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Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Day-By-Day Account
Review: David Homer Bates experienced the Civil War from a desk in the telegraph office in the War Department. Bates received reports from battlefield commanders in all theaters of operation and conveyed them to President Abraham Lincoln, who often spent long hours in the telegraph office waiting for news of the latest campaign. The diary Bates kept from November 1863 until June 1865 is a remarkable record of the war as it happened. Editor Donald Markle opens the book with a short but informative overview of the military telegraph. Markle describes the transformation of military command and control abilities resulting from the advent of the telegraph, and the resources devoted to improving and expanding the telegraph during the Civil War. At the beginning of each chapter, Markle provides the historical context for the events Bates describes in his diary. For readers unfamiliar with the many names and places referred to by Bates, Markle supplies extensive endnotes that fill in the blanks. Markle also provides a fascinating appendix on Civil War cipher systems. What readers may find most fascinating is how events were first reported, or misreported, during the course of the war. Bates wrote on August 1st, 1864 that the cause for the Union disaster at the Petersburg crater was that "2 hours were allowed to elapse before any advance was made by Gen. Meade." Most historians concur that the true responsibility for the catastrophe rested on the shoulders of the drunken James Ledlie and the hapless Ambrose Burnside. On August 8th, Bates recorded that "A telegram...confirms death of rebel Gen. Forrest." Forrest was again reported killed on December 19th. On August 29th, "rebels say that Hood is killed & Longstreet is in command at Atlanta." Forrest and Hood would no doubt have chuckled at the reports of their deaths. On April 12, 1865, Bates received word that "Mrs. Gen. Lee is dying." Reports of her imminent death were greatly exaggerated. The most poignant passages of Bates' diary follow the assassination of President Lincoln. While the country grieved and raged, Bates mourned Lincoln's loss in a very personal way: "I have seen him and conversed with him nearly every day and have learned to love him for his many virtues & his few faults." David Homer Bates will in all likelihood never be a household name associated with the Civil War. Thanks to the expert editing of Donald Markle, however, Bates' absorbing diary provides readers with the unique experience of reliving the war's last eighteen months.
Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Day-By-Day Account
Review: David Homer Bates experienced the Civil War from a desk in the telegraph office in the War Department. Bates received reports from battlefield commanders in all theaters of operation and conveyed them to President Abraham Lincoln, who often spent long hours in the telegraph office waiting for news of the latest campaign. The diary Bates kept from November 1863 until June 1865 is a remarkable record of the war as it happened. Editor Donald Markle opens the book with a short but informative overview of the military telegraph. Markle describes the transformation of military command and control abilities resulting from the advent of the telegraph, and the resources devoted to improving and expanding the telegraph during the Civil War. At the beginning of each chapter, Markle provides the historical context for the events Bates describes in his diary. For readers unfamiliar with the many names and places referred to by Bates, Markle supplies extensive endnotes that fill in the blanks. Markle also provides a fascinating appendix on Civil War cipher systems. What readers may find most fascinating is how events were first reported, or misreported, during the course of the war. Bates wrote on August 1st, 1864 that the cause for the Union disaster at the Petersburg crater was that "2 hours were allowed to elapse before any advance was made by Gen. Meade." Most historians concur that the true responsibility for the catastrophe rested on the shoulders of the drunken James Ledlie and the hapless Ambrose Burnside. On August 8th, Bates recorded that "A telegram...confirms death of rebel Gen. Forrest." Forrest was again reported killed on December 19th. On August 29th, "rebels say that Hood is killed & Longstreet is in command at Atlanta." Forrest and Hood would no doubt have chuckled at the reports of their deaths. On April 12, 1865, Bates received word that "Mrs. Gen. Lee is dying." Reports of her imminent death were greatly exaggerated. The most poignant passages of Bates' diary follow the assassination of President Lincoln. While the country grieved and raged, Bates mourned Lincoln's loss in a very personal way: "I have seen him and conversed with him nearly every day and have learned to love him for his many virtues & his few faults." David Homer Bates will in all likelihood never be a household name associated with the Civil War. Thanks to the expert editing of Donald Markle, however, Bates' absorbing diary provides readers with the unique experience of reliving the war's last eighteen months.
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