Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register (SHADES OF BLUE & GRAY), by Bruce S. Allardice and Lawrence Lee Hewitt, eds

Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 2008. Pp. x, 436. Illus, appends, notes. $44.95. ISBN: 0826218091.

In this workAllardice, author of More Generals in Gray, and Hewitt, author of Port Hudson, Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi, do for Confederate colonels what Ezra Warner did for more senior officers in his classic Generals in Gray. 

Confederate Colonels deals with men who held commissions a colonel in Confederate service who were not subsequently promoted to general. Naturally, given the greater number of men who have to be covered, each entry in Confederate Colonels is less extensive than those in Warner's work. Nevertheless, the editors have managed to cram an impressive amount of material into the nearly 1,600 entries, including outline biographical information, where known, an outline of each man's service, and frequently with anecdotes or other comments on them. Three appendices list men promoted to general, men holding state commissions, and some men of ambiguous status. The introduction provides a useful statistical analysis of the origins and social backgrounds of the men listed, and there is a very helpful section titled "Using the Register."

An essential work for anyone doing detailed research into Confederate military history or genealogy, Confederate Colonels can also be read with profit -- and occasional amusement -- by any student of the Civil War

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