audiobook A Melancholy Affair at the Weldon Railroad: The Vermont Brigade; June 23; 1864 by David Faris Cross in History

Review

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Surprisingly goodBy M. DionneI bought this book because my great great grandfather was captured at the battle; and I wanted to glean some details. I did not expect it to be so absorbing. David Faris Cross clearly has compassion for those who died there or were captured; and is very insightful about how poor command decisions led to tragic results. He presents a fresh analysis of conditions of the many Vermonters who ended up in Andersonville and other prisons. The book includes lots of details; but it is much more than a dry catalog of history.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Excellent reading for history buffs.By Christopher H. KarneyWell written and well researched. An excellent telling of the true story of men from Vermont; in a noble fight for their cause and ending up in a horrid place in the South trying to survive. A fine value for the money and a great effort by the author. A must have for the collection for those who have a keen interest in The Civil War.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Not just a good book but an exemplary oneBy John HornRecently; in a series of entries in my blog; http://petersburgcampaign.blogspot.com/; I suggested a number of strategies for we amateur historians to employ to add value to our work. One strategy I suggested was narrowing the focus of a book to the point where its author could more easily research his topic as exhaustively as the standard setter for research; Dr. Richard Sommers; researched his masterwork; Richmond Redeemed. An example of this strategy I gave was A Melancholy Affair at the Weldon Railroad: The Vermont Brigade; June 23; 1864; by David Faris Cross. When Dr. Cross’s book was published in 2003; the dust jacket contained a blurb from me: “…the definitive account of the Vermont Brigade’s disaster on June 23; 1864…will provide a solid foundation for more general historians. The story of the vicissitudes of the Vermonters in Confederate captivity is particularly enlightening.” I can still say the same. Dr. Cross’s book recounts the disaster that befell the Vermont Brigade of the Army of the Potomac’s VI Corps on June 23; 1864; at the hands of Maj. Gen. William Mahone’s division of the Army of Northern Virginia. The book contains helpful maps of the action involved; some sketches by participants; and a frontispiece based on a U.S. Geological survey map of the contested ground. There are numerous pictures of individual soldiers; as one would expect in a history focused on a portion of a single brigade.Dr. Cross methodically depicts the malaise that afflicted the Union command structure that day; one day after the Army of the Potomac’s II Corps had met with a catastrophe several times bigger at Mahone’s hands. The book moves from strength to strength. After recounting the fiasco; Dr. Cross follows Mahone’s victims as they made their way to Andersonville; where an unusually high proportion perished. A physician; Dr. Cross examines the mixture of medical incompetence; official indifference and public hostility that led to the deaths of so many prisoners. He analyzes the humbug put forth by the official historian of Vermont’s soldiers to make it possible for one of the officers most responsible for the disaster to be elected governor of Vermont many years after the war. Then Dr. Cross goes on to allocate blame. I do not agree with all of Dr. Cross’s conclusions. Disagreeing with a couple of his conclusions; however; does not mean that he has produced any less of a definitive account of the Vermont Brigade’s horrific experience. He has done an excellent job of laying the facts out for the reader to draw his own conclusions. This book is not just a good book. It is an exemplary book. It belongs on the shelf of every student of the Petersburg Campaign.John Horn; Author; "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad; August; 1864"