negotiate, as Colonel Spiegel did here, the delicate task of reporting a battlefield injury to the loved ones at home? Vicksburg was not Colonel Spiegel's last campaign. One more fateful military expedition awaited him - an April 1864 trip up the Red River into northwestern Louisiana, where the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. I often return to A Jewish Colonel in the Civil War around Yom Kippur. In Judaism, Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement; and reading this book gives me a chance to thank and honor Colonel Spiegel for the work he did toward helping the United States atone for the national sin of slavery. He didn't have to do that. He could have said, "It's not my problem," or, "I never owned a slave," or, "I wasn't even born here." But he didn't. He signed up, and he served with bravery and honor. I am glad that this book was put together by editors Soman and Byrne, and published in 1985 by the Kent State University Press, because the story of this great American hero of Jewish heritage deserves to be better known.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-07-20 00:00:00 Darryl Sherman I read this book mostly to gain a better understanding of what my great-grandfather experienced ' like the author, he was interned by the Japanese in Manila during World War II. The only other book I'd read about the subject was Bruce Johansen's So Far from Home, and that was somewhat lacking in personality as it mostly listed the mundane details of the internees' lives, based on the committee logs and some private journals. Emily Van Sickle's book, however, really humanized the experience. She's actually an incredibly good writer, and I often wondered while reading why she waited so long to publish her account. It is all from her perspective, of course, and details what she and her husband experienced personally during this period. She describes the people she regularly interacted with ' some of whom were truly unforgettable characters ' and she has a startlingly wonderful insight into events and people's thoughts and feelings. I even liked a lot of her turns of phrases, which were often visual and lyrical. It was just beautiful writing ' I honestly don't know why she didn't choose to make a living as a writer when she got out. Anyway, there were only brief mentions of the "old-timers" ' the group of veterans to which my own great-grandfather would have belonged. All the same, I found Van Sickle's account compelling enough not to care about the lack of information on that end. She belonged to that class of Manila citizen with money enough to fare relatively well during the internment; she and her husband at least had enough to build their own shanty and live somewhat well, considering. She had compassion for others, though, and often shared what she had. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would have given it a five had I not seen a few typos and other small editing errors here and there. It was a near perfect book.