Al Ovies comes through again with his second volume of “The Boy Generals”.Ovies’ picks up the story of the Cavalry of the Union Army of the Potomac at the end of the Gettysburg Campaign and follows the men and their commanders through the 1864 operations in the Shenandoah Valley. The burgeoning rivalry between George Armstrong Custer and the less well-known Wesley Merritt comes to the fore as each man gains more experience and increases his professional reputation.
While the Custer/Merritt narrative drives the story, Ovies does a masterful job of detailing the role of Union cavalry as the war increased in scale and ferocity. He covers the Confederate retreat from Pennsylvania, the savagery of the Overland Campaign, and the bitter struggle in Valley, as horsemen trained to face their opponents head on dealt with the challenges of irregular warfare against JS Mosby and his partisan rangers.
Ovies explains the movements and clashes of opposing troops with clear prose, impressive detail, and excellent maps. Savas Beatie produced a beautiful volume that does full justice to Ovies’ writing, and the usual high standard readers have come to expect from this publisher. Highly recommended!
