Product Description

This compelling new volume from the author of Shiloh: In Hell before Night and Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy explores the strategic importance of Kentucky for both sides in the Civil War and recounts the Confederacy's bold attempt to capture the Bluegrass State. 35 illustrations. 6 maps.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1086880 in Books
• Published on: 1996-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

From Library Journal
According to McDonough (Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy, Univ. of Tennessee Pr., 1984), the South's failure to bring Kentucky into the Confederacy gave the Union access to Kentucky's important railways and waterways, thus providing the Yankees with a back door to the South. He examines Union General Buell, Confederate General Bragg, and their subordinates, detailing strengths and weaknesses on both sides. He leads the reader to wonder whether the Civil War was as much a conflict of egos and eccentricities as it was of tactics and strategy. McDonough writes an interesting account, especially when he crawls inside the heads of the major figures. Several maps are included, but more would have been welcome. Nevertheless, Civil War scholars, buffs, and informed lay readers will find this book a valuable addition to the literature. For academic libraries and public libraries with Civil War collections.
Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
By mid 1862, Union gains in the Mississippi Valley and in Tennessee and Kentucky had brought the Confederacy to a point of strategic crisis. This valuable addition to the growing literature on the Civil War in the West tells how the Union then failed to press home its advantage while the Confederacy failed to force Kentucky into the Confederacy. The climax of these events was the little-known Battle of Perryville, in which a greatly inferior Southern force under Braxton Bragg managed a draw against Don Carlos Buell's Union army but also effectively terminated the Confederate invasion of Kentucky. McDonough has researched thoroughly and written clearly, making this book informative and accessible to a wide range of Civil War students. Roland Green

From Kirkus Reviews
A well-written, well-argued story of the Civil War in the West. McDonough (History/Auburn Univ.; The Limits of Glory, 1991) continues to explore underexamined aspects of the Civil War, this time the western theater, often thought of as a sidelight to the real scrap in the East. In McDonough's view, the western engagements were crucial in sealing the fate of the Confederacy. He sets the stage for his account of the Kentucky battles by outlining the Confederacy's perilous state in the spring of 1862. The fall in February of the Tennessee river forts Henry and Donelson effectively split the South geographically and led to the abandonment a week later of Nashville, the first Southern capital to capitulate. On April 6, federal and Confederate armies clashed at Shiloh Church with horrific loss of life. Claimed as a victory by the Southern commanding general, the battle failed to halt the federal advance and led to the removal of P.G.T. Beauregard, the hero of Fort Sumter and Bull Run, as commander of Confederate forces in the West. He was replaced by the scruffy Braxton Bragg, whose record at Shiloh was itself ambiguous. On April 7, the Union Navy captured Island No. 10 on the Mississippi, which paved the way for the fall 17 days later of New Orleans. The South still had an opportunity to snatch victory at a clash in central Kentucky at a small town called Perryville, where in October 22,000 federals fought 17,000 Confederates. Forced to retreat, Bragg had to give up his dream of retaking Kentucky. The war would drag on for 30 more months, but McDonough shows that Southern defeat was increasingly inevitable. As studies of the Civil War become more narrow in focus, it's refreshing to find a volume that has some sweep to it, using the war in and around Kentucky to encapsulate the entire conflict in the West. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A worthwhile but uneven treatment of the campaign
"War in Kentucky" describes and interprets events in the western theater of the Civil War following the Battle of Shiloh through the end of Bragg's invasion of Kentucky. As an analysis of the complex strategic issues involved, the book is generally disappointing. The text is uneven in depth, and is broken by too many needless quotations from other secondary works. Though the big picture is weak, McDonough is at his best in describing events and conditions up close. For example, his chapter on the Federal occupation of Huntsville, Alabama, is fascinating. The book is very well illustrated, but inexcusably deficient in maps. "War in Kentucky" is recommended for those interested in the Kentucky campaign, but it is not in the same class as the works of Peter Cozzens, Wiley Sword, or Larry Daniel on similar topics.

A Great Book--with exceptions
I found this book to be the best that I have read of McDonough's (I have read three of his, besides this one). His description of conditions preceding the campaign were fantastic. I also found that McDonough treated Bragg fairly--unlike many other historians. Although I wish the accounts of the battles had been longer, the ones there were terrific.

On the other hand, I found the few maps too be not enough, and the ones provided were not too good. A nice compliment to the book were the several photos of the battlefields (Richmond, Munfordville, and Perryville).

Overall, I believe this book is worth the $12.57, plus shipping. I actually bought my copy elsewhere, at the full price of $17.98. Just the fact that this is one of the few books on the Kentucky campaign makes it worth the money. If you are a serious Civil War buff, or are interested in the Kentucky Campaign specifically, I highly recommend that you buy this book.