This week, we feature a new biography of a nearly forgotten Civil War general and an absorbing history of a shipwreck that stunned Britain.
Biography ‘Union General: Samuel Ryan Curtis and Victory in the West’
By William L. Shea
Samuel Ryan Curtis was one of the North’s most successful generals. He never lost a battle and was the victor at several key battles, including Pea Ridge. Late in the Civil War, he commanded Union forces in the Trans-Mississippi, managing to negotiate peace with the Sioux. He was a nationally known civil engineer, and he helped found the Republican Party. As the first biography of Curtis, it thoroughly examines the nearly forgotten Union general—his political, engineering, and military feats….