“THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE BATTERY IN THE CIVIL WAR”, by Dennis W. Belcher.McFarland & Company Inc, Publishers: 2022, 389 pages, softcover; $49.95. Visit,wwwmcfarlandpub.com.What a delight “The Last Cavalry Sword”, by C. Anthony Burke, turned out to be! I mighthave known that a man long interested in the development of the very last sword designed by amajor power for its army to use as a weapon, not as an article of a dress uniform, meantmeticulous research and polished, easy-to-grasp technical narration for us uninitiated readers.The sword was the U.S. Model 1913 Cavalry Saber. Guess who the designer was. George S.Patton, then a lowly lieutenant on the staff of the Army Chief of Staff. A one-of a kind book,with a priceless three-page bibliography, it provides an illustrated overview of the history ofcavalry swords and their employment on the battlefield from the end of the Renaissance,through the Napoleonic Era, the Mexican American War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American debacle, each war culminating with the Patton saber. Author Burke enhances hisdescriptions with several of the more famous cavalry charges. Eventually the sabers wereconverted to fighting knives carried by GIs during WW II.The two McFarland titles live up to the publisher’s reputation of providing readers with thebest regimental historians, Liska and Perlotto, available for such unit histories. Here, the CivilWar buff enjoys almost 300 pages, fully illustrated, and, like “The Last Cavalry Sword”, a brilliantbibliography. The Eighth Connecticut was one of the longest-serving Union volunteer regimentsin the Civil War and saw action throughout Eastern Theater, which meant from Burnside’sexpedition in North Carolina to the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, andPetersburg, and campaigns throughout Virginia. Liska and Perlotto, two Connecticut residents,Bill, a retired attorney and Kim, a retire computer scientist, have provided us enthusiasts withan extraordinary gift, the first-ever chronicle of the Eighth’s four years of combat service, withmaps newly created from historical accounts.And, naturally, Dennis W. Belcher provides us with even more excitement by tracking, thenchronicling, beginning in July 1862, how the Chicago Board of Trade went to war. Using itsinfluence to organize perhaps the most prominent Union artillery unit in the Western Theater,the recruited enlistees were all Chicagoans, mainly clerks. The battery was involved in 11 majorbattles, 26 minor battles, 42 actions, and two dozen skirmishes! They held the center at StonesRiver, repulsing a furious attack. They then joined 50 other Union guns in stopping one of themost dramatic offensives of the war in that Western Theater. With Colonel Robert Minty’scavalry, they resisted an overwhelming assault along Chickamauga Creek. Expertly, Dennisdescribes the actions of the Chicago Board of Trade Independent Light Artillery at and duringthe battles of Farmington, Dallas, Noonday Creek, Atlanta, Nashville, and Selma. Often, theteam fought in raids, i.e., among others, that of Kilpatrick’s.Add McFarland to Casemate and readers are invited to immerse in two “horns of plenty”,fine books from the finest Civil War Publishing combo on the American Civil War. Once again,
visit www.casematepublishers.com, and www.mcfarlandpub.com for other choice titles.
