The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 91, July 1987 - April, 1988 Page: 95

Book Reviews

was evinced during the "awful grandeur" of the battle at Franklin, Ten-
nessee, which virtually destroyed the brigade. Lastly, what motivated these
men to fight when the outcome of the conflict no longer remained in doubt?
On this interpretational level, the author fails to "fix" these Texans with
the rest of the army, or their government, much less the enemy. Too lit-
tle attention is paid to the roles of the great leaders, Hiram Bronson Gran-
bury, Brig. Gen. James Deshler, and Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne,
the officers most responsible for the great transformation occurring in the
brigade.
The work also presents a number of technical flaws. The narrative suffers
from a poor writing style, which overutilizes passive verbs and tends to
be colorless and unimaginative. Textual problems abound. The appen-
dices lend little to the author's narrative, and the maps add nothing to
a perception of the brigade's positions prior to, during, or after a cam-
paign. The section dealing with firearms often conflicts with ordnance
returns in the War Department Collection of Confederate Records (Record
Group 109) at the National Archives. Another difficulty relates to the foot-
notes: direct quotations and factual material often go undocumented.
Noticeably absent is an account of the Seventh Texas Infantry during
the early stages of the war, there being no mention of its role at Ft.
Donelson, Tennessee, at Raymond, Mississippi, or in the Port Hudson
campaign. And like so many other writers before, McCaffrey omits any
discussion of the "left flank in the air" as being the key to the Confederate
loss at Arkansas Post, a story that deserves telling! More questions are
left unanswered than are answered. What effect did morale (such as the
brigade's response to the dismounting of the Texas cavalry in mid-1862
under adverse measures) later have on the Texans' performance? And
what did inhumane treatment after Arkansas Post do to instill a decided
anti-Union bias among the survivors? Lastly, how did the influence of
Generals Granbury and Cleburne change these men from a mediocre to
a superlative fighting command? Only when such questions are answered
will a vital military history be available.
Louisiana State University DANNY SESSUMS
Voyages of the Steamboat "Yellow Stone. " By Donald Jackson. (New York:
Ticknor & Fields, 1985. Pp. xxiv + 182. Preface, acknowledgments,
illustrations, maps, notes on sources, appendices, index. $16.95.)
In his recent work, Donald Jackson has provided the only book-length
record of the voyages and major events surrounding the steamboat Yellow
Stone. From many sources he has compiled a unified story, containing
a readable, condensed, general account of the travels of a boat that seemed