American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

<b>Commander of All Lincoln's Armies: A Life of Henry W. Halleck</b>
by John F. Marszalek
Belknap Press 2004

I picked this book up through the History Book Club and was impressed with it. Halleck is one of those slightly shadowy presences in the War. This is a fairly complete biography, not only of the war years, but of his entire life.

I was rather surprised to find out that Halleck had actually left the army in the mid 1850, and that he was one of the leading lawyers in San Francisco (and one of the fathers of the state of California). It gives a good, strong, unflinchling look at both Halleck's strengths, as well as his far more obvious weaknesses. Aside from the fact that the book is a bit short, and thus doesn't deal with some things in the detail I would hope (especially his 1862 feud with Grant), it gives you a very good feel for the man.

Indeed, the primary weakness of the book is found on the last page, where he steps aside from a fair sober assessment of the man, and psychoanalizes him, and says that his failings in the war were the result of his disputes as a boy with his father.

Regardless of his limitations as a general, he truly did earn his nickname "old brains", not only having translated Jomini (which book was not published until 1863 actually), but also having been published on mining, international law, and perhaps most importantly, a detailed study on the Spanish and Mexican Land grants in California.

One interesting note is that in the 1850's, he was the head of a major quicksilver mine near San Jose. The pollution from the mine and smelting plant sound pretty wretched, and Halleck would have been exposed to the mercury fumes.

All in all, it gives a good feel for the man and the era, if it doesn't contain much in the way of military detail.

Seven out of Ten

Brig. General Gary McClellan
1st Division, XXIII Corps
AoO,USA

<i>Wonder what he would think of my native state now!</i>

We'd vote him into office because we want "change" in the wasy things get down in Sacramento and then vote against all of the changes he proposes because we want things to stay the same in Sacramento.





MG(SS) Dave! Bowman
COMCSAANVANV(TAD)
ANV 3rd Corps
"The Swamp Legion"

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