Book Review: "The Smoke at Dawn" by Jeff Shaara

Jeff Shaara is back, and the third of four books on the 'Western' campaign of the American Civil War, takes us deeper into the conflicts that raged (primarily) throughout Tennessee and Georgia whilst most of the press interest both at the time and these days, is and was focused on the Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the various men who commanded the Union Army of the Potomac.

As has been his trademark, Shaara takes us deep into the mind's of some of the major protagonists of the campaign around Chattanooga, Tennessee and Lookout Mountain, going beyond what is written in so many textbooks to present a more humanised view of the great struggle between the Union and the Confederacy. That Shaara has turned his attention to a mostly-forgotten part of the devastating war does great justice to those who fell on battlefields west of the fight being waged in and around Washington, D.C.

Everything from the bickering and political posturing amongst the Confederate generals to Ulysses S. Grant's rise through the ranks of the Union Army to Private Fritz Bauer, the Milwaukee native whose Army career Shaara has traced in both previous books - A Blaze of Glory & A Chain Of Thunder - and his travels from a volunteer regiment to the hardened professional ranks of the United States Army.

We come to understand that Confederate General Braxton Bragg does not seem to trust anyone aside from those on his staff, those who are very close to him, just as we realise, through General William T. Sherman's eyes, that Bragg's rebels, dug in on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, aren't going to easily be shifted. 

The political backdrop, men on both sides using their connections in Washington D.C. or Richmond, to try and advance their cause, or stunt the careers of others, is as fascinating as it is horrifying. You wonder how many months of the war might have been saved, had the men on both sides fought together as a united army, rather than spending half their time trying to undermine superiors or subordinates. Whatever the reasoning for it, Shaara does a great job of describing and portraying the frustration of all those caught up as pawns in a larger political battle.

As always, the battle scenes are brilliant, putting the reader right into the middle of the firing line. At times, it's gut-wrenching and devastating. The final pages of the book make for shocking reading, events occurring within that truly drive home the horror of war, and especially of war between two nations so intertwined for so long. 

Book Four in the series, dealing with Sherman's drive to Atlanta, is only a year away! I can hardly wait already!