"... an excellent unit history of a renowned regiment... " -- The Civil War News "... American history on a human scale... " -- Kirkus Reviews "The author gives some of the best descriptions of the daily life of a Civil War soldier that can be found anywhere." -- Library Journal "On Many a Bloody Field is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship and painstaking historical research." -- The Bookwatch "... meticulously researched, day-by-day history of Company B, 19th Indiana Infantry Regiment.... [T]he real essence of this book is its detailed attention to the common soldiers.... [A]s a representative of its genre, it probably is without many peers." -- Journal of Southern History On Many a Bloody Field follows one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations -- Company B, 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade, in a vivid account of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Alan Gaff follows the men from recruitment through mustering out, from the tedium of camp to the excitement of battle. A close-up view of the experience of war, told from the soldiers' perspective, often in the words of the men themselves. In this exhaustive study of one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations (Company B, 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade), Gaff (If This Is War, Morningside, 1991) follows Company B from its organization through all the battles in which it participated until Appomattox. The author gives some of the best descriptions of the daily life of a Civil War soldier that can be found anywhere. He expertly portrays camp life, the feelings of soldiers during battle, the handling of deserters, home life as it affected the soldiers, hospitals, prison camps, and politics. His book gives an excellent picture of the common soldier and why he was willing to undergo all of the horrors of war for his beliefs. Recommended for all Civil War collections.?W. Walter Wicker (ret.), Louisiana Tech. Univ., Ruston Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. An immensely affecting evocation of the military experience during the Civil War, which tracks a small band of Union soldiers over the entire course of the belligerency. Drawing on personal papers, archival material, and allied sources, veteran Civil War historian Gaff (Brave Men's Tears, not reviewed) offers a start-to-finish account of those who served in Company B of the 19th Indiana, a regiment that along with other all-volunteer outfits from Michigan and Wisconsin comprised the so- called Iron Brigade. Recruited as the Richmond City Greys shortly after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, the unit went into action in the summer of 1862, at Brawner Farm and the second battle of Bull Run. As an integral part of a storied legion in the Army of the Potomac, it subsequently campaigned (with considerable distinction and appalling losses from disease as well as rebel muskets) at South Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, and Weldon Railroad (a gateway to the South's capital). In addition to providing meticulous reconstructions of the many battles in which the Hoosiers fought, the author recounts how they relieved the tedium of winter camps with bad whiskey, baseball, foraging, and games of chance. Gaff also details the adverse reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation of troops who had rallied around the flag to quell an insurrection, not to free black slaves. Covered as well are the ways in which Washington induced veterans to remain in the ranks once their three-year enlistments were up, the unhappy lot of POWs, the persistent problem of desertion, the political games played by general officers, the paperwork snafus that seem to afflict any military organization larger than a squad, and the informal ceasefires often arranged by Northern and Southern pickets. American history on a human scale, and an estimable close-up contribution to a genre overcrowded with big-picture assessments. (25 photos, five maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. One of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations is brought to life in the pages of On Many A Bloody Field, Alan Gaff's vivid account of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. On Many A Bloody Field follows a small band of volunteers who made up Company B of the 19th Indiana Infantry. They joined with the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin to form the legendary Iron Brigade. With meticulous care, Gaff recounts the experience of war from the soldiers' perspective, often in the words of the men themselves. On Many A Bloody Field is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship and painstaking historical research. -- Midwest Book Review 'Alan Gaff is a master of research. He has a unique feeling of the lives and deaths of common soldiers. His book reflects an unusual intimacy and immediacy. It is a great story, greatly told.'-Alan Nolan, author of The Iron Brigade. ALAN D. GAFF is the author of Brave Men's Tears: The Iro