Finished "Decisions At Stones River: The Sixteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Battle" by Matt Spruill and Lee Spruill with maps by Tim Kissel.  Obviously the same layout as the "Decisions at Perryville".  Some editing issues but not many.  Interesting.

Finished By the Sword Divided Eyewitnesses of the English Civil War by John Adair

A very interesting read that made the war(s) more human and inhumane

I was relieved that the quote from Robert Harley supported my order of battle for Cheriton, at least the Parliamentarian commanded shot in Cheriton Wood

Hi

Almost finished 'The Eastern Front' (Eastern Front WWI) by Nick Lloyd. Excellent narrative of the war including theatres I knew very little about (e.g. Salonika), that said there is not a lot of 'fine' detail, the maps only show where armies are nothing below that level but perhaps not surprising given the scope of the book. I know casualties on the western front were horrendous but in the east I found them hard to comprehend. Recommended.

Cheers Paul

Finished "The Port Chicago Mutiny: The Story of the Largest Mass Mutiny Trial in U.S. History" by Robert L. Allen.

On July  17, 1944, a ship being loaded with ammunition blew up, causing another ship to be torn apart, 320 deaths, another 390 injured, most of whom were black sailors loading ammunition, and causing great damage to the town of Port Chicago, several miles away. The blast was calculated to be 5 kilotons of force, the same as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

The US, and all the military services, did not allow blacks to do much more that basic labor tasks, such as loading ammunition or mess men.  The sailors were not trained to handle ammunition, nor were the white officers, who had contests to see who could load the most tonnage.

After the explosions, many of the sailors were afraid to resume loading ammunition and were subsequently arrested.  50 were picked out as ringleaders (though none were really proven to be such and some were just put in the category) and were charged with mutiny, rather than failure to obey orders.  The trial was a forgone conclusion and the sailors received 15 year sentences and when released a bad conduct discharge.

Through pressure across the US, with letters to various leaders by Thurgood Marshall, later on the Supreme court, and Eleanor Roosevelt. the sentences were reduced and all were freed by 1947.

Port Chicago is 21 miles from where I live, and as it turns out, I am involved in a memorial to the 50 sailors.  During their lifetimes, several attempts were made to pardon the 50, none of which was accomplished while any were still living.  In 2024 the Navy Secretary, Carlos Del Toro, did so.

The trial was held on Yerba Buena Island in the bay of San Francisco, and the Naval Order of the United States, San Francisco Commandery, is working on a specific memorial to the 50 sailors from the mutiny.  As a member of the Naval Order (though I was in the army, my grandfather was a Rear admiral so that's how I was able to become a member), and a construction engineer, I "volunteered" to be the project manager for this project.  We have been working on it over a year, trying to get the powers that be to approve a site (the first site,on the area where the trial building was, was not approved).

So, a very interesting book and well written.  The book was offered for sale at one of our Commandery functions and a friend bought several and gave me one.

Thanks for your reviews kipt, they are always interesting.

I had heard vaguely of the Port Chicago disaster but I didn't know about the sheer level of destruction or the subsiquent court-martials.

I hope you are able to complete the memorial project in a suitable location.

What an amazing project to remember a terrible miscarriage of justice.

Keep us updated on progress on the memorial Kipt

Finished The English Civil War Day by Day by Wilfrid Emberton

I initially thought I'd read a bit about the start of the war and a few bits around battles I was interested in. I found it fascinating, particularly the mentions of events in Scotland and Ireland. I ended up reading it all on my regular train commute

Finished "The Invincible Twelfth: The 12th South Carolina Infantry of the Gregg-McGowan Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia" by Benjamin L. Cwayna.  This is a good book relating the various combats, actions and battles the 12th SC were in. 

They had, after the first colonel resigned, very good leadership and were trained to be very aggressive. About 1400 men served in the 14th, but only 158 surrendered at Appomattox.  They were one of the few regiments that still had a regimental structure, with all 10 companies, even though these companies were very small.

The author was able to follow several of the men and officers through their letters home.  Unfortunately, unlike other brigades in the ANV, the brigadiers either did not survive or did not publish the brigade's exploits.  Even so, the premise of the book that the 12th was an elite regiment is well supported.

Recommended.

Hi

Just finished 'Bloody Roads South, The Wilderness to Coldharbor, May - June 1864' by Noah Andre Trudeau (ACW).

Pretty good one volume overview of the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor (and a few bits in between) including many personal recollections. That said I think it is badly let down by just 3 poor maps at the beginning of the book which are almost unintelligible, to me at least. A really interesting campaign and if you are really keen for more detail (and with maps that are legible) I would recommend the several books covering the campaign by Gordon C. Rhea.

Cheers Paul

Quote from: T13A on 07 October 2025, 04:42:55 PMHi

Just finished 'Bloody Roads South, The Wilderness to Coldharbor, May - June 1864' by Noah Andre Trudeau (ACW).

Pretty good one volume overview of the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor (and a few bits in between) including many personal recollections. That said I think it is badly let down by just 3 poor maps at the beginning of the book which are almost unintelligible, to me at least. A really interesting campaign and if you are really keen for more detail (and with maps that are legible) I would recommend the several books covering the campaign by Gordon C. Rhea.

I second your recommendation of Gordon Rhea's books.

I do recommend Trudeau's book on the Petersburg campaign, though:
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Citadel-Petersburg-June-April/dp/161121212X

What I found really striking in reading about Petersburg was how dramatically the tempo of operations changed, from the intense six weeks of the Overland Campaign to the much more cautious nine months outside Petersburg. (Which I explored on the tabletop back in August:)
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-whole-petersburg-campaign-twice.html

Hi Chris

QuoteI do recommend Trudeau's book on the Petersburg campaign, though:

Yes, I have had this one for sometime and only realised that the author had written the Wilderness - Cold Harbor book when I started to re-read it a few weeks ago as a result of reading your blog on the BBB's Petersburg campaign!

About 20 years ago I visited the Petersburg battlefield and somewhere I have a photo of me standing in the remains of the 'Crater'.

Cheers Paul

Hi Paul,

QuoteAbout 20 years ago I visited the Petersburg battlefield and somewhere I have a photo of me standing in the remains of the 'Crater'.

You're ahead of me then. (But not by much - hoping to get there before the end of this year.) Glad to have stimulated your (re-)reading!

Chris

The US Marine Corps has published the above, online.  It's by Charles Esdaile.  It's a free upload, which I have not yet read.

www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Wargaming%20Waterloo_new%20web_1.pdf