While not as valuable as the reports of the Secretary during the years of the war (a full set of which we are anxious to secure), they are still very important additions to our collection, as they mark the military history of "Reconstruction."
Report of Major-General J. G. Barnard, Colonel of Engineers United States Army, on the Defences of Washington.
This book is gotton up in beautiful style; illustrated with maps, plans of fortifications, &c., and gives a very interesting description of the origin, progress, and detailed history of the defences of Washington.
There are, of course, some things in it which any intelligent Confederate will detect as mistakes, but it is evidently the work of an able soldier, and is a very valuable contribution to the history of those great campaigns which threatened the capture of Washington. General Barnard falls into the common error of all Federal writers in greatly overestimating the numbers of the several Confederate armies to which he has occasion to allude; but we have come to regard that as almost a necessity with both civilians and soldiers on that side.
This book completely refutes the popular idea of the defenceless condition of Washington at the time of General Early's advance on it in 1864, and shows that he acted with proper prudence in not making a more serious attack upon very formidable works which were defended by a force much larger than his own little army.
From Colonel Wm. Allan, formerly Chief of Ordnance Second Corps Army Northern Virginia, we have received "Chancellorsville," by Major Jed. Hotchkiss and Colonel Wm. Allan. This is a very able and valuable contribution to the history of the Virginia battle-fields. The narrative is clear, accurate and vigorous, and the maps are in every respect admirable. The book is gotten up in the best style of D. Van Nostrand, New York, and should have a place in the library of every military student.
The Battle of Gettysburg. By Samuel P. Bates. Philadelphia: Davis & Co. 1875.
We are indebted to the publishers for a copy of this book, which has received the highest enconiums of Northern military critics, and may be accepted as a standard work on the Federal side. Colonel John P. Nicholson, of Philadelphia, pronounces it "the fullest, fairest, and most accurate" account of the great battle yet published, and others are equally decided in its praise. A book thus
