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After reading on the civil war for 40 years or more, one complaint I've had is that no one writes of the Union navy beyond the officers from admirals downward. Since I served in the U.S. Navy from 1961-1967, it isn't strange that I would hold some interest in these earlier shipmates. So I eagerly awaited the University of North Carolina to issue this book. I purchased a copy and was not disappointed.
I feel the book to be well worthwhile if one is interested in the union jack or blue jackets of that era. Some reviewers may have found the book not quite to their liking, but my humble opinion is that with the paucity of books available on this subject, one should be thankful for almost anything that is written on the area.
One of the more interesting items in this book are the pictures and illustrations. What did these men really look like? The appearance of their hats and uniforms? Here and there, some photographic books do give a clue. But I've encountered few that had as their entire subject the blue jacket of that day. It would seem from the pictures, that one need was to have had at least one banjo on board the ship. And curiously the numbers of navy men barefoot on board. And it was also of interest the number of African American sailors serving on board many of these ships. The Navy welcomed their service at least a year before the Union army, and by war's end upwards of 18% of all Union Navy men were African Americans, honorably serving their country.
With the author's notes covering almost the final 100 pages of this book, it appears very well documented. And as with any Civil War America book from Chapel Hill, you know it is solid history. I applaud this attempt by my fellow Ohioian for his efforts to give these mostly ignored and forgotten men an open hearing. Sadly, they too seemed aware their efforts were lost to history, with the combat armies often being remembered at their expense.
For me, this book is a very good first step in the direction of revealing these men and their naval service to our contemporary readers. I await even more of their stories.
Semper Fi.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War (Civil War America)
Historians have given a great deal of attention to the lives and experiences of Civil War soldiers, but surprisingly little is known about navy sailors who participated in the conflict. Michael J. Bennett remedies the longstanding neglect of Civil War seamen in this comprehensive assessment of the experience of common Union sailors from 1861 to 1865.
To resurrect the voices of the "Union Jacks," Bennett combed sailors' diaries, letters, and journals. He finds that the sailors differed from their counterparts in the army in many ways. They tended to be a rougher bunch of men than the regular soldiers, drinking and fighting excessively. Those who were not foreign-born, escaped slaves, or unemployed at the time they enlisted often hailed from the urban working class rather than from rural farms and towns. In addition, most sailors enlisted for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.
Bennett's examination provides a look into the everyday lives of sailors and illuminates where they came from, why they enlisted, and how their origins shaped their service. By showing how these Union sailors lived and fought on the sea, Bennett brings an important new perspective to our understanding of the Civil War.
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