More Lives of Union Regimental Commanders

This, the latest volume in Hunt’s excellent series profiling Union colonels, covers men who commanded regiments from the Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Washington who were neither promoted nor breveted to general, or whose regiments were subsequently redesignated as parts of the U.S. Colored Troops.

In his introduction, Hunt offers some background and explains how each officer’s information is presented. Thereafter, each chapter covers one state or territory, which opens with a short list of its regiments and their commanders. Then we get short profiles of each colonel, varying in length based on available sources; many of these men left virtually no paper trail. Hunt almost always provides an image of each man, some personal details, notes on his war service, and references. Longer profiles often include information about wounds, observations on the officer’s abilities, information on his education, previous military experience, residence, civilian occupation, marital status, and more.

Very often Hunt’s profiles are the only biographical treatments available for most of these officers, making Colonels in Blue: Missouri & the Western States & Territories, and the entire series, invaluable for serious students of the war, as well as often amusing reading for the casual historian and a gold mine for genealogical researchers.

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Note: Colonels in Blue: Missouri & the Western States & Territories is also available in several e-editions.

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