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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: July 27, 2020 at 11:47:27 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-CivWar]: Kirk on Lowenthal, 'A Yankee Regiment in > Confederate Louisiana: The 31st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Gulf > South' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Larry Lowenthal. A Yankee Regiment in Confederate Louisiana: The > 31st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Gulf South. Baton Rouge > Louisiana State University Press, 2019. 360 pp. $48.00 (cloth), > ISBN 978-0-8071-7190-5. > > Reviewed by Brianna Kirk (University of Virginia) > Published on H-CivWar (July, 2020) > Commissioned by G. David Schieffler > > Larry Lowenthal's _A Yankee Regiment in Confederate Louisiana_ tells > the story of the 31st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which served > most of the American Civil War in Louisiana and the Gulf region. The > regiment is credited as the first Union regiment to enter New Orleans > after its capture and the Confederate evacuation in 1862. It also > served in a variety of roles--as infantry, mounted infantry, and > cavalry--and fought guerrillas in the Louisiana bayous. Yet its > relatively unique story of dignified service never made it into the > pages of an official regimental history, as the men of the 31st never > succeeded in writing one. Despite their late start in beginning a > veterans' association, they diligently collected material, conducted > interviews, and amassed accounts to write a detailed account of their > service. But the old veterans, including the regimental historian, > began passing away before anything could be published. > > Lowenthal, a former National Park Service historian, set out to > accomplish what the men of the 31st Massachusetts did not--to write > the history of the oft-forgotten Massachusetts regiment whose Civil > War service has typically evoked criticism. After the discovery of > unprocessed diaries, manuscripts, and personal reminiscences in the > Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History in 2013, > Lowenthal committed to writing a "modern Civil War regimental > history," one that would benefit from the abundance of modern > scholarship and interpretations.[1] Writing the regimental history > now, instead of in the late nineteenth century, would also likely > remove any personal bias that modern historians often find plague > Civil War regimental histories and allow him to take a more "balanced > perspective" on many issues that would have generated "political > controversies" among Civil War veterans (pp. xii-xiii). > > Lowenthal's methodology and source base for this modern regimental > history are fascinating. He draws largely from these unpublished and > unprocessed manuscript collections, boxes of material which had been > collected by the regiment's designated historian, L. Frederick Rice. > Chronology drives Lowenthal's account of the 31st Massachusetts from > their inception in 1861 to their journey south to Louisiana to their > service in the Gulf. Broken down into chapters that cover several > months at a time, this narrative structure allows readers to immerse > themselves in the soldiers' lives and to experience the flow of their > service alongside the men. Beginning with Benjamin Butler's > recruitment of New Englanders to serve in the Union Army, Lowenthal > traces how controversy plagued the 31st Massachusetts from the start > and continued through its service in Louisiana. An ongoing feud > between Butler and Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew--prompted > initially by Butler's recruitment efforts and his insistence on > appointing officers to those regiments--was felt throughout the ranks > of the 31st well into the war, as the men began to question why they > had not seen any major combat by the end of 1862. Despite the honor > of being the first Union troops to set foot in New Orleans after the > Union gained possession of the city in 1862, the 31st Massachusetts > found their regiment split up and relegated to coastal defense at > Fort Pike, Fort Jackson, and defending the rail lines to Jackson, > Mississippi, at Kennerville (now Kenner). > > One of the most unique aspects of the 31st Massachusetts Regiment was > the variety of service they saw. Throughout the Civil War, these men > took on the role of infantry, mounted infantry, and cavalry. They > found themselves on guard duty, took part in siege warfare, and > fought guerrillas. The pace at which Lowenthal tells the 31st > Massachusetts's story accelerates as he begins describing their > involvement in the lead-up and attack on Port Hudson, Louisiana, and > continues with his account of their participation in the Red River > Campaign in early to mid-1864. In both of these instances, > Lowenthal's reliance on these newly acquired diaries and personal > papers increases, providing more rounded accounts of the soldiers' > experiences that texturize the reader's understanding of these > moments. It is in these chapters that Lowenthal provides a much > richer analysis of what the men of the 31st wrote and why. Examples > of their personal views on race, emancipation, African American > soldiers, and occupation come through, although including more > accounts would have reinforced that analysis more. Even more so, it > becomes evident that this regiment in particular recognized--perhaps > because of their limited exposure to combat or because of their > somewhat jaded view of their service--that their involvement in the > Gulf region was "little more than a distraction" to the overall war > effort compared to the campaigns in the East, and that the war "would > be decided far to the east of the Mississippi" (p. 187). > > Writing a "modern regimental history" is a notable task, especially > when relying heavily on unpublished material gathered by the > regiment's members themselves. Lowenthal does leave some to be > desired, especially connections to current scholarship. For example, > his discussion of soldier opinions and views on race in the chapter > covering the first half of 1863 offers a great opportunity to connect > the soldiers' words to recent works on Union soldiers and their > changing attitudes toward emancipation, or how conceptions of their > masculinity shifted with experiencing no major combat compared to > their counterparts in the East.[2] Though there are hints of these > throughout, more explicit connections to larger trends currently seen > in the field of Civil War history are needed. Lowenthal does a nice > job of integrating the soldiers' own words into a seamless > descriptive narrative, but at many places--especially in the chapters > on Port Hudson and the Red River campaign--allowing the soldiers to > speak for themselves even more would have been a bonus. > > Lastly, a final chapter taking the regiment from wartime service into > the Reconstruction and Gilded Age years--the prime time for > regimental histories--would have provided a fitting end to > Lowenthal's story, and the absence of such a chapter leaves readers > curious about what happened after the war's conclusion. When did > Rice, the regiment's historian, acquire the majority of accounts on > which Lowenthal's story is based? What was the process like for > Lowenthal as he wrote this, and what different shape does he think > the history would have taken had Rice accomplished his task? A > reflective end to this creative and interesting project would have > been welcomed. > > Lowenthal breathes life into the men of the 31st Massachusetts > Volunteer Infantry and provides a captivating account of a regiment > that did not claim many crowning achievements like other > Massachusetts regiments did. But the disappointments and neglect felt > in their own time does not mean they should continue to be forgotten > today, as their service, experiences, and opinions of the Civil War > world in which they lived lend important insight into soldier > experiences that historians now and in the future will continue to > investigate. _A Yankee Regiment in Confederate Louisiana_ succeeds in > revealing ways modern historians can still benefit from Civil War > regimental histories, even from a distance of over one hundred and > fifty years later. > > Notes > > [1]. To explore these collections, see the website created by > Lowenthal and others to highlight their source base: > https://31massinf.wordpress.com/. > > [2]. For more on Union soldiers' motivation, see Bell Irvin Wiley, > _The Life of Billy Yank_ (Indianapolis, IN: Charter Books, 1952); > Gary W. Gallagher, _The Union War__ _(Cambridge, MA: Harvard > University Press, 2011);_ _James McPherson_, __For Cause and > Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War__ _(Oxford: Oxford > University Press, 1997);_ _Peter S. Carmichael, _The War for the > Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War > Armies _(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018); and > Chandra Manning_, What this Cruel War was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, > and the Civil War_ (New York: Knopf, 2007). For more on gender and > masculinity in the Union Army, see Lorien Foote, _The Gentlemen and > the Roughs: Violence, Honor, and Manhood in the Union Army_ (New > York: New York University Press, 2010). > > Citation: Brianna Kirk. Review of Lowenthal, Larry, _A Yankee > Regiment in Confederate Louisiana: The 31st Massachusetts Volunteer > Infantry in the Gulf South_. H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews. July, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54965 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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