Book Review: No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864 (9781400066759): Richard Slotkin: Books
Book Review: No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864 (9781400066759): Richard Slotkin: Books
Superlative account of a complex botched battle,
By Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
Richard Slotkin’s new “No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864″ is a fine addition to the ever-growing mountain of American Civil War literature. The July, 1864, incident is perhaps the best-known episode of the entire lengthy Petersburg Siege - a massive mine under Confederate entrenchments was exploded and a follow-up assault, principally carried out by Ambrose Burnside’s IX Corp of the Army of the Potomac, was launched, but turned into a bloody fiasco. The viciousness of the fighting was undoubtedly intensified by the participation of a Union division of “colored” troops, something certain to raise the ire of Confederate defenders. As might be expected from a Professor of American Studies, this racial aspect of the affair is given considerable attention by Slotkin, but what might not be anticipated is the highly detailed tactical analysis of the combat action, with brigade and regimental movements carefully described to develop a full picture of a complex military event. Too often, the Battle of the Crater has been presented as basically a horrendous, confused melee, without form or reason; Slotkin makes it clear that while there certainly was confusion and chaos and incompetence, at the same time there were activities displaying clear tactical thinking and skill. And the author delves deeply into primary accounts to present a vivid picture of what went on. Slotkin makes no apologies for Confederates (and at least a few Union soldiers) who murdered, in cold blood or hot, many of the black troops, but he does present the atrocities in a broader context, noting that when the black units advanced into battle, they were exhorted to “remember Fort Pillow” and to expect and to give no quarter themselves. And many of the counterattacking Confederate infantry received orders to give no quarter, without any indication that they were facing black troops; by 1864, the Civil War had reached a depth of violence divorced from mere skin color.
I can think of few other Civil War military histories that do a comparable job of presenting such a comprehensive tactical portrait of a battle. Beyond question, “No Quarter” is the definitive account of the Crater, and it should be appreciated by anyone with a strong interest in battlefield tactics of the era.
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