The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966 Page: 131
591 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
captives from "about one hundred different regiments from seven-
teen states, including two Southern states." Numerous naval per-
sonnel, artillery and signal corps units, colorful Zouaves, and a
correspondent of the New York Herald, added variety to the
Federal representation in the congested acreage of Camp Ford.
Despite the crowded confinement of this somewhat typical
wartime stockade, prisoner morale and treatment by guards
seems to have been better than in camps in the East. Much humor,
expressed in anecdotes by surviving Federals, pervades the ac-
count; and the reader may be bemused by the occasional cam-
araderie between post officials, guards, and prisoners. The place
evidently leaked like a sieve, if one may judge from the proces-
sion in and out, and in again, described in the chapter on
"Escapes."
Of the total confinement of 6,ooo men, 286 died during the
course of two years. The authors find that mortality rate to be
both reassuring, in view of the general health jeopardy of the
times, and favorable when compared with other camps. As is sug-
gested, perhaps the pure spring water and good drainage at Camp
Ford made the difference.
With respect to format and design, Camp Ford C. S. A. is in
good taste. The end-paper maps of the camp may prove useful
to the reader. Typographical troubles and citation inconsistencies
are several but negligible. This reviewer, however, would like to
have seen somewhere in the book an evaluation of the master's
thesis on Camp Ford by Mattie Alice Baker (East Texas State
College, 1958) which is listed in the bibliography but not cited
in the text or notes.
All in all, the authors, their artistic book-making associates, and
the Texas Civil War Centennial Advisory Committee are to be
commended for an attractive contribution. This is another Carl
Hertzog item. JAMES L. NICHOLS
Stephen F. Austin State College
The Bugle Softly Blows: The Confederate Diary of Benjamin M.
Seaton. Edited by Harold B. Simpson. Waco (Texian Press),
1965. Pp. xxv+x 17. Index, illustrations. $5.95.
The Bugle Softly Blows is the Civil War diary of Private Ben-131
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966, periodical, 1966; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117144/m1/151/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.