Review Excerpts (so far): The Fight For the Old North State

The Fight For the Old North State has garnered several reviews since its publication earlier this year. For those who don't obsessively follow this blog or my Twitter and Facebook feeds (i.e., pretty much everyone), I've consolidated the excerpts below:  

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"Readers appreciative of the high-level research and narrative interpretation skills displayed in Newsome's earlier military study Richmond Must Fall will find the same qualities here . . . In a narrative that details battlefield events and analyzes their military, political, and social contexts in equal measure, The Fight for the Old North State is an excellent history of an understudied late-war offensive that was a rare (though qualified) Confederate success. While racial and political violence were certainly not new to 1864, Newsome's account of the campaign also usefully portrays it as a clear, early demonstration that the coming year's increasingly frequent confrontations between the most volatile combinations of battlefield combatants would be characterized by rising levels of lethal violence. Highly recommended." - Civil War Books and Authors blog

  "... meticulously researched and confidently written new monograph .... [Newsome] places the campaign's military component within a larger political and social context, and he provides astute analytical insights in both his own words and those of contemporaries." - America's Civil War

"... a detailed, fact-filled journey through joint land and water operations by the Federals and Confederates in their struggle for North Carolina during the early part of 1864 ... the social and political climate is expertly relayed ... Hampton Newsome's recommended book tells the chain of events - the highs and lows, the bumbling and the courageous, from January to May, 1864 in the Old North State. It's all here." - Joan Wenner, Civil War News

"Finally, I was able to finish Hampton Newsome's The Fight for the Old North State and oh my, what a terrific book! There is nothing to dislike about this book. It is the most comprehensive thing written on North Carolina during the first half of 1864. Well-researched, well-written, balanced, and well-illustrated, if this book doesn't win some awards, people simply aren't paying attention. The Conclusion alone is the best summary of the topic one could hope to read. It includes the most detailed coverage of the Battle of Plymouth that you will find anywhere. Newsome's understanding of what was going on in North Carolina during this time is second to none and I encourage ANYONE interested in the Civil War, or even simply North Carolina history, to read this book. It will ultimately give you a better understanding of the time."  - Civil War Navy, the History Profession, and Other Historical Musings blog

 

New Book Review in America's Civil War

A great review of The Fight for the Old North State in the November 2019 issue of America's Civil War. The full review is here (scroll down to the 3rd review).  Here is an excerpt:

"... meticulously researched and confidently written new monograph .... [Newsome] places the campaign's military component within a larger political and social context, and he provides astute analytical insights in both his own words and those of contemporaries." - Gordon Berg in America's Civil War

Copies still available!

Current Speaking Schedule

Here is my speaking schedule into next year - happy to add more!

Civil War Talk Radio - October 16, 2019
Petersburg Civil War Roundtable - November 7, 2019
New Bern Historical Society -  January 19, 2020
Wilmington (Delaware) Civil War Roundtable - May 6, 2020
Raleigh Civil War Roundtable - May 11, 2020
Seattle Civil War Roundtable - Fall 2020

 

Mary Phinney, Morehead City, and The Fight for the Old North State

 

Mary Phinney von Olnhausen, a Massachusetts native, was a Union nurse during the Civil War who served at the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria in 1862, the setting of the PBS series "Mercy Street." She was one of the show's principal characters, played by actor Mary Elizabeth Winstead. After duty in Alexandria, Phinney sailed south in late 1863 to work at the Mansfield Hospital in Morehead City, North Carolina, where she remained until the war's end. Phinney's reminiscences, diaries, and correspondence chronicling her experiences appeared in a 1908 book titled Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars. 

Phinney's clear descriptions and unvarnished opinions open a distinctive window into the events of the time, providing views not found in military reports and correspondence. I found her writing particularly valuable for my book, The Fight for the Old North State (Univ. Press of Kansas, 2019) - especially her impressions of the Confederate offensive against New Bern led by George Pickett in early February 1864.

In commenting on the Union loss at Newport Barracks south of New Bern on February 2, she pointed to the quality of troops defending the position, particularly members of the 9th Vermont. She believed the Vermonters’ lack of grit and experience had doomed the position. “Had I really believed the Ninth and Cavalry made a good stand and had really lost many men,” she wrote, “I might have felt different; but as they once passed six months in Chicago as paroled prisoners, and Harper’s Ferry was all the fight they ever were in, I believed they would skedaddle ingloriously, as I believe they did.”

Morehead City early in the war (Frank Leslie's Illustrated)

In the days following the fall of Newport Barracks, concern rose that the rebels would descend on Morehead City. The garrison was on edge. “A scurrying time you never saw,” wrote Phinney. Men rapidly loaded the regimental and company stores onto boats and others, including civilians, rushed to the town's defenses. Everything “seemed to be thought of except the patients,” she observed. In addition, anxious black refugees streamed in from the countryside fearing re-enslavement should the Confederates seize control of the region. According the Phinney, a firm abolitionist, "they came by hundreds, such frightened beings, leaving everything except their children behind them.” After packing her own bags, she ventured out to the defenses. By her estimate, three hundred men gathered to repulse the expected attack behind hastily constructed trenches. The attack never occurred though and Phinney would remain at Morehead City, eventually witnessing Sherman's advance into North Carolina the next year. 

Duppstadt's Civil War Navy Blog: Review of The Fight for the Old North State

A new write-up of The Fight for the Old North State, this time from Andrew Duppstadt's blog: Civil War Navy, the History Profession, and Other Historical Musings. With Mr. Duppstadt's permission, I've included his remarks in full here:

"Finally, I was able to finish Hampton Newsome's The Fight for the Old North State and oh my, what a terrific book! There is nothing to dislike about this book. It is the most comprehensive thing written on North Carolina during the first half of 1864. Well-researched, well-written, balanced, and well-illustrated, if this book doesn't win some awards, people simply aren't paying attention. The Conclusion alone is the best summary of the topic one could hope to read. It includes the most detailed coverage of the Battle of Plymouth that you will find anywhere. Newsome's understanding of what was going on in North Carolina during this time is second to none and I encourage ANYONE interested in the Civil War, or even simply North Carolina history, to read this book. It will ultimately give you a better understanding of the time."  - Civil War Navy, the History Profession, and Other Historical Musings blog