by William Marvel
Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2024. Pp. xvi, 323.
Maps, notes, biblio., index. $49.95. ISBN:0807182435
The Suprising Success of Confederate Arms in Early 1964
Award-winning Civil War historian William Marvel looks at the seeming revival of Confederate military efforts in the first half of 1864, despite devastating reverses incurred during the previous year, at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and elsewhere that had seen the spirit of both soldiers and citizens ebb.
He examines successes in different theaters, including such actions as the Confederate victories at Olustee, Florida and Okolona, Mississippi, the sinking of the USS Housatonic by the submarine H.L. Hunley, the defeat of raids against Richmond by Benjamin Butler and Judson Kilpatrick, the failure of the Union’s Red River Campaign, Nathan Bedford Forrest’s raids in western Kentucky and Tennessee, the capture of Plymouth, North Carolina, and the repulse of the Camden expedition in Arkansas.
For all of the actions he discusses, Marvel explains the background to the events, the forces involved, and the course of the fighting.
Marvel concludes that that these successes in early 1864 contributed to a revival and strengthening of the Southern will to continue the war, leading to the greater intensity of that fighting during the year, in the hope Lincoln would be defeated at the polls in November of 1864, and that the Confederacy would survive.
Marvel weaves many personal stories into a larger canvas, to show how Confederate forces recovered from the reverses of 1863, reviving the effort to resist Union advances during much of 1864. He does this well, letting the men speak for themselves, while at the same time recognizing when to step in to provide extra context. A very important example of this is when he presents both Union and Confederate soldiers’ accounts of the killing of Black prisoners after the battles of Olustee (February 20, 1864), Plymouth (April 17-20, 1864), and Fort Pillow (April 12, 1864).
Marvel argues that these Confederate comebacks, seemingly important, and often morale-boosting, were not necessarily of strategic significance to the South.
Deeply researched, well-written, and fast-paced, Marvel’s thought provoking, balanced account shows how the Confederacy overcame a great deal to continue the conflict that might have won the war.
This reviewer highly recommends The Confederate Resurgence of 1864.
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Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include, A Fine Opportunity Lost, The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West, The Limits of the Lost Cause on Civil War Memory, War in the Western Theater, J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and The Man, The Inland Campaign for Vicksburg, All for the Union: The Saga of One Northern Family, Voices from Gettysburg, The Blood Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Creek, June 17-18, 1864, Union General Daniel Butterfield, We Shall Conquer or Die, Dranesville, The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism, “Over a Wide, Hot . . . Crimson Plain", The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 1, Dalton to Cassville, Thunder in the Harbor, All Roads Led to Gettysburg, The Traitor's Homecoming, A Tempest of Iron and Lead, The Cassville Affairs, Holding Charleston by the Bridle, The Maps of Second Bull Run, Hell by the Acre, Chorus of the Union, and Digging All Night and Fighting All Day .
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Note: The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 is also available in e-editions.
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