A Civil General

A Civil General
David Stinebeck and Scannell Gill
Sunstone Press
ISBN: 978-0-86534-663-5
Fiction, Historical Fiction, US Civil War
Reviewed by Chris Gerrib

I’m more then a bit of a history buff, and one of my areas of interest has always been the US Civil War. One of the great but largely unsung generals of that war was George H. Thomas, nicknamed The Rock of Chickamauga. So when the opportunity came up to review a novel about him, I jumped at the chance.

The novel, entitled A Civil General, is the first novel by a husband and wife team of David Stinebeck and Scannell Gill. It draws on a number of sources, including the diary of Captain William Stineback, who served under Thomas. Although technically a novel, narrated by a fictional Indiana Colonel named William Swain, it’s really an overview of Thomas’ career from the Battle of Stones River to his great triumph, the Battle of Nashville. General Thomas was born and raised in Virginia, and offered a command for the South during the Civil War. He was anti-slavery and anti-secession, so he stayed with the Union. Unlike his fellow generals, Thomas didn’t spend much time politicking for advancement, rather he fought. He was a master at defensive fighting, a skill which twice (Stones River and Chickamauga) saved a Union army from destruction. But he was also a good man on the attack, and focused on destroying the enemy with minimal casualties.

Unfortunately, Thomas had a difficult personal relationship with General Grant, which proved costly. Thomas died of a stroke in 1870, and never wrote his memoirs, (not that he would probably have done so anyway) so this allowed him to be overshadowed by other Union officers. But Thomas was greatly beloved of his troops, and ended up getting a memorial built for himself in Washington, DC in 1879. I found A Civil General an interesting and inspiring look at a rather private man. Thomas was unduly overlooked by history, and this book is a step towards righting that wrong. It’s well-written and entertaining, and I encourage readers to pick up a copy. I’m told that the authors are working on additional novels, which I look forward to seeing.