Lincoln's Spies

[L Verge]

Finally finished the 450-page book and really liked it -- and developed an even deeper disdain for McClellan, Lafe Baker, and Pinkerton. I was not reading trying to find errors, but cringed a bit when the author discussed the planned escape from Point Lookout Prison Camp for Confederates and claimed that it was at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula. Marylanders compete with Virginians all the time, and I'm almost tempted to write and tell the editor that the prison site still remains and is at the tip of the Southern Maryland Peninsula!

One thing I do want to share is something that you seldom see in any CW book, especially ones on military campaigns. Most of us are familiar with the early-1865 raids on Virginia's Shenandoah Valley by Gen. Philip Sheridan under the orders of Grant and Lincoln. The intent was to destroy the Confederacy's "bread basket." And Sheridan did a fine job of it (say I with teeth gritted).

You seldom see a detailed listing of what was the reported damage, but the author gives it on page 368: "...seventy mills burned and 2,000 barns...seized or destroyed 435,800 bushels of wheat, 3,800 horses, 10,900 cows, 12,000 sheep, 77,000 bushels of corn, 12,000 pounds of bacon, and 20,400 tons of hay." The Union invaders also destroyed the forces of Gen. Jubal Early, CSA.

Black Flag Warfare is not nice...