Jeff Shaara, A Chain of Thunder: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg (2013) — a Mini Book Review — and a Comment Regarding the Story’s Arguable Relevance, Even Today

11 August 2015

A worthwhile read

Jeff Shaara’s writing in A Chain of Thunder: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg (2013) does not equal his father’s talented flow in The Killer Angels (1974). Yet in significant respects Jeff’s book is arguably historically and informatively superior.

I was impressed with the range and depth of the historical research that went into Chain and with Jeff Shaara’s attempt to capture the flavor of the war in both military and civilian aspects:

I am not an academic historian.

This is a novel . . . and even if a character is well known historically, the point of view has to be described as fictitious. My research has always focused on a study of original source materials . . . . Often, when it fits with the flow of the story, I quote their words verbatim. But in every case, their experiences and the events from the historical record are as accurate as I can portray them.

Historical importance

A Chain of Thunder memorably takes us to a mostly unrecognized key siege in the Civil War:

In sheer numbers of men and equipment, the loss of the garrison at Vicksburg is unmatched by any other campaign of the war.

The 1986 edition of the United States Army’s Field Manual on Operations describes Grant’s campaign thus:

“His operations south of Vicksburg fought in the spring of 1863 has been called the most brilliant campaign ever fought on American soil It exemplifies the qualities of a well-conceived, violently execute offensive plan. The same speed, surprise, maneuver and decisive action will be required in the campaigns of the future.”

One mild negative — debatable overemphasis of the neuroses of two prominent characters

Confederate (Vicksburg) commander, John C. Pemberton is incessantly offended by insubordination displayed by those around him — allegedly due to his Pennsylvania origin — and equally plagued by almost unbelievable levels of his own vacuous indecisiveness.

And William T. Sherman is constantly insecure and irremediably abrasive. I doubt that U.S. Grant would have tolerated his perennially implied criticism to the degree that Shaara depicts.

We quickly understand these character traits and Shaara’s repetitiveness regarding them is (debatably) distracting. Of course, this emphasis may have been his point. That glory or lack thereof does not primarily depend upon our freedom from asinine internal tumult. And second that — in wanting to be historically accurate — he was not free to invent or modify character traits that were not present in the historical record.

Samples of Shaara’s story-telling excellence

The following excerpt may be too graphic for some, but it is part of a masterful glimpse into a Civil War field hospital:

She held the boy down, couldn’t avoid his blood on her hands. Already her apron was soaked through to her dress, the sticky dampness oozing through everything she was searing.

“Here! Harder!”

The doctor grabbed her hand, pressed it on the boy’s chest, a thick pool of soft goo that spread up through her fingers.

“Hold it there . . . tight. Stand up . . . lean over him. More pressure.”

She obeyed, stood upright, bent out over the boy, her weight pushing down, the doctor now moving to the boy’s head, removing a thick bloody bandage.

“Oh Lord.”

The doctor stood straight across the table from her and shook his head.

“No, missy. Let it be. The wound’s taken too much of his brain . . . behind the neck. He’s done.”

She felt a rush of panic, could feel the boy’s heart beating through the mush in his chest.

“No! He’s alive.”

The doctor wiped his hands on a rag, was already moving toward the next man, another table close by. She was furious now and shouted. “No! Come back! You can save him!”

He turned to her, and she saw the calm, the exhaustion, his strength overpowering her will, draining away her fury. He held out the rag and said, “Missy, we tried to stop the bleeding. It might have saved him. But the head wound is too severe. I can’t explain this to you again.”

Regarding combat — Union private Bauer:

He had seen men die, of course, a great many men, especially at Shiloh. Even the men in blue were mostly nameless strangers, and you learned to step over them, didn’t see faces as much as you listened for voices, the wounded who might still need help. The dead were . . . dead, nothing anyone could do for them, and so Bauer had learned to move past the corpses with the callousness of an undertaker. Even the smells had become routine, made more tolerable once you knew just what they smells were, what happened to a man who lay in the soil for more than a couple days.

There are at least two unusually memorable scenes in this book

One describes private Bauer’s participation in a hopeless assault up the earthworks against a rebel held position. The other shows the deadly snipers’ games that took place between selected sharpshooters on both sides after that assault failed.

I will not quote from these. Their entireties are worth the price of the book.

Privation

Shaara effortlessly depicts the suffering and starvation that eventually affected Confederate troops and Vicksburg area citizens.

Especially impressive is the author’s recounting of how people flooded toward natural and manmade caves to escape artillery shelling. They lived in these, increasingly filthy and malnourished — some eventually having to cook rats for food.

Slavery

Shaara injects the issue of slavery into the story, primarily with haunting vignettes of two old men who are still in forced service. These, too, are worth the price of the book.

One revealing additional scene tells of the deaths of many slaves after white soldiers had been withdrawn from a section of the Vicksburg earthworks, which Confederates thought Union miners had mined with tunnel-delivered bombs. It is a poignant glimpse into the evil of devaluing lives, done with just one or two sentences.

The story’s relevance today

A Chain of Thunder has merit for:

(i) “wannabe” strategists and tacticians

and

(ii) those who need a clue as to how war, even today, affects civilian populations and trapped and targeted troops.

Shaara’s maps, though not as plentiful as they ideally might have been, provide military thinkers with an opportunity to consider:

(a) what they would have done — both with regard to troop movements and supporting logistics — under similar circumstances, given the geography and terrain

and

(b) whether they would have had the command courage — given the risks of losing whole corps and even armies — to pull their ideas off.

Masterfully portrayed is the commanders’ lack of knowledge as to where and what their own corps and divisions were doing at any one time. Try moving and supplying “your” divisions intelligently under those conditions.

Second, General Pemberton’s probably misguided loyalty to Jefferson Davis’s order to hold Vicksburg shows how we frequently do not get second chances, even under circumstances in which the looming finality of the outcome is not immediately clear.

Hence, Grant’s genius at creating confusion and Confederate general Joe Johnston’s corresponding refusal to sacrifice yet more troops to carrying out President Davis’ order. Sometimes a competent commander, it seems, has to know whom to disobey or (at least) surreptitiously ignore.

On the other hand, A Chain of Thunder makes abundantly clear the harm that happens when chains of command are disregarded in favor of doing whatever one wants.

Today’s military is noticeably tighter in this regard, sometimes for the worse with respect to not refusing to execute profoundly stupid engagements and strategy. The historical contrast in command discipline demonstrates that most qualities and organizational traits have at least two edges, with downsides to both.

Highly recommended

A Chain of Thunder is a memorable and arguably relevant book.

PeteFree.com

Jeff Shaara, A Chain of Thunder: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg (2013) — a Mini Book Review — and a Comment Regarding the Story’s Arguable Relevance, Even Today