John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship.

John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship. By Donald B. Connelly. Civil War America. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, c. 2006. Pp. xvi, 471. $49.95, ISBN 978-0-8078-3007-0.)

In nineteenth-century America, U.S. Army officers commonly advised "that the path to military professionalism lay through a complete separation of military from political affairs" (pp. 1-2). Linked to this concept is the idea that when politicians and generals muddle in each other's affairs, victory becomes illusive. In part, this is a myth, and successful politicos and officers are aware of the need for mutual cooperation. The challenge remains, however, of how to achieve a working relationship, and the answer lies in Donald B. Connelly's biography, John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship.

Schofield, as Connelly ably demonstrates, understood like few others that a senior officer must remain active, if respectful and subordinate, in the political realm. In the process of demonstrating this, Connelly approaches this biography with three goals. He hopes to present a Civil War study that pushes beyond "combat and battlefield command," and he succeeds with his analysis of Schofield's relationship with U.S. general William T. Sherman, highlighting Schofield's masterful awareness of the political and military pressures on Sherman in the final days of the war. Indeed, Schofield's role in securing the surrender of Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston's forces to Sherman, which involved juggling the demands of Johnston, Sherman, and the Radical Republicans, was impressive. It should be noted, too, that despite Connelly's larger focus, readers interested in battlefields and command will still enjoy his discussion of Schofield's leadership in the military operations of the Civil War.

Throughout the work, Connelly addresses the challenges of civil-military relations in war and peace through Scholfield's experiences as a professional soldier. This objective is most powerfully accomplished in Connelly's analysis of the general's challenging roles as commander of the Department of Missouri during the Civil War, as military governor of Reconstruction Virginia, and as secretary of war under President Andrew Johnson. In these positions, Schofield balanced pressure from the military and political realms, which, as Connelly reminds the reader, often subdivided into one group of civil-military officers battling another group of civil-military officers. Connelly presents Schofield in the context of the times, embracing the chaos that faced army officers in the postwar period while never excusing or attempting to unfairly justify Schofield's actions.

In the last five chapters of the book, Connelly examines the dramatic professionalization of the army throughout the late nineteenth century. He highlights Schofield's influence on this, especially as commanding general of the army and as an unofficial advisor to Secretary of War Elihu Root and his so-called Root Reforms. It was ultimately through these final roles, Connelly concludes, that "Schofield the military reformer prepared the army for new responsibilities and a new century" (p. 39).

John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship is, in part, a traditional biography that spans Schofield's life, focusing particularly on his military career. To a larger extent, though, it is the story of the professionalization of the U.S. Army in the nineteenth century told through the lens of Schofield's adult life. The result is a work that skillfully relates his central role in this maturation process and proves Connelly's (and Schofield's) thesis "that while an army deeply involved in politics is dangerous, so is one completely segregated from the values, institutions, and people of the nation" (p. 341). Well grounded in the relevant primary and secondary literature, this book is highly recommended to scholars and students of the U.S. Civil War era, U.S. military history, and nineteenth-century America.

SUSANNAH U. BRUCE

Sam Houston State University