The Bloody Crucible of Courage

The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War
by Brent Nosworthy.

Illustrated, maps, notes, index, bibliography, 660 pp., 2003. Carroll and Graf Publishers, 161 William St., 16th Floor, New York, NY, 10038, $35 plus shipping.

Description: The most comprehensive book of its kind, a major revision of our understanding of how the Civil War was fought and how it looked through the eyes of the men fighting it.

Nosworthy has produced a hugely informative work (660 pages) concerning virtually every aspect of combat, arms, tactics, and strategies employed during the Civil War.

Filled with data upon data, and anecdote upon anecdote, The Bloody Crucible of Courage seems like a must have book for any Civil War historian. As the information provided is not just useful to the historian interested in strategy, but also the social historian who might need to know, for example, the “psychology” of tactics, and many other things of interest.

For some research I was doing recently, The Bloody Crucible of Courage came in very useful as I needed to determine, based on casualties, the likelihood that a regiment was caught in an ambush. According to Nosworthy’s research, the average Rate of Casualties was 5 to 1 (wounded to killed) ratio per 400 shots fired, or 1.50% rate.

The rate for an ambush was of course much higher. Using this rate, and comparing it to the number of men involved and casualties, I could deduce that most likely an ambush did not take place as the casualty rate for the regiment, was very close to the 1.50% Nosworthy contends.

Anyway, my one complaint, you have to put this book down often as it is so damn heavy.