 |
| Hiram Granbury |
Regiments
that were to become part of Granbury’s brigade fought at Fort Donelson,
Arkansas Post, and Vicksburg where they suffered defeat and imprisonment. These initial defeats helped forge a tough
unit that would be part of Confederate victories at Chickamauga and Pickett’s
Mill. The brigade’s last, difficult
service under General John Bell Hood in Georgia and Tennessee is described in
disasters at Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. The description of the actions involving
Granbury’s brigade are assisted by good, easy-to-read battle maps.
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| Patrick Cleburne |
In
spite of their heroics, the brigade and its precursors has a mixed reputation
with early desertions when mounted units were transformed into infantry and,
after the defeat at Franklin, disgraceful behavior against southern citizens.
The
following are some of my favorite items from Granbury’s Texas Brigade:
·
On
April 5, 1864, the Army of Tennessee staged a “sham battle” for the citizens of
Dalton, Georgia – perhaps a first reenactment?
·
The
description of the Union dead at Pickett’s Mill – “I beheld that which I cannot
describe and which I hope never to see again…”
·
Response
to Hood replacing Johnston – “… we hear men openly talk about going home…”
·
At
Nashville – men fashioning shelters in the shape of “old fashioned chicken
coops.”
·
On
April 19, 1865 – Confederates discovered two barrels of apple brandy and
commenced to get “gentlemanly drunk” and all the officers get “dog drunk”
·
Comments
about “The Lost Cause” and the attitudes of Texas Confederate veterans
This
scholarly work certainly adds to the understanding of how and why Granbury’s
Texans fought and died.
Granbury's Texas Brigade has been selected as a History
Book Club offering.
Interview
with Dr. John R. Lundberg
Mesch: Why did you write the book?
Lundberg: The book was a product of my doctoral thesis
at TCU. I wanted to examine some common
themes such as loyalty to the ideals of the Confederacy, desertion, and the
"Lost Cause" by using Granbury's brigade as a case study.
---
Mesch: What do you want the reader to know about the
brigade?
Lundberg: I want readers to understand that these men
were typical of other Confederate units in many respects, but in some ways were
atypical. I want people to get a better
grasp of what these men fought for and their experiences as soldiers.
---
Lundberg: This a little like the chicken and the egg. The
men who would become Granbury's brigade were doing their duty as they
thought. They joined the Confederate
Army for certain reasons including belief in a society based on slavery, supremacy
of the white race, rights of individual states. They were loyal to these ideals
but were also faithful to their leaders and fellow soldiers. Idealism alone is rarely enough to sustain a
soldier.
---
Mesch: You seem to make excuses for the desertion of
brigade members saying that they wanted to fight closer to home. Was that reason for desertion unique to the
brigade?
Lundberg: The reason for desertion was not unique to
this unit. If the soldiers saw an
immediate threat to their home they would leave to defend it. I think that this is an explanation more than
an excuse. They deserted because in
their minds they were doing the right thing.
Inadvertently they were hurting the overall war effort. They were not professional soldiers who
understood military duty and orders. As
volunteers, their loyalty was to their home and protecting it from danger.
---
Mesch: Of the many soldiers and
officers in your book, which one stands out most in your mind?
Lundberg: Hiram Granbury. Granbury was a mysterious and fascinating
man. His life had to be pieced together
from secondary resources. He was
estranged from his father who was a staunch secessionist. Granbury was a
Unionist until the war broke out. His
men were especially loyal to him and chose to designate themselves after the
war as Granbury's Texas Brigade even though Granbury only led them for 10 or 11
months.
---
Mesch: I have taken the phrase "localized
perspective" to mean focusing on how the brigade performed as opposed to
the outcome of the battle. Is this
interpretation correct?
Lundberg: The men understood that the Confederacy was
failing, but they chose to focus on their individual performance. They had good leaders were successful in
performing their battlefield assignments.
They tried to shut out the larger strategy and concentrate on their own
performance. This focus psychologically
shielded them from the bigger, more depressing
picture. They felt that if they
continued to win their individual fights that there was hope for a Confederate
victory. When Granbury and Cleburne were
killed they loss the inspiration for their determination and optimism.
They had nothing that they could hold onto.
---
Mesch: You present some interesting comments about
the post-war feelings of the brigade especially in regard to the "Lost
Cause." Did the "Lost
Cause" and associated attitudes hurt reconstruction/reunification?
Lundberg: After the war, the veterans of the brigade
adhered to the beliefs of the "Lost Cause" - maintenance of slavery,
white supremacy, and positives of a
slave economy. The still thought that
fighting the war was the right thing to do.
They devoted time and effort to change public opinion and keep alive the
ideal of the Confederacy. The "Lost
Cause" hurt reunification. Even
today people are still trying to refight that war because they believe that
what is wrong about society would have been fixed if the South had won the
war. As a historian I am more interested
in why things happened as opposed to those who think about what could have happened
should conditions in 1860 have been maintained.
---
Mesch: What is the attitude of your students about
the Civil War?
Lundberg: For most of them, the Civil War is a"
blank slate." They don't know what
to think about it. Some are ingrained
with aspects of the "Lost Cause" philosophy. I try to make my classes exciting and teach
history as a storyteller.
---
Mesch: What is the topic of your next book and/or
future research?
Lundberg: I am hoping to write a history of the
Confederate Army of Tennessee.
