The Long Lost Journal of Confederate General James Johnston
Pettigrew is a great read!!!! Read it if you can you will not
be disappointed.It is historical fiction at its best.
Many books in our present culture of self-help and how to
do books need a gimmick to sell. This book features solid
historical research and characters facing the dilemmas of
slavery,war against their fellow countrymen and government.
It needs no gimmick, for the writing is excellent, and the characters true to life.
This is a book that makes you both think and feel.How could
men of honor support slavery? How could the South turn away
from a government that was not committed to ending slavery in the
slave states?
James Johnston Pettigrew was a man of intelligence, honor
and great bravery. This I believe is he kind of journal such
a man would have written. To make Pettigrew come to life and his journal so believeable is a brillant and stunning achievement.
As a person from the north I enjoyed spending time with
Pettigrew, he is a most likeable man. And this is a most likeable
book!!!

For much of the 20th Century, the American Civil War has been a popular favorite and familiar epic theme in American Literature and Culture. The struggle and conflict between the North and South, with its mythical ideals of sacrifice, bravery, & honor have long overshadowed the horror and reality of the conflict - the lost lives, the destruction, the pillage and carnage that a society at war with itself can inflict in such a short time. Whether or not the War Between the States was fought to put an end to slavery and emancipate the slaves - or to preserve the Union and thereby create a forward looking, nationalistic, military-industrial state is one of those American History final exam-type questions that will continue to be debated for decades.

Dan Bauer's book, The Long Lost Journal of Confederate General James Johnson Pettigrew, doesn't really try to answer any of these lofty and important questions. What it does - is to give the reader some fantastic insights into the thoughts and actions of a Southern gentleman, a Charleston lawyer, who risked and lost everything for The Cause in which he believed. As you might expect, Pettigrew's Long Lost Journal, is written from the perspective of James Johnson Pettigrew, a single, thirty-something lawyer, who decided to keep a journal as the events of the Fall, 1860 Presidential election began to unfold. His chronicles of the next three years' events include a great deal of historical fact, intertwined with a good deal of "camp humor", personal anecdotes, and most importantly, many reflective insights into that one question that pre-occupied and seemingly perplexed Pettigrew - "What is it that is so wrong about slavery"?

There are several other themes developed from Pettigrew's Long Lost Journal that are worth noting and speak volumes of Dan Bauer's craft and talent as a writer, researcher and historian. His descriptions of many of the battle scenes are horrifically realistic - you'll stop at the end of a passage realizing that your heart is pounding and your pulse racing from the din of battle. Yet, it's Pettigrew's descriptions of Confederate Army camp life that provide the truer picture of 19th Century soldiering and the ironic fact that many fine soldiers died of sickness and disease without ever experiencing the "glory of battle". In chronicling Pettigrew's campaigns, his organization and leadership of the Charleston militia prior to Fort Sumter, his "enlistment" as a private [just to see some action], his near fatal injury, capture and ultimate exchange as a prisoner of war, leading finally to his promotion to Brigadier General, Dan Bauer has accomplished the difficult task of painting a realistic picture of the Civil War without either boring the reader to death or compromising the truth of Pettigrew's service.

Dan Bauer has done a great job portraying The Conflict through Pettigrew's eyes, but that is far from all this book offers. Pettigrew's Long Lost Journal also enables the reader a glimpse into the heart and soul of a brave and noble, yet tragically flawed human being. General Pettigrew, like so many of his Southern contemporaries, was unable to comprehend the inherent evil that slavery posed. Though genuinely appalled by the many horrors, atrocities and physical abuses inflicted upon black slaves at the hands of their white masters, Pettigrew could not bring himself to do more than wonder about what the South might be like without slavery. He willingly died for The Cause, without ever questioning or considering that the institution of slavery for which he fought was so inherently evil and wrong. No amount of paternalistic rationalizing over the plight of freed slaves could ever justify the South's inhumanity toward and oppression of the slaves.

If there could be but one reason why the Civil War was fought, Pettigrew's Long Lost Journal certainly suggests an answer. It is so remarkably apparent, after reading this wonderful rendition by Dan Bauer, that the only way to purge the evil of slavery from the South, was by the blood and sacrifice of so many brave and noble men, men such as General James Johnson Pettigrew, who unquestionably believed in the "rightness" of The Cause for which they willingly fought and nobly died. While we may admire their bravery, courage, and unwavering loyalty, we should not forget that these Confederate Rebels, these noble Southern citizens were just, plain, wrong about slavery.

The passages of Pettigrew's Long Lost Journal that explain his thoughts about slavery and describe some of the events he witnessed, will make many readers of this book uncomfortable. That is good! It is all too easy for 21st Century Americans to take a four hour trip back in time and "experience" the Civil War through any number of romantic, epic tales portrayed on the silver screen. Thank you Dan Bauer for a wonderful history lesson from The Long Lost Journal of Confederate General James Johnson Pettigrew.

Gary L. Luhman Browntown, Wisconsin

Dan Bauer's recent historical novel, The Long lost Journal of Confederate General James Johnson Pettigrew makes excellent reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would like to share my thoughts on Mr. Bauer's work with future readers. The fictional journal follows General Pettigrew from the 1860 Presidental election to his death at the hands of Union cavalry during the retreat from Gettysburg. This is no ordinary historical novel for it is soon apparent it is based upon extensive research into Pettigrew's era.Intertwined into the narrative are scenes of camp humor, personal anecodotes, and most importantly, many reflective insights into that one question that per-occupied and seemingly preplexed Pettigrew-" Is slavery a benefit or a curse to the South"? Bauer's descriptions of many of the battle scenes are horrifically realistic-"you'll stop at the end of a passage and realing that your heart is pounding and your pulse racing from the din of battle." Yet as realistic and descriptive as the battle scenes and accounts of slavery are, it was the humorous scenes I enjoyed best. Most Civil War books are completely void of humor.Did no one in the 1860's have a sense of humor? In the Long Lost Journal we meet "Old Barrels", "Peter the Slave", and others who amuse with their all to human faults and schemes. Read this book if you get a chance. You will learn of the Civil War through the eyes of an intelligent cavalier of the South. Reading the book I felt as though I had been there!