“Arma Virumque Cano.” With those words the epic poet Virgil begins The Aeneid as he sings of the achievements of his hero, Aeneas.
The Civil War too had its heroes, of whom many have sung, from Lincoln and Grant to Sherman and Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman. But behind the scenes there were many more heroes who were unsung, who remained in the background and only emerged much much later in the writing of history. Montgomery Meigs, the great Quartermaster; George Sharpe, the founder of modern intelligence gathering; and Gustavus Fox, who made the U.S. Navy a formidable force are among those chronicled in my new book, Civil War Unsung Heroes and Other Key Actors “Behind the Scenes.”
The book also discusses those who were not necessarily heroes as such, but who played key roles nevertheless “behind the scenes.” Charles Francis Adams, Sr. , Ambassador to Great Britain, helped assure that nation’s neutrality. On the other side, Stephen Mallory, Secretary of the Navy for the Confederacy, played a weak hand very skillfully.
The book, the latest in my series, “Civil War Personalities, 50 At a Time,” is available now in paperback and e-book format at:
GENE SCHMIEL, CIVIL WAR HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, AND LECTURER 