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The Night the War Was Lost (Bison Book)
written by Charles L. Dufour
Studio : University of Nebraska Press
by University of Nebraska Press
Publisher : University of Nebraska Press
Released : 1994-04-01
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780803265998
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 2 reviews)
List Price : $25.00
Our Price : $14.75
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Product Description |
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"Long before the Confederacy was crushed militarily, it was defeated economically," writes Charles L. Dufour. He contends that with the fall of the critical city of New Orleans in spring 1862 the South lost the Civil War, although fighting would continue for three more years. On the Mississippi River, below New Orleans, in the predawn of April 24, 1862, David Farragut with fourteen gunboats ran past two forts to capture the South's principal seaport.
Vividly descriptive, The Night the War Was Lost is also very human in its portrayal of terrified citizens and leaders occasionally rising to heroism. In a swift-moving narrative, Dufour explains the reasons for the seizure of New Orleans and describes its results.
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The Best Book on the Fall of New Orleans |
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Dufour's book remains the best account of the fall of New Orleans in April 1862 to Admiral David Farragut's Western Gulf Blockading Squadron and (after the fact) troops from Gen. Ben Butler's Department of the Gulf. This is surprising considering the book was initially published in 1960. Dufour does an excellent job describing the preparation (more accurately the lack of preparation) for the defense of New Orleans from the declaration of secession to the eventual fall of the South's greatest city. He also describes the preparations in the North to subdue New Orleans, from the Department of the Navy to David Porter's mortar fleet to the naming of David Farragut to command the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron which took the city. Dufour has a very readable style and I was able to finish the book over several evenings. The book contains 354 pages of text, with the bibliography, notes and index filling the remainder of the 427 pages. Scanning through Dufour's sources, he has made good use of primary records in the form of diaries, newspaper accounts, and especially of the correspondence between the Confederate Government in Richmond and Gen. Mansfield Lovell, the commander at New Orleans. The lack of maps is a major flaw though, IMHO. The book contains only one map of the area around the two forts guarding the city (75 miles south), and it is not a very good one. You will want to have other maps of the area present when reading the book to have a proper grasp of the relationship of various places to one another. And the last shortcoming is the lack of any kind of Order of Battle. Dufour does give the number of guns in Fort Jackson, Fort St. Philip, and some of the ships in the text itself, but he does not go into any kind of detail. 427 pp., 1 map |
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Confederate New Orleans Falls |
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Charles Dufour's "The Night the War was Lost" is the best book written on the campaign for New Orleans in 1862. Dufour has done an amazing amount of research and combines correct historical facts in an easy to read format. This book answers the question how did New Orleans fall and how did the Confederate Government let its biggest city fall into the hands of the Yankees. A great book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the story of Confederate New Orleans. |
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