Vicksburg: 47 Days of Siege

Those looking for a detailed account of the military affairs and strategy used to capture Vicksburg will not find it here. Rather, Hoehling has compiled published and unpublished first-hand accounts of life during the 47 days Vicksburg lay under siege. Ranging from housewives to soliders on both sides, one gets a good idea of what life was like, from ways to pass the time to what to eat, in and around Vicksburg. Making the work better is a large photo album and a glossary as well as a guide to who was who among the people Hoehling quotes.

This book is a fascinating study on the siege of Vicksburg. The chapters are well defined and easy to read with a closing chapter of photos and documents to give the reader additional understanding of the terrible struggle. The first hand accounts grip you as you begin the book and hold your interest to the very last page. It's about real people who lived through very difficult and all too often, deadly times of war.The only minor setback to this wonderful book is the lack of an index. It does however, give you two pages of data describing those with the book, as well as a glossary for anyone unfamiliar to Civil War terminology.A thought provoking read that's well worth the extra effort of indexing if needed for research.

The book uses a day-by-day approach to the story, quoting and paraphrasing first-hand references--diaries and reports of people on the scene. I found it very readable and interesting. Lots of good info and tidbits. One complaint--and for me a big one--NO INDEX. It should be against the law to publish an historical book like this with no index. This makes it difficult to use as as serious reference work.