Being there . . . . for two splendidly narrated new McFarland Publishing Civil War books whose
vivid lucidity will bring you up front and close to battle and involved biography as any written
thus far this century. As in all good books of strong feelings for the men from privates to
Presidents Abe Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, readers, those unafraid to weep with the turn of
every page, or the casual desiring to know how it happened and what it was all about, will be
enthralled with “The Men of the 16 th Massachusetts – – A Civil War Roster and History”, by Alden
C. Elli, Jr., and “Northern Duty, Southern Heart – – George Proctor Kane’s Civil War”, by H. Leon
Greene. Between the two literary achievements, the serious buff or casual, precarious reader
will realize sweeping syntheses of years of American death and destruction via feelings for
characters and tragic situations without losing a syllable or even letter of recorded factual truth.
In short, dear reader, in each of these McFarland’s you are privy to the kind of history written in
the 1870’s, more than 2 ½ centuries ago.
TWO SUPERB, POWERFUL NEW CIVIL WAR BOOKS DEMAND READERS PUT THEMSELVES
SQUARELY AND EMOTIONALLY IN THE CORE OF CARNAGE AS AMERICAN BOYS ARE ORDERED
TO KILL EACH OTHER
Reviewed and highly, highly recommended by Don DeNevi
“THE MEN OF THE 16 th MASSACHUSETTS – – A Civil War Roster and History”, by Alden C. Ellis, Jr.
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers: 2023, 323 pages, 7” x 10”, softcover; $49.95. Visit,
www.mcfarlandpub.com.
“NORTHERN DUTY, SOUTHERN HEART – – George Proctor Kane’s Civil War”, by H. Leon Greene.
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers: 2023: 291 pages, 7” x 10”, softcover; $45. Visit,
www.mcfarlandpub.com.
Puzzling, the 16 th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was one of a few of the state’s regiments
whose history was not recorded but from 1861 to 1864, although being deeply embroiled in the
operations of the Army of the Potomac. Yet, it suffered badly from a lack of skilled leadership
and later from horrific living conditions, and tragically from heavy casualties.
Of more than 1,300 men, 112 were killed in fierce hand-to-hand battle, some 360 were
wounded, and 52 died from their wounds. Dreaded diseases in all forms claimed 115 and 65
were taken as prisoners of war, 32 dying mostly from malnutrition in Confederate prisons.
Another 344 went home afflicted with wounds or disease as disability discharges.
Who would want to write the history of such a dismal, sadly unfortunate bunch of sincere
volunteers who through no fault of their own were undoubtedly untrained, out weaponed,
underfed, and outnumbered, as so many other volunteer regiments? Loyal Alden C. Ellis, Jr., of
Medway, Massachusetts,
