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A Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C. S. A. and the Iron Brigade, U. S. A.
This unusual and moving chronicle covers some of the most important battles of the Civil War -- Sharpsburg (Antietam), Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville -- through the stories of the two brigades who confronted each other on the bloody fields of battle.
Drawing on original source material, Jeffry Wert reconstructs the drama and terrors of war through the eyes of the ordinary men who became members of two of the most respected fighting units of their respective armies, the Stonewall Brigade of the Confederacy and the Iron Brigade of the Union. There are tales of grueling marches and almost unbearable deprivations; eyewitness accounts of ferocious fighting and devastating losses on both sides; and portraits of acts of courage and valor performed by soldiers and officers who, despite the difficulties they faced, remained dedicated to the cause for which they were fighting.
Drawing on original source material, Jeffry Wert reconstructs the drama and terrors of war through the eyes of the ordinary men who became members of two of the most respected fighting units of their respective armies, the Stonewall Brigade of the Confederacy and the Iron Brigade of the Union. There are tales of grueling marches and almost unbearable deprivations; eyewitness accounts of ferocious fighting and devastating losses on both sides; and portraits of acts of courage and valor performed by soldiers and officers who, despite the difficulties they faced, remained dedicated to the cause for which they were fighting.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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108 people want to read
About the author
Jeffry D. Wert
17 books37 followersAmerican historian and author specializing in the American Civil War. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Lock Haven University, and a M.A. from The Pennsylvania State University, both in History. He worked for many years as a history teacher at Penns Valley Area High School in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 7, 2022
A Brotherhood of Valor
Initially I found it difficult to get into the specificity offered in this offering of a dual brigade history. However, once I adjusted to the rhythms of such a presentation I found the narrative to be quite fascinating. The book follows the two brigades (the Stonewall Brigade and the Iron Brigade) from their recruitment to their return to their respective homes. Utilizing a great number of primary sources (many excerpts from letters home), the book reminds us of the horrors of combat and of the hardships of a soldiers life in the mid 19th century.
Initially I found it difficult to get into the specificity offered in this offering of a dual brigade history. However, once I adjusted to the rhythms of such a presentation I found the narrative to be quite fascinating. The book follows the two brigades (the Stonewall Brigade and the Iron Brigade) from their recruitment to their return to their respective homes. Utilizing a great number of primary sources (many excerpts from letters home), the book reminds us of the horrors of combat and of the hardships of a soldiers life in the mid 19th century.
December 27, 2023
An intimate look at the horrors of the Civil War from the common soldier.
June 25, 2010
EXCELLENT! I started reading this actually as a management and leadership book. This past spring while standing along Willoughby Run at Gettysburg my friend
Christina was talking about the Iron Brigade, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the 1st Corp...those "damned Black Hats" as the Confederates referred to them. I knew some about the Iron Brigade already, but walking back up from Willoughby Run through Hebst Woods and seeing the monument to the 24th Michigan come into view I wanted to know more. Why were these randomly assembled men from Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana so much more successful than any other group of soldiers in the Union Army?
I stumbled onto Jeffry Wert's book and it's contrasting coverage of the Iron Brigade with the brigade in the eastern Confederate army with an equal reputation seemed like the perfect study. It's no real mystery why the Stonewall Brigade was so successful. Their flamboyant and hard driving leader, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, asked more of men than they thought themselves capable and he brought them success and self confidence. His hard driving marches that made a mockery of Nathaniel Banks' Union army in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 weeded out all but the most dedicated and hard driving soldiers from his ranks and their continued success brought increased confidence.
The Iron Brigade in contrast had no flamboyant leader. It's no doubt that their second leader, General John Gibbon, made them into an army. His constant drill and instruction made these common farmers and clerks from the middle west into a well oiled fighting machine, but Gibbon wasn't charismatic or even that well liked at the time and it gets more complicated to understand why the men of the Iron Brigade were so feared and so brave. Wert makes no assumptions. He lays out the story and lets the reader decide for themselves. The writing is crisp and clear. There are no villains or heroes, just a balanced and well told story.
The story ends in a sad but not surprising way. These brave and honorable soldiers, the heroes of so many battlefields, end up suffering the same fate. They basically ran themselves to death. Both brigades started in 1861 with nearly 4,000 men and by the summer of 1864 they were each down to just over 150. The Stonewall Brigade was so beaten up that during the summer of 1864 it was disbanded and its members incorporated into other units. The Iron Brigade suffered the same fate just five months later.
Well written and evenly told. A fine contribution to Civil War scholarship and an interesting study in leadership, motivation and management!!
May 15, 2015
I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and went to school with people who were either descended from or related to men who served in the Stonewall Brigade. I knew about how they mustered at Harper's Ferry in the early days of the Civil War and all about their first commander Stonewall Jackson. Every student of Virginia history knows about Stonewall's Foot Cavalry and their quick marches covering great distances in a short amount of time. I learned about Jackson's death at Chancellorsville and the end of the Brigade at the Battle of Spotsylvania. The unit went from approximately three thousand strong to the one hundred and ten who were there at Appomattox.
I also knew about the desertions. They were sometimes fighting near their homes and it was easy to slip away to familiar places where they could not be found. Many of these deserters went on 'French Leave' which was a nice way of saying they went home for a time to tend to grave matters on the farm and then returned and others deserted only to be found serving in other Units such as the Cavalry.
I had only a cursory knowledge of their Union counterpart The Iron Brigade. They were referred to as "Those Damn Black Hats". It wasn't until I saw the movie Gettysburg that I decided to find out more.
They were an impressive lot hailing from Wisconsin and Michigan which was then the Western Frontier. Their attitude and their wearing of the Black Hardee Hats set them apart from the other fighting Units. They were disciplined and they were committed to the "Righteous Cause' of the Union. Their fighting spirit was tested the most at Gettysburg and like the Stonewall Brigade went on to suffer an enormous losses.
Iron met Stone for the first time at the Battle of Second Manassas during the engagement at Brawners Farm. The intense hot fighting lasted for hours as both sides fought fiercely and neither side would give in. It ended in a stalemate. The two would meet in battle twice more.
Wert tells their parallel stories well and his descriptions of the battles makes me wonder how Rufus Dawes who was in the thick of every fight (including Antietam and Gettysburg) managed to come out of it alive. The same might be asked about Sgt. John Francis Brooke who enlisted in 1861 at Harper's Ferry and who was there to witness the surrender at Appomattox. Dawes became the father of a U.S. Vice President and Brooke lived until 1942, the last survivor of the Stonewall Brigade.
For me the book covered old ground with the Stonewall Brigade. There was very little in it that was new to me but I was finally able to learn more about 'Those Damn Black Hats' and I was impressed.
I also knew about the desertions. They were sometimes fighting near their homes and it was easy to slip away to familiar places where they could not be found. Many of these deserters went on 'French Leave' which was a nice way of saying they went home for a time to tend to grave matters on the farm and then returned and others deserted only to be found serving in other Units such as the Cavalry.
I had only a cursory knowledge of their Union counterpart The Iron Brigade. They were referred to as "Those Damn Black Hats". It wasn't until I saw the movie Gettysburg that I decided to find out more.
They were an impressive lot hailing from Wisconsin and Michigan which was then the Western Frontier. Their attitude and their wearing of the Black Hardee Hats set them apart from the other fighting Units. They were disciplined and they were committed to the "Righteous Cause' of the Union. Their fighting spirit was tested the most at Gettysburg and like the Stonewall Brigade went on to suffer an enormous losses.
Iron met Stone for the first time at the Battle of Second Manassas during the engagement at Brawners Farm. The intense hot fighting lasted for hours as both sides fought fiercely and neither side would give in. It ended in a stalemate. The two would meet in battle twice more.
Wert tells their parallel stories well and his descriptions of the battles makes me wonder how Rufus Dawes who was in the thick of every fight (including Antietam and Gettysburg) managed to come out of it alive. The same might be asked about Sgt. John Francis Brooke who enlisted in 1861 at Harper's Ferry and who was there to witness the surrender at Appomattox. Dawes became the father of a U.S. Vice President and Brooke lived until 1942, the last survivor of the Stonewall Brigade.
For me the book covered old ground with the Stonewall Brigade. There was very little in it that was new to me but I was finally able to learn more about 'Those Damn Black Hats' and I was impressed.
February 19, 2010
There are a small number of brigades in the Civil War that earned a towering reputation because of their valor. Two of these are reviewed in this book: The Iron Brigade ("The Black Hats") of the Army of the Potomac and the Stonewall Brigade of the (in the end) Army of Northern Virginia. This volume does a nice job of indicating why these two brigades so justly earned their accolades.
It is also something of an irony that the first major action of the Iron Brigade (although not yet so named) came when it faced off against the Stonewall Brigade in the forerunner to Second Manassas--at Brawner's Farm or Groveton (take your choice as to the name of the battle). The two brigades, with other troops also being engaged, slugged it out. The veteran Stonewall Brigade versus the fairly untested Iron Brigade. In the end, both demonstrated their brotherhood of valor in this engagement.
The book describes the histories of the two brigades until they essentially lost their character and integrity. The Iron Brigade earned its name during the fight at the South Mountain pass before Antietam. It was destroyed as an elite fighting force at Gettysburg, as it fought itself out on the First Day, staving off the ultimate Confederate attack. It provided value during the rest of the battle and continued as an entity in the Army of the Potomac after that, but its legendary hitting power largely ended there.
Just so, the Stonewall Brigade (and Division) lost its integrity at the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania.
Nonetheless, despite the damage done to these two units during the war, both well earned the honors given to them. This book does justice to both units and ought to be read by those interested in brigade level histories.
It is also something of an irony that the first major action of the Iron Brigade (although not yet so named) came when it faced off against the Stonewall Brigade in the forerunner to Second Manassas--at Brawner's Farm or Groveton (take your choice as to the name of the battle). The two brigades, with other troops also being engaged, slugged it out. The veteran Stonewall Brigade versus the fairly untested Iron Brigade. In the end, both demonstrated their brotherhood of valor in this engagement.
The book describes the histories of the two brigades until they essentially lost their character and integrity. The Iron Brigade earned its name during the fight at the South Mountain pass before Antietam. It was destroyed as an elite fighting force at Gettysburg, as it fought itself out on the First Day, staving off the ultimate Confederate attack. It provided value during the rest of the battle and continued as an entity in the Army of the Potomac after that, but its legendary hitting power largely ended there.
Just so, the Stonewall Brigade (and Division) lost its integrity at the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania.
Nonetheless, despite the damage done to these two units during the war, both well earned the honors given to them. This book does justice to both units and ought to be read by those interested in brigade level histories.
February 11, 2011
There are a small number of brigades in the Civil War that earned a towering reputation because of their valor. Two of these are reviewed in this book: The Iron Brigade ("The Black Hats") of the Army of the Potomac and the Stonewall Brigade of the (in the end) Army of Northern Virginia. This volume does a nice job of indicating why these two brigades so justly earned their accolades.
It is also something of an irony that the first major action of the Iron Brigade (although not yet so named) came when it faced off against the Stonewall Brigade in the forerunner to Second Manassas--at Brawner's Farm or Groveton (take your choice as to the name of the battle). The two brigades, with other troops also being engaged, slugged it out. The veteran Stonewall Brigade versus the fairly untested Iron Brigade. In the end, both demonstrated their brotherhood of valor in this engagement.
The book describes the histories of the two brigades until they essentially lost their character and integrity. The Iron Brigade earned its name during the fight at the South Mountain pass before Antietam. It was destroyed as an elite fighting force at Gettysburg, as it fought itself out on the First Day, staving off the ultimate Confederate attack. It provided value during the rest of the battle and continued as an entity in the Army of the Potomac after that, but its legendary hitting power largely ended there.
Just so, the Stonewall Brigade (and Division) lost its integrity at the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania.
Nonetheless, despite the damage done to these two units during the war, both well earned the honors given to them. This book does justice to both units and ought to be read by those interested in brigade level histories.
It is also something of an irony that the first major action of the Iron Brigade (although not yet so named) came when it faced off against the Stonewall Brigade in the forerunner to Second Manassas--at Brawner's Farm or Groveton (take your choice as to the name of the battle). The two brigades, with other troops also being engaged, slugged it out. The veteran Stonewall Brigade versus the fairly untested Iron Brigade. In the end, both demonstrated their brotherhood of valor in this engagement.
The book describes the histories of the two brigades until they essentially lost their character and integrity. The Iron Brigade earned its name during the fight at the South Mountain pass before Antietam. It was destroyed as an elite fighting force at Gettysburg, as it fought itself out on the First Day, staving off the ultimate Confederate attack. It provided value during the rest of the battle and continued as an entity in the Army of the Potomac after that, but its legendary hitting power largely ended there.
Just so, the Stonewall Brigade (and Division) lost its integrity at the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania.
Nonetheless, despite the damage done to these two units during the war, both well earned the honors given to them. This book does justice to both units and ought to be read by those interested in brigade level histories.
January 27, 2013
I liked the concept of this book, 2 elite brigades of Union and Confeds through the first 75% of the war, all composed of volunteers. The face-to-face episodes between the brigades seem to be more than coincidental, where both sides threw their "shock" troops ahead of the rest of the regiments, etc. While the Stonewall Brigade has so much material about them, it's not the case with the Iron Brigade, and it was interesting to read about the Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan "Far Westerners", and how they had a differen mindset, attitudes and what type of leadership they responded to when compared to the New England, New York and Pennsylvania infrantrymen.
July 17, 2016
This was a very interesting book that details two storied Civil War brigades: The Stonewall Brigade of the C.S.A. and the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac.
The book is very straightforward military history, and there are a lot of names and divisions to wade through which at times was confusing and tedious.
The book gets far better when it reaches the campaigns that both brigades fought, Antietam, and Gettysburg are riveting.
The book is very straightforward military history, and there are a lot of names and divisions to wade through which at times was confusing and tedious.
The book gets far better when it reaches the campaigns that both brigades fought, Antietam, and Gettysburg are riveting.
February 4, 2009
I was looking for a book to understand more about Stonewall Jackson and the Stonewall Brigade that gave him his name. This book does the job. What I was not expecting was that their story would be paired with that of the Iron Brigade of Wisconsin, immeasurably enriching the understanding that the battles of valor took on both sides.
August 30, 2010
A good, clear account of these two brigades, one North and one South. I was surprised by the very high rate of desertion in the Stonewall Brigade. The war totally destroyed both of these units and by mid-1864 they were essentially non-existant.
I was very disappointed in the few rather uninforming maps!
I was very disappointed in the few rather uninforming maps!
December 3, 2022
Good joint history of these two brigades (although personally I wasn't completely convinced the brigades had enough in common for a joint book). The only real criticism I have of the book is about the coverage of the Stonewall Brigade after Spotsylvania; the author gives minimal information about the brigade's activities during the last year of the war.
April 13, 2014
Loved it! Great contrasts and comparisons. In actuality, the men from both brigades were soldiers fighting for what they believed in with each missing their homes and loved ones. Were they really so different? Read the book and find out. I loved it!
September 27, 2008
civil war
long
long
January 15, 2013
A must read for any civil war buff or anyone who wants to get a glimpse what it was like to be with two of the most feared and courageous brigades of the civil war.
November 17, 2014
Just couldn't get into it. Didn't seem like anything new, except for the surprising number of desertions in the Stonewall Brigade.
August 8, 2022
Enjoyable book. Good look at the war from brigade perspective.
November 16, 2014
Just not my cup of tea
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews