Scan barcode
A review by dreamwanderer
A Brotherhood Of Valor: The Common Soldiers Of The Stonewall Brigade C S A And The Iron Brigade U S A by Jeffry D. Wert
5.0
I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and went to school with people who were either descended from or related to men who served in the Stonewall Brigade. I knew about how they mustered at Harper's Ferry in the early days of the Civil War and all about their first commander Stonewall Jackson. Every student of Virginia history knows about Stonewall's Foot Cavalry and their quick marches covering great distances in a short amount of time. I learned about Jackson's death at Chancellorsville and the end of the Brigade at the Battle of Spotsylvania. The unit went from approximately three thousand strong to the one hundred and ten who were there at Appomattox.
I also knew about the desertions. They were sometimes fighting near their homes and it was easy to slip away to familiar places where they could not be found. Many of these deserters went on 'French Leave' which was a nice way of saying they went home for a time to tend to grave matters on the farm and then returned and others deserted only to be found serving in other Units such as the Cavalry.
I had only a cursory knowledge of their Union counterpart The Iron Brigade. They were referred to as "Those Damn Black Hats". It wasn't until I saw the movie Gettysburg that I decided to find out more.
They were an impressive lot hailing from Wisconsin and Michigan which was then the Western Frontier. Their attitude and their wearing of the Black Hardee Hats set them apart from the other fighting Units. They were disciplined and they were committed to the "Righteous Cause' of the Union. Their fighting spirit was tested the most at Gettysburg and like the Stonewall Brigade went on to suffer an enormous losses.
Iron met Stone for the first time at the Battle of Second Manassas during the engagement at Brawners Farm. The intense hot fighting lasted for hours as both sides fought fiercely and neither side would give in. It ended in a stalemate. The two would meet in battle twice more.
Wert tells their parallel stories well and his descriptions of the battles makes me wonder how Rufus Dawes who was in the thick of every fight (including Antietam and Gettysburg) managed to come out of it alive. The same might be asked about Sgt. John Francis Brooke who enlisted in 1861 at Harper's Ferry and who was there to witness the surrender at Appomattox. Dawes became the father of a U.S. Vice President and Brooke lived until 1942, the last survivor of the Stonewall Brigade.
For me the book covered old ground with the Stonewall Brigade. There was very little in it that was new to me but I was finally able to learn more about 'Those Damn Black Hats' and I was impressed.
I also knew about the desertions. They were sometimes fighting near their homes and it was easy to slip away to familiar places where they could not be found. Many of these deserters went on 'French Leave' which was a nice way of saying they went home for a time to tend to grave matters on the farm and then returned and others deserted only to be found serving in other Units such as the Cavalry.
I had only a cursory knowledge of their Union counterpart The Iron Brigade. They were referred to as "Those Damn Black Hats". It wasn't until I saw the movie Gettysburg that I decided to find out more.
They were an impressive lot hailing from Wisconsin and Michigan which was then the Western Frontier. Their attitude and their wearing of the Black Hardee Hats set them apart from the other fighting Units. They were disciplined and they were committed to the "Righteous Cause' of the Union. Their fighting spirit was tested the most at Gettysburg and like the Stonewall Brigade went on to suffer an enormous losses.
Iron met Stone for the first time at the Battle of Second Manassas during the engagement at Brawners Farm. The intense hot fighting lasted for hours as both sides fought fiercely and neither side would give in. It ended in a stalemate. The two would meet in battle twice more.
Wert tells their parallel stories well and his descriptions of the battles makes me wonder how Rufus Dawes who was in the thick of every fight (including Antietam and Gettysburg) managed to come out of it alive. The same might be asked about Sgt. John Francis Brooke who enlisted in 1861 at Harper's Ferry and who was there to witness the surrender at Appomattox. Dawes became the father of a U.S. Vice President and Brooke lived until 1942, the last survivor of the Stonewall Brigade.
For me the book covered old ground with the Stonewall Brigade. There was very little in it that was new to me but I was finally able to learn more about 'Those Damn Black Hats' and I was impressed.