General James G. Blunt: Tarnished Glory.

General James G. Blunt: Tarnished Glory. By Robert Collins. (Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, c. 2005. Pp. 239. $23.00, ISBN 978-1-58980-253-7.)

Robert Collins's biography of James G. Blunt details the life of a Civil War general who stands as an excellent example of a leader who was virtually devoid of military experience but nevertheless performed well on the battlefield. A fervent New England abolitionist, Blunt moved to Kansas in the midst of the struggle between the free soil and proslavery forces for control of the territory. His friendship with James Henry Lane allowed Blunt to secure an appointment to brigadier general and to play a prominent role in the campaigns in the trans-Mississippi West. As a general, he exhibited courage, aggressiveness, and determination. Blunt generally defeated his Confederate opponents, though, as Collins points out, his enemies were often poorly led and disciplined. Perhaps his greatest moment came at the Battle of Prairie Grove in December 1862, where Blunt turned a potentially crushing defeat into victory.

Unfortunately, Blunt's deeply flawed character would eventually become his undoing. His resolute self-confidence and self righteousness embroiled him in feuds with fellow officers, most notably John M. Schofield. Schofield considered Blunt to be "unfit in any respect for the command of a division of troops against a disciplined enemy" and eventually removed him from command (p. 11). In addition, Blunt appears to have been extremely corrupt in his dealings with army contractors and displayed an excessive fondness for the bottle. His dalliances with various "female servants" while on campaign may well have afflicted him with venereal disease and subsequent insanity. He eventually died in obscurity in a Washington, D.C., mental institution in 1881.

While Collins deserves credit for writing the first biography of an important figure in a neglected theater of the war, his work falls short as a scholarly biography. The absence of footnotes makes any evaluation of Collins's conclusions difficult. His bibliography consists almost totally of printed and secondary sources and newspapers. The lack of personal correspondence by Blunt presents a challenge for any biographer; but this problem might have been overcome to some degree with more effort to uncover manuscript material from Blunt's friends and foes that could possibly shed further light on Blunt's complex character. The author might also have done more to describe the context of Blunt's career. The work would have benefited from a more detailed treatment of the nature of warfare in the trans-Mississippi theater, especially in terms of the involvement of various Native American tribes. The complexities of Kansas politics, which obviously played a crucial role in Blunt's career, could also have been described at greater length. Finally, a photograph of Robert Ransom Jr., a Confederate general, is misidentified as John Marmaduke (p. 87). Despite these problems, Collins has produced an interesting and balanced treatment of Blunt's life that may well appeal to Civil War enthusiasts.

WILLIAM K. MCDAID

Central Michigan University