California Sabers: The 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry in the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: California Sabers
Review: A useful, highly detailed account of the troops, some of whom were from California, who made up the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, and their actions during the Civil War. They did much of their fighting in the Valley Campaign of '64, and those battles are described at length.

The writing here may be a bit too dry for amateurs. I had two major criticisms:

As a Californian, I wanted to know more about where in the state the men came from. Normally, in a history of a unit, one gets a roster with places of origin, peactime occupation, where enlisted, how dismissed and so forth. This information would have been interesting to me.

Secondly, the author is not to be trusted blindly on matters outside his specific topic. Especially, his statements on prisons and the treatment of prisoners should be qualified by examination of other texts ("Portals to Hell" is a decent secondary source). As befits a historian of a Unionist regiment, he is of clear Unionist sympathies and while I don't think he forsakes scholarly objectivity too badly, readers wanting to learn more about Mosby, the regiment's primary antagonist, will want to look at other sources as well.

Though flawed, this book still will prove invaluable for anyone curious about Californians in the Civil War.

Rating:
Summary: California Sabers
Review: Finally, in print, the full story of California's finest contribution to the preservation of the Union during the American Civil War. A story ,until now, only found in scattered newspaper articles, memoirs, diarys, official records, and brief spotlight accounts.James McLean has scoured the available information for the past twenty years to produce a most complete and un-whitewashed account of the service,from concept to muster out,of these brave and able Bear Flaggers. His detailed research leads us from campaign to campaign outlining every move of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment with detail from command down to personal insight from the troopers themselves. Along the way we meet many luminaries such as Col. John S. Mosby and boy General George Armstrong Custer both of whom's popular romantic shine does not glow as well under the objective light provided by Mr McLeans research.Other Personalities such as General Phillip Sheridan, Col. Charles Russell Lowell, L.T Col. Caspar Crowinshield, Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck , Gen. Richard S Ewell, Lt. Gen Jubal Early, and a host of others all take their turn under this able historians pen. The end result being a finely researched piece of true history unmassaged by the romantic fog of time.A must read for Californians and American Civil War enthusiasts alike. This is an almost epic story of California's most determined patriotic troopers and their adventures from San Francisco to Appomattox. Having researched this same group of Californian Troopers for the past ten years I was ,at times, amazed at the depth of his research as he mentions things about unit details I previously thought only I knew!! A very fine treatment of a much over looked group of American Heros, the California Hundred and Battalion .

Rating:
Summary: California Gold !
Review: Finally, in print, the full story of California's finest contribution to the preservation of the Union during the American Civil War. A story ,until now, only found in scattered newspaper articles, memoirs, diarys, official records, and brief spotlight accounts.James McLean has scoured the available information for the past twenty years to produce a most complete and un-whitewashed account of the service,from concept to muster out,of these brave and able Bear Flaggers. His detailed research leads us from campaign to campaign outlining every move of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment with detail from command down to personal insight from the troopers themselves. Along the way we meet many luminaries such as Col. John S. Mosby and boy General George Armstrong Custer both of whom's popular romantic shine does not glow as well under the objective light provided by Mr McLeans research.Other Personalities such as General Phillip Sheridan, Col. Charles Russell Lowell, L.T Col. Caspar Crowinshield, Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck , Gen. Richard S Ewell, Lt. Gen Jubal Early, and a host of others all take their turn under this able historians pen. The end result being a finely researched piece of true history unmassaged by the romantic fog of time.A must read for Californians and American Civil War enthusiasts alike. This is an almost epic story of California's most determined patriotic troopers and their adventures from San Francisco to Appomattox. Having researched this same group of Californian Troopers for the past ten years I was ,at times, amazed at the depth of his research as he mentions things about unit details I previously thought only I knew!! A very fine treatment of a much over looked group of American Heros, the California Hundred and Battalion .