Orville Jenkins's Reviews > The Capture of New Orleans, 1862

This historian presents a very readable and informative story of the origins and progress of the Civil War with focus on the critical port of New Orleans and the long-range goal of the Union to capture this city.

He references official records of both governments, official and personal correspondence, city government minutes, newspaper articles and local testimonials to lay out the missteps on both sides, the incompetent leaders, the self-serving approach to positions and titles, misuse of resources and the other disastrous decisions that led to losses on both sides.

Despite the details of the characters, the relationships and the command structures of both the Union and the Confederacy that the author includes in his story, this volume is a very readable story and very enlightening on how disorganized that whole undertaking was.

Sadly revealing and satisfyingly informative and helpful in understanding many social and political currents often ignored in our contemporary simplistic references to the past events that have shaped us as a nation.