The Notorious Isaac Earl and His Scouts: Union Soldiers, Prisoners, Spies, Gordon L.Olson, Eerdmans Publishing, 300 pp., 74 illustrations and maps, bibliographic notes, index 2014, $22.00 (paper),
reviewed by Paul Springer for HNet
Gordon L. Olson served
as the city historian in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for decades, and in
that capacity, he produced several well-received works of local history.
With his most recent work, Olson is tackling
a subject beyond his normal stomping grounds, but he has done an
enormous amount of meticulous research in his effort to examine Isaac
Earl, a Union soldier who earned a notorious reputation in Louisiana
during the Civil War. Earl and his small, independent
command operated as a rudimentary form of special forces, acting
alternately as cavalry regulars, armed partisans, spies, and scouts;
they had an outsized influence over the course of events in the region
during the Union occupation of the southern portion
of the state.
Olson does an admirable job investigating all of the
myriad forms of warfare practiced by these daring pioneers and placing
it into the context of the vicious backcountry war raging through the
area. Earl and the three
dozen men under his command offer a fascinating subject for study; his
story is proof that there are still limitless stories to tell from a
subject, the American Civil War, that some scholars
considered exhausted decades ago. His special scouts unit was formed
primarily to conduct economic warfare against Confederate partisans
operating in the region.
In particular, Earl’s men were empowered to
seize contraband; to eliminate, or at least seriously
curtail, smuggling across the Mississippi River; and to hunt the
bushwhackers guilty of attacks against both Union forces and Southern
collaborators who sought to cooperate with the occupiers. In this
regard, Earl’s forces were remarkably successful, capturing
more than one million dollars in contraband, including nearly
one thousand bales of cotton, as well as dozens of Confederate
prisoners. They also proved extremely effective at developing useful
intelligence regarding Confederate movements in the area and ferreting
out spies within the Union lines. Earl is portrayed as a
larger-than-life Civil War hero, who terrorized his enemies; repeatedly
escaped from captivity; and in the end was gunned down by a cowardly
enemy who refused to follow the basic concepts of chivalry,
or even common decency.
There is a certain degree of sensationalism in
the account, but Olson does an admirable job of parsing the fact from
fiction to portray Olson in a clear and convincing fashion.Olson has a very easy,
smooth writing style, the product of decades of effort within the
profession. It is bolstered by a clear organization and a wealth of
sources. This work is clearly the product of decades
of effort, a labor of love performed when official duties would allow.
The result has very believable conclusions, based largely on excellent
primary sources.
It is clear that Olson is enamored with the subject of
his study. Unfortunately, however, a certain
tinge of hero-worship intrudes upon the narrative from time to time,
which leads to a certain overstatement of the importance of Earl’s
effect on the outcome of the war. In particular, Olson tends to argue
that Earl acted entirely out of professionalism and
a sense of duty, as did all of the men under his command. The alternate
explanation is that some, perhaps most, of Earl’s scouts acted largely
out of a desire for plunder, as their official sanction essentially
allowed them to operate as free agents, confiscating
any private property that they might deem contraband of war. Olson’s
armchair generalship can be a bit cloying at times, and a broader
examination of the secondary literature might have clarified some of his
discussions regarding the overall influence of Earl’s
unit on the war in Louisiana.
In the end, though, Olson resists the urge
to push his views too forcefully on the reader and seems content to
present the case as he sees it, leaving room for some dissent. Olson’s narrative
touches on a number of important subjects. Perhaps most notably, it
reminds the reader that guerrilla warfare was the norm in many areas
behind the formal lines of battle, not just in Missouri
where it has been most thoroughly covered. This study demonstrates the
importance of the economic aspects of the conflict, a concept that often
disappears into the operational histories of the war, but that might
have been just as important as battlefield activities
in determining the eventual outcome of the conflict.
In particular, the
effort to control and patrol the entire length of the Mississippi River,
a goal that Earl’s scouts pursued relentlessly, is a fundamental part
of the story. In addition, the key roles that
can be played by small, independent units, particularly those armed with
the latest forms of technology, is a recurring theme that has only
become more important in modern warfare. The nature of the “shadow war”
fought by Earl and his antagonists, when contrasted
with the large-scale battles more commonly covered in Civil War works,
reminds the reader of the wide variety of violence practiced during the
conflict. Further, the roles played by spies, informants, sympathizers,
and collaborators, as well as the ability
of African American slaves to affect the outcome of the war, are major
elements of this narrative.
Overall, this is an
excellent biography of a man who had largely fallen into obscurity. At
times, Olson includes a bit of redundancy in his narrative, as if
determined to show every fact he encountered in years
of research, but in a study of this type, a certain degree of reemphasis
can be forgiven. This study is an excellent work and would be a worthy
addition to the shelf of any individual interested in the Civil War,
particularly in Louisiana; the antecedents of
special forces; or the irregular aspects of the Civil War. Olson is to
be commended for his work in putting Earl back into the discussion of
Civil War heroes.
Text Source: HNet review by Paul Spring
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