Thursday, May 31, 2012

Ebooks Published for Indiana Civil War Unit

Two eBook supplements to The 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: A Civil War History by David Williamson (McFarland, 2012) are now available for those with Nook and Kindle devices.

For those who are interested in the application of military law during the Civil War, there is The 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: Court-Martial Case Files. (A Kirkbride, Keagy, Johnston, Perrott & Rose eBook.)
The nine court-martial cases were compiled and transcribed verbatim by author/editor David Williamson from copies of the original, hand-written, case files. The case files of the four officers and seven soldiers presented in this supplement comprise all of the court-martial records for the 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry found by the Index Project at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

The cases include:
1."One Bully Down" -- A soldier/civilian encounter in Memphis, TN.
2. "An Officer's Privilege" -- The rights of enlisted men in the field.
3. "A Pretty Wild Boy" -- How the court dealt with rambunctious soldiers.
4. "Back Home Again in Indiana" -- An early case of absence without leave.
5. "The Misbehaving Soldiers" -- The regiment's only case on record of soldier misconduct in battle.
6. "The Knight-Errant" -- Differences of opinion among the lawyer-officers of the 47th Indiana.
7. "The Cantankerous Cook" -- Violent disputes among enlisted men.
8. "The 'Pugelistick' Champion of the State of Indiana" -- Defining "enlistment" and "desertion" in a volunteer regiment.
9. "The Misplaced" -- Trouble with paperwork during wartime.

These court-martial cases provide an unabridged example of the application of Civil War military law in one infantry regiment active in the field throughout the war.

For those who are interested in the social and political history of Indiana as well as the military history of the Civil War, there is: Slack’s War: Selected Civil War Letters of General James R. Slack, 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, to His Wife, Ann, 1862-1865. (A Kirkbride, Keagy, Johnston, Perrott & Rose eBook.)
Slack's War consists of 121 letters written from 1862 to 1865 by General James R. Slack, 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, to his wife, Ann. General Slack's letters span the entire length of his service and include not only his commentary on all the events and battles he participated in, but also his commentary on the Indiana home front, the Indiana Treason Trials, life in the occupied Mississippi Valley, life in occupied Mobile and Spring Hill, Alabama, and postwar service at Brazos Santiago Island and Brownsville, Texas.

The Indiana State Library (ISL) permitted use of only one-half of the James R. Slack inventory and these letters, transcribed verbatim by the editor, comprise the half he selected from the ISL's annotated bibliography. Excerpts of some of Slack's letters appeared in his book. Most of General Slack’s questions and comments about individuals and issues back home were omitted from The 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: A Civil War History, but are presented verbatim in Slack’s War.

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