| Lincoln’s Darkest Year: The War in 1862. By William Marvel. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. xvi, 443 pp. $30.00, ISBN 978-0-618-85869-9.) | |
| William Marvel’s new book is a continuation of his Mr. Lincoln Goes to War (2007). The focus of this potential series is President Abraham Lincoln’s impact on the Northern experience of the Civil War. He especially emphasizes the eastern war theater and ordinary people, both civilians and soldiers. | 1 |
| The thesis of this volume is that opposing factions argued for either peace or continued prosecution, with one group judging the price too great for any potential results and the other reluctant to waste the investment already made. Tragically, victory and peace might have satisfied both parties fairly early, but those opportunities were lost through a closely connected series of blunders, some of which can be traced back to the conscious decisions of Abraham Lincoln. (p. xi)Furthermore, Marvel emphasizes how human failings, high and low, contributed to a deep decline in morale and a discontent with the war. Lincoln’s primary shortcomings seem to consist of tolerating ineffective generals too long and not using more moderate methods. | 2 |
| Unfortunately, the author supports his thesis with anecdotal evidence assiduously collected and selectively presented, rather than quantitative research in records of military recruitment or resignation. The author’s work on the views and impact of discontented Northerners is of groundbreaking significance for that portion of society. He shows that financial incentives and the threat of conscription affected recruitment trends, but he underrates the reality that the enlistment of a family man required significant financial provision for his absence. Nonenlistment did not always mean opposition to the war. Marvel effectively stresses the harm to the troops caused by late pay, the capture of large supply dumps, and a false belief in the Unionism of most Southern whites. | 3 |
| No historian would question that the second half of 1862 was the low point of the war for the Union, especially in the eastern theater, but one might question Marvel’s view on the extent of negative reactions. This reviewer’s research on other topics has not turned up so much negativism in contemporary correspondence. The author’s contention that Federals generally and quickly adopted bad behaviors toward Southern civilians ignores the shift from conciliation to the hard war policy during 1862. Mark Grimsley’s seminal The Hard Hand of War (1997) is missing from the bibliography. | 4 |
| Except for the precedence given to the eastern theater, the coverage of 1862 is detailed and thorough. The maps greatly assist the reader, though the two theater maps would be more easily found if they were located together before or after the preface, instead of in the middle of chapters. A prolific professional writer, Marvel is clearly a talented storyteller with a highly polished and involving writing style. While the research is extensive, the book needs to be balanced by the works of others. As the author admits, he does “occasionally create the impression that no Union soldiers favored emancipation, that none enlisted from pure love of country, and that after a time no one in or out of the army wanted to continue the fight. That was not the case of course” (p. xiv). | 5 |
| John CimprichThomas More College Crestview Hills, Kentucky | |
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