ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250139
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY ROBERT P. HILLDRUP
SUMTER IS AVENGED: The Siege & Reduction of Fort Pulaski. By Herbert M. Schiller. While Mane Publishing. $29.95. ESCAPE FROM LIBBY PRISON. By James Gindlesperger. White Mane Publishing. $24.95.
Between these two new offerings on minor aspects of the Civil War, the book on Fort Pulaski is by far the better. Herbert Schiller, a North Carolina medical doctor and Civil War avocationist, has done a first-class job in describing the Union assault on Fort Pulaski in 1862 that effectively removed Savannah as a Confederate port.
Indeed, it's hard to find any significant fault with Schiller's work. His sketches of the fort's construction and his discussion of the advances in artillery that assured the Union's success are polished and professional. The photographs are most helpful and complement the work well. His notes are appropriate and complete, yet the writing style is interesting and nonpedantic.
James Gindlesperger is another nonprofessional historian, a chemical engineer from Pittsburgh. His problems is an age-old one and reflects what happens when the line between fact and fiction is so muddled that neither good history nor good fiction results.
Libby prison was a famous Richmond destination for captured Yankees. It was a tough place to be (as were all Civil War prisons), and the plots to escape make interesting reading. The author, however, creates so much imagined dialogue that the reader's impressions of the characters are naturally skewed, and the story suffers.
Of the 109 who escaped from Libby in February 1864, 48 reached Union lines. The appendix, which gives biographical sketches of all but two of the escapees, may be the most complete yet assembled and is, ironically, the best part of the book.
Robert P. Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB