Benjamin Franklin Cooling, III

I got this because Cooling’s “Counterthrust” (2008) was a well written coverage of the Second Manassas/Antietam campaign. But this volume, written in 1989, must have been before he honed his writing skill in conveying the tactical process of a battle. Especially his description of the battle of Monocacy, with completely inadequate maps, was simply impossible to follow. He wrote previous books detailing Washington during the war, and seems to presume a familiarity with the layout of the city, forts etc.

A very difficult read. To be honest, I was glad to be done with it. I give three stars only because he does have the information and research. It’s just that the writing, to me, does not put it all together in a coherent story.… (more)

An excellent read that is brought to life by the various personal accounts unearthed by the author, who served as the Olympia museum's historian/curator from 1965-75.

Eighty pages of this 277-page book are rightfully devoted to the Olympia's halcyon years associated with George Dewey and the naval victory at Manila Bay, giving an added dimension to the more conventional accounts of the Spanish-American War and its immediate aftermath. The fact that this ship could remain in service for 27 years in an era of constant naval technology change was an accomplishment and a credit to the ship's leaders and crews.

This book only takes the Olympia story to 1999. Unfortunately the ships's problems as a historical ship revealed in this volume have only deepened over the last couple of decades. The problems of historical ship maintenance and management have only gotten worse in the years that have given us 9/11 and the COVID virus. Public perceptions and the place of historical ships in today's culture play an influential role on their financial viability. As the accomplishments of these ships and the crews who manned them fade further in the national memory, can these ships even be saved? One wonders how much longer Dewey's flagship will last.… (more)

In this effort to get at the mindset of the Confederacy through the prism of one her more problematic sons, by a writer who has made something of a specialty of Early's potential moment of ultimate greatness or failure before the defenses of Washington, the estimate that seems to get at the core of Early's flaws comes from disgruntled subordinate John Gordon. The bottom line for Gordon was that for all Early's real talents the man lacked a certain moral courage that comes from being able to take the honest measure of yourself against your opponent. This lack certainly contributed to Early's misplaced contempt for Yankeedom in general, and his nemesis Phil Sheridan in particular, and is part of the foundation for Early's great, bad lingering gift to American society; the whole Lost Cause mythology of trying to put a gloss on the dubious adventure that was the Confederacy and that contributes to the American politics of resentment.… (more)