Literary notices.
History of the tenth Massachusetts Battery of light Artillery, 1862-1865. By John D. Billings. Boston: Hall & Whiting, Publishers. 1881.
This is a well gotten up book of four hundred pages, which tells in interesting style the story of a gallant battery which served with the Army of the Potomac. With few exceptions it seems to be written in a fair spirit, and to strive to do justice to the Confederates--albeit a little more careful study of our official reports and a little less reliance on McCabe's Lee as Confederate authority, would have helped the historic value of the book.
On the whole, we commend it as greatly superior to many similar publications.
We are indebted to the courteous author for our copy.
The Publishers — Charles Scribner's Sons, New York — have sent us the following additional volumes of their Campaigns of the civil war:
III. The Peninsula, by General Alexander S. Webb; IV. The Army under Pope, by John C. Ropes, Esq.; V. The Antietam and Fredericksburg, by General Francis Winthrop Palfrey; VI. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, by General Abner Doubleday. Each 1 volume, 12mo, with Maps. Price, $1.
We propose to give these volumes a careful study and a candid review, in which task we have been promised the aid of one of our ablest military critics. Meantime we may say that we have dipped into them sufficiently to see that they are of very unequal merit — the volumes by Mr. John C. Ropes and General Palfrey striking us as being greatly superior to the other two in the careful study they have given the campaigns of which they treat, and the fairness with which they have written. We commend all of these volumes as worth having, but expect to abundantly prove from them all that if Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons really desire to present the whole truth they must also give our Confederate side a hearing. We could furnish them the names of twelve Confederates who would produce twelve companion volumes to this series which would very greatly add to its interest, accuracy and historic value.
