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Review from the Civil War Monitor

4/13/2016

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From The Civil War Monitor
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LOWRY: Galvanized Virginians in the Indian Wars (2015)
Posted: 4/13/2016
Reviewed By: Angela M. Riotto
Galvanized Virginians in the Indian Wars by Thomas Power Lowry. Idle Winter Press, 2015.  Paper, ISBN:  978-0692550748.  $16.99.     


Working from the late Major Robert E. Denney’s invaluable database of 3,710 Confederate soldiers who joined the United States Volunteers during the Civil War, Dr. Thomas Power Lowry focuses on the wartime experiences of 292 Virginians and their decision to trade their gray for blue (vi). Because these men originally enlisted in the Confederate service before they took an oath to join the Union, their story is very different from other federal soldiers. Lowry finds that the Virginians in the six “galvanized” regiments had little or no community identity and, because of their choice to switch sides, a brass band welcome home was very unlikely. Yet, regardless of their choice to take the Oath of Allegiance, Lowry illustrates that these men were not cowards without conviction or loyalties, but rather hardworking, disciplined men who saw their federal service as a way to escape boredom, starvation, and disease in northern prisons. Just as one coats a steel bucket in zinc to keep it from rusting, these Confederate soldiers coated themselves in Union blue to survive. 

Over 3,000 Confederate prisoners took the Oath of Allegiance to the Union and joined the U.S. Volunteers. Each of these regiments contained men from many different Confederate regiments and many different locales, so to make his analysis more manageable, Lowry concentrates on the 292 Virginians in Denney’s database. He traces these individuals’ struggles against starvation, scurvy, smallpox, and Native American attacks. The Second and Third U.S. Volunteers, mostly recruited from Rock Island prison, contended with Native American attacks, poor roads, inadequate pay, weapons, ammunition, and supplies (76). Members of Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth U.S. Volunteers endured similar issues, as they were all hurried west to subdue Native Americans (81).

Lowry contends that the horrors of imprisonment compelled many Confederate prisoners to abandon their loyalty to the Confederacy and join the enemy. In accordance with the current Civil War prison scholarship, Lowry maintains that neither the Union nor the Confederacy was prepared to house, feed, or clothe the large numbers of prisoners they captured on the battlefield. However, he is careful not to defend prison commanders’ actions, maintaining that authorities on both sides were not willing to alleviate the suffering. Malnutrition, starvation, disease, and death, were especially prevalent in the five prison camps from which most of the “galvanized” Virginians were recruited—Point Lookout, Rock Island, Camp Douglas, Camp Morton, and Camp Alton. Lowry especially emphasizes the prevalence of scurvy and night blindness among prisoners as a result of malnutrition, allocating an entire chapter to the disease and its symptoms.

Building on Michele Tucker Butts’ analysis of the First Regiment in her Galvanized Yankees on the Upper Missouri—The Face of Loyalty, Lowry examines all six regiments of the U.S. Volunteers. Except for the work of Butts and Dorris Alexander Brown’s The Galvanized Yankees (1963), scholars have largely overlooked these regiments. In an attempt to honor these soldiers’ service and tell their story, Lowry focuses on their reasons to join the Union army, the struggles of military prison life, and their frontier experiences (64). By tracing the wartime lives of the Virginians who chose Union service over prison life, Lowry uncovers several trends: they died of disease less often than men still in active Confederate service or in prison and, not surprisingly, they deserted far more often than other Union soldiers. Yet, those who stayed until being mustered out became “veterans of not just the Union or the Confederacy but veterans of a whole new country, a first step in the long and still-continuing struggle against the bitterness of sectionalism” (186). Lowry declares: “they were remarkably loyal to their new allegiance, they earned the respect of the hardened veterans of frontier warfare, and they deserve remembrance” (vi).

Lowry’s investigation of the six “galvanized” regiments brings much-needed attention to those Confederate soldiers who volunteered for Union service in hopes of surviving the war. Perhaps other historians will continue Lowry’s work and analyze the “galvanized” alumni of the remaining Confederate states. Likewise, historians can turn their attention to the Union prisoners who joined Confederate fighting units. The subject of “galvanized” rebels or Yankees is relatively unexplored territory, but thanks to Lowry and Denney’s database, historians can begin to rescue these men from obscurity.

Although Lowry’s book inspires an important conversation about loyalty, cowardice, and suffering, his book has some weaknesses, especially in regards to the most recent historiography. For instance, Lowry states that the most reasonable estimate of Civil War deaths is 600,000 (2). This is an outdated estimate, as J. David Hacker demonstrates in his groundbreaking 2011 Civil War History article, “A Census-Based Count of the Civil War Dead.”[1] Furthermore, although Lowry demonstrates that many of the Virginians remained in Union service until their mustering out, he does not include a discussion of nineteenth-century American concepts of honor and masculinity. These discussions would only strengthen his work; their absence leaves many questions unanswered.

Nonetheless, Lowry offers an enjoyable, thought-provoking story of the 292 “galvanized” Virginians. This book is best for American Civil War enthusiasts who are interested in the uncommon Civil War soldier and prisoner-of-war experience.


Angela M. Riotto is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Akron.   ​

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Review from Wild West Magazine

3/24/2016

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BY HISTORYNET STAFF 
3/24/2016 • WILD WEST MAGAZINE
Galvanized Virginians in the Indian Wars, by Dr. Thomas Power Lowry, Idle Winter Press, Portland, Ore., 2015, $16.99

Among the seemingly infinite accounts from the American Civil War, one that has hitherto escaped public scrutiny is a story its protagonists unlikely recalled with much pride: the tale of captured Confederates who volunteered to escape the boredom and neglect of Union prison camps by wearing Yankee blue in one of six U.S. Volunteer regiments stationed on the Western frontier. Scattered among these units, they manned numerous forts and guarded land and riverine routes against Indian depredations, while U.S. Regulars served in the final battles back East.

Virginian Thomas Power Lowry has continued the research of the late Robert E. Denney into the careers of the 292 known Virginians who went West, among the more than 3,000 other known “Galvanized Yankees” who voluntarily switched uniforms. The result is certainly an impressively reference for anyone with a broad interest in American history, though a Wild West reader might also find its presentation a bit exasperating. Lowry writes primarily for an audience of Civil War buffs, going into great detail on the wartime prison system and describing the Western terrain and climate to an audience intimately familiar with Gettysburg, Pa., and utterly ignorant of the Greasy Grass in Montana Territory.
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He fills many pages before cutting to the chase with what is known of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th U.S. Volunteers and the Virginians who served in their ranks. Nevertheless, those with an interest in the Indian wars should find a lot of new material here, including insights into the malnutrition and disease that constituted a greater menace than enemy fire. The author concludes with the hope his book will encourage colleagues to similarly document the activities of volunteers from the other Confederate states during an oft-overlooked transitional period in the settlement of the Wild West.
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—Jon Guttman

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Peril and Perseverance review from Books and Bassets

7/22/2015

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Review from
Books and Bassets
July 22, 2015

As most of you know, I will be moving to a new school in the Fall, teaching 6th grade in a program for the highly gifted. This is quite a shift from teaching 4th grade at a Title I school, but I am excited about the challenge and adventure this new job presents.

In two weeks, I will go to the first of 3 workshops I need to attend before school begins. Although this will be my first official foray back into middle school I have been thinking about it. As with any grade change, it is important to know what to expect in terms of curriculum, but also in terms of what kids should be able to do.

A friend of mine has a daughter who was in 6th grade last year at Jackson Middle School. She told me throughout the year about the longterm Biomes project her daughter was doing in class. It was complex and multifaceted, culminating in fiction and non-fiction writing. ​
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Her teacher was so impressed with the student’s results, he got in touch with a local publisher and had his students’ work published. Alive and Well. Mostly.  is a collection of the fiction that these 6th graders wrote.

As I read the first story, I laughed, because I could picture the writer. And this feeling continued throughout the book. These are excellent stories, written by 11 and 12 year olds. Their stories reflect their age, but they also reflect a lot of research and editing. The result is an excellent volume that I will add to my classroom library once I get around to setting it up.​

You can find out a little more about it on the publisher’s website. If you have a young person who loves to write, they might enjoy reading this delightful collection, and it might inspire them to write their own stories.
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Lieu review on California Bookwatch

5/5/2015

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Review by D. Donovan
Editor & Senior Reviewer
California Bookwatch

Lieu: Science Fiction Short Stories
Lafcadio Adams, Editor
Idle Winter Press
9780692385029
$16.99
www.idlewinter.com

Lieu gathers nine science fiction short stories and novelettes and narrows the topics to exchange, replacement, upgrade and masquerade - and if this sounds puzzling, initially, that's because the ideas are meant to be both broad enough to include a diverse selection of stories under one cover and unusual enough to rule out the ordinary.

There are big names here, from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Robert Silverberg to Fritz Leiber and Frank Herbert. All were originally published in science fiction magazines in the 1950s, and all approach their topics in very different ways, from adding doses of humor and mystery to creating something that skirts the edge between science fiction and a literary work of another genre entirely.

'The Judas Valley', for example, places the Judas figure in quite a different role when aliens face annihilation and monsters and myths are questioned. 'The Tunnel Under the World' presents a nightmare like none other - and the reality of living in a town built on a tabletop - if, indeed, it is a nightmare and if the town is truly real and not a dream. And 'Old Rambling House' takes a tax accountant out of this world.

The result is a powerful collection of stories which are longer than most, packed with some of the biggest talents in science fiction, and include novelettes which typically don't make it into the more common short story category.

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A Bird-Lover in the West review on California Bookwatch

5/5/2015

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Review by D. Donovan
Editor & Senior Reviewer
California Bookwatch

A Bird-Lover in the West
Olive Thorne Miller
Idle Winter Press
9780692371916
$14.99
www.idlewinter.com

A Bird-Lover in the West reviews the natural history of birds in Ohio, Colorado and Utah; and while the foothills of the Rocky Mountains may not be what a reader might expect from the 'West' (i.e. no California, Oregon or Washington observations), it's a celebration of nature that is designed to capture a sense of place, not provide a definition of either 'the West' or even the bird.

Chapters combine the first person observational attitude of a memoir with the natural history insights of an amateur birder who shares her observations of bird habits and oddities: "After tea, as I was congratulating myself that they were all safely out in the world, without accident, suddenly there arose a terrible outcry, robin and blue jay voices in chorus. I looked over to the scene of the fray, and saw a young jay on the ground, and the parents frantic with anxiety."

Avid birders likely know many of these observations, but it's the reader relatively new to the fine art of birding who will appreciate Miller's celebration of their lives and habits, and who will relish the delicate winding of human and natural history, poetic observation, and natural wonders that comprises her celebration of life.

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Readers' Favorite Review of Shakespeare's Menagerie

4/20/2013

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Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite

"Shakespeare's Menagerie" is a delightful book that is inspired by William Shakespeare's less known phrases about animals. The author uses them as her inspiration for her book of illustration of animals. She searches through Shakespeare’s works that mention animals and gives her own interpretation by drawing them. The question, "What's your dark meaning mouse, of this dark world?", thus leads to the drawing of a mouse with two legs apart and fingers on its mouth. The next phrase is, "It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, and it shows us a seemingly smiling adder, ready to face the world." This phrase is taken from Act II, Scene I of the play "Julius Caesar", and was spoken by Marcus Brutus. All the phrases and illustrations are labeled so that the book also gives us some interesting information about Shakespeare's works.

Laudea Martin is certainly a gifted illustrator and the idea to search through the voluminous works of Shakespeare for any mention of animals as inspiration in her book is simply unique and intriguing. Her book "Shakespeare's Menagerie" is the second book in the 'Shakespeare Paragon series' and it pairs her illustrations with Shakespeare's animals, so to speak. Her illustrations are simple so that there is no distraction to the eye. What comes out is the shape and volume of the animals combined with a texture that is achieved by expertly manipulating the color tone. This is a minimalist approach that is quite successful in driving the point in a straightforward and simple way. This is a book that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. It surely improved my knowledge of Shakespeare's less known phrases and made me aware of the fact that there is more to the minimalist style than meets the eye. A great way to introduce Shakespeare to the kids too!

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Readers' Favorite Review of Shakespeare's Zoo

4/11/2013

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Reviewed by Gail Wickman for Readers' Favorite

Laudea Martin's picture book "Shakespeare's Zoo" illustrates lines from Shakespeare that mention specific animals. The illustrations are created by digitally layering colored textures. The camel, for example, appears to be made of burlap. The robin's back has a woodgrain look. Each page contains a heading giving the source of the quotation -- the work, the line and the character who said it and to whom. This book is a companion to "Shakespeare's Menagerie" and is included in the volume "Shakespeare’s Complete Paragon".

The illustrations are lovely, and the use of the textured layers makes the viewer slow down and really look. Part of the fun, after all, is figuring out where the textures come from. The book also works well as a label book for small children; they will learn the names of the various animals and have their ear tuned to poetry at the same time. The pages don't carry a story arc, however, so older children may not find it as appealing. The headings on the pages cause a couple of problems too. Since they are typographically large, they scream that they are important, yet the information they give is really only useful to people who already know a lot about Shakespeare. There isn't enough information given to provide the context for readers who aren't familiar with the work. Additionally, there is one illustration from "The Rape of Lucrece". I'm not a prude, but I wouldn't want to have to explain "rape" to my four year old.

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Readers' Favorite Review of Shakespeare's Complete Paragon

4/5/2013

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Reviewed by Susanna Bencen for Readers' Favorite

The children’s book "Shakespeare’s Complete Paragon" is exquisitely designed by Laudea Martin to teach many lessons and enchant a wide audience. It shows the relationship between art and text. It also builds appreciation for the paragon of animals. Above all, we can sample and meditate on the meaning behind the Bard’s words. "Shakespeare’s Complete Paragon" is a suggested classroom aid for grade 3 and up. Teachers could use this colorful book to improve writing techniques, such as using similes and metaphors or even using it to discuss the concept of inspiration. They could begin by asking: What can you see in the picture? How does it relate to the text? What was the writer trying to say by using the simile of this animal? Teacher preparation could include having the context of each Shakespearean quote ready to hand, on a kindle for instance, and reading the folk-lore of Shakespeare to gain a better understanding of the symbolism of each animal.

But there are further applications of this wonderful book. Imagine your two-year old wishes you to teach him all the animals for the 100th time. You have pronounced e-le-phant so many times that you wonder if it is really a word or not. Enter "Shakespeare’s Complete Paragon" to stimulate your intellect with classic literary texts and appease your two-year old. This could also be used as a game for adults or those studying Shakespeare. You could show the picture and the text, but hide the Shakespeare play it was sourced from. Whoever guesses the source wins. As you can see, owning this beautifully illustrated book has many benefits. "Shakespeare’s Complete Paragon" definitely deserves a place on your shelf.

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The Voracious Reader Review of Stargazing for Beginners

4/1/2013

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Review of Stargazing for Beginners by Lafcadio Adams on 
The Voracious Reader

My Review:
 This is a great book for star gazers. I have always had a hard time picking out constellations but the diagrams in this book are great. I have the book on kindle now but the paperback is a must. Great to take the kids out in the yard and learn about the stars. A needed book for all shelves. I give this book a 5 star rating.

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Arches Review of Stargazing for Beginners

8/1/2012

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Greg Scheiderer wrote a review of Stargazing for Beginners by Lafcadio Adams in Arches Magazine's Summer 2012 issue:


Stargazing for Beginners:
How to Find Your Way 
Around the Night Sky

It can be tough for beginners to learn the constellations. Standard star charts contain so much information that they are confusing, and even a simple planisphere can be intimidating to people not familiar with the tool. Those who haven't a clue about right ascension or relative magnitude can still learn the stars with this marvelous new guide from Lafcadio Adams.

Adams is a teacher in the Portland, Ore., area, and astronomy is her favorite subject—she has had a scale model of the solar system in her living room "since way back when Pluto was a planet." Adams wrote Stargazing for Beginners as a series of six lessons, each taking a look at a different part of the Northern Hemisphere sky. She recommends taking them in order, as each builds upon the learning of the preceding lesson. Each lesson features numerous clear, simple illustrations and photos that help the reader identify the constellations, using the familiar to point the way to the more obscure nearby.

Adams published the guide as an e-book for practical reasons. She figures a smart-phone or tablet device is easy to haul outside with you on a clear night. Set it on night-vision mode, fire upStargazing for Beginners, and find out what you're looking at. If you're old-school, you can get the PDF version and print it out. The guide is appropriate for most ages, understandable by budding stargazers as young as 7 or 8, but appealing to adults, too.

If you know Boötes or Lepus already you should proceed to a more in-depth sky guide. But beginning stargazers should grab a copy of Adams' book and start looking up.

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