Book of the Week #23

Men of Granite: New Hampshire's Soldiers in the Civil War by Duane E. Shaffer. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2008) Duane E. Shaffer was a library director in New Hampshire for twenty years. He currently lives in Florida and is head of collection development and adult programs for the Sanibel Public Library on the island of Sanibel, Florida. His book tour will be in the Granite State later this month:

• Barnes & Noble - Portsmouth on June 21, 2009 at 1:00 PM
• Madbury Public Library on June 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM
• Rochester Public Library on June 22, 2009 at 6:30 PM
• The Portsmouth Athenaeum on June 25, 2009 at 5:30PM
• Barnes & Noble - Manchester on June 26, 2009 at 7PM

"During the Civil War, some thirty-five thousand New Hampshire Soldiers 'representing approximately 11 percent of the state's population' were dispatched to serve the union in seventeen infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, three artillery batteries, and three companies of sharpshooters and as members of miscellaneous naval and marine units. Duane E. Shaffer tells the story of these forces in Men of Granite, a thorough history of New Hampshire combat troops in the years before and during the Civil War. Focusing on the day-to-day experiences of the common soldier and his reasons for taking up the fight against the Confederacy, Shaffer has mined myriad primary sources to draw together the experiences of all of the state's regiments and units into this single, cohesive narrative. Told in chronological order, Shaffer's narrative follows the experiences of New Hampshire troops, primarily in Virginia and South Carolina. Granite state soldiers were stationed at Hilton Head for much of the war, and they offered vivid accounts of bivouac duty and of inland raids in low country South Carolina. A chapter each is devoted to The Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, a fight that included the largest concentration of New Hampshire soldiers in the war, and the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, in which the Twelfth New Hampshire suffered more casualties than any regiment on either side. Shaffer also details the disaster of the Battle of Fort Wagner in July 1863, in which New Hampshire lost more soldiers than in any other operation." [from mymenofgranite.com]