Glatthaar, Joseph T. 1957- (Joseph Thomas Glatthaar)

PERSONAL:

Born October 26, 1957. Education: Ohio Wesleyan University, B.A., 1978; Rice University, M.A., 1981; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D, 1983.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Chapel Hill, NC. Office—University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of History, CB #3195, Hamilton Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3195. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Command and General Staff College, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS, visiting assistant professor of history, 1984-85; University of Houston, Houston, TX, assistant professor, 1985-89, associate professor, 1989-92, professor of history, 1992—, graduate program director, 1987-89, department chair, 1990-92, and member of various academic committees, including Mexican-American History Search committee (head, 1990). U.S. Army Military History Institute, Harold K. Johnson Visiting Professor, 1991-92; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, began as professor, became distinguished professor of history, chair of Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense. U.S. Military Academy at West Point, West Point, NY, visiting professor; lectured on the Civil War at various institutions, including the Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College, 1990; participated in numerous radio broadcasts; consultant for television programs on American history. Virginia Historical Society fellow, 1989.

MEMBER:

American Historical Association, New York Historical Society, Organization of American Historians, Society of Military Historians (member of nominating committee, 1990-93), Southern Historical Association (member of program committee, 1991), Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Bell Irwin Wiley Award for the best book on the Civil War and Reconstruction, National Historical Society, 1984-85, Jefferson Davis Award for best book on the period of the Confederacy, Museum of the Confederacy, and Fletcher Pratt Award for the best book on the Civil War, New York Civil War Round Table, all for The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns; Bell Irvin Wiley Award, National Historical Society, 1988-89, and Distinguished Book Award for best book on American Military History, Society for Military History, 1992, both for Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers; University of Houston Research Excellence Award, for best research scholar at the rank of assistant professor, 1989.

WRITINGS:

The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns, New York University Press (New York, NY), 1985.

Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers, Free Press, 1990, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 2000.

Partners in Command: The Relationships between Leaders in the Civil War, Maxwell Macmillan International (New York, NY), 1994.

The Civil War's Black Soldiers, Eastern National Park and Monument Association (Conshohocken, PA), 1996.

(Editor, with Gary W. Gallagher) Leaders of the Lost Cause: New Perspectives on the Confederate High Command, Stackpole Books (Mechanicsburg, PA), 2004.

(With James Kirby Martin) Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution, Hill and Wang (New York, NY), 2006.

General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse, Free Press (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to books, including Critical Issues in American History, edited by Steven Mintz and John Ettling, Kendall Hunt, 1989; and Why the Confederacy Lost the Civil War, edited by Gabor Boritt, Oxford University Press, 1992. Contributor of reviews to periodicals, including Journal of American History and American Historical Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Historian and author Joseph T. Glatthaar has explored various aspects of the American Civil War in his books The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns and Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. The former title, published in 1985, delves into Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's notorious "March to the Sea," which began in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fall of 1864, and continued through North and South Carolina, ending in April, 1865. Using personal accounts from the men who served in Sherman's ranks, Glatthaar describes the trek designed to defeat the Confederacy. Led by Sherman, who is credited with coining the phrase "War is Hell," the "march" left a trail of destruction as northern troops battled, burning towns along their way to the Atlantic Ocean. The author expounds on Sherman's controversial philosophy regarding the secessionists—policies that sometimes led to the impertinent treatment of civilians and their homes and possessions. Glatthaar also examines the factors that motivated the army in its quest, particularly the camaraderie that developed between officers and enlisted men, and discusses how black soldiers were viewed by white troops.

The role of black infantrymen in northern armies during the American Civil War became the subject of Glatthaar's second book, Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. The author discusses how many northern blacks were originally denied the right to carry arms during the Civil War, although they were eager to join the fight to preserve the Union and abolish slavery in the South. After President Abraham Lincoln authorized the recruitment of black troops in late 1862, "colored" regiments led by white officers were established, like the 54th Massachusetts Infantry serving under Boston's Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Glatthaar shows that despite their status in the Union Army, such black troops experienced various forms of discrimination, from receiving less pay than their white counterparts, to being deployed in menial noncombatant roles. The author notes that all persons associated with the black regiments, including the white officers, faced the immediate threat of death if captured in the South, as the Confederacy viewed black involvement as slave insurrection.

In Forged in Battle, Glatthaar again uses personal accounts from diaries and correspondence to delineate the plight of all those involved, which New York Review of Books contributor James M. McPherson called "a story of the moral and physical courage of whites who risked social stigma in the North to become officers in [black] regiments" and "black soldiers, most of them former slaves, who risked much to join the army." Glatthaar describes how some black troops were given the opportunity to prove themselves in combat in the South. As depicted in the 1989 Academy award-winning film, Glory, the 54th Massachusetts led the assault on South Carolina's Fort Wagner in the summer of 1863. The author also documents how such demonstrations of bravery led to less racial discrimination, and he shows how the officers and troops developed respect for one another.

For his work on Forged in Battle, Glatthaar received favorable reviews from critics who lauded the author for bringing the story of black military involvement in Civil War to light. Noting that the "long-neglected story" is finally detailed in Glatthaar's book, New York Times reviewer Herbert Mitgang called the work "one of the most revealing contributions to the literature of the Civil War." Sears deemed the volume "an absorbing account," while McPherson called it "timely."

In Partners in Command: The Relationships between Leaders in the Civil War, Glatthaar offers readers a detailed look at the command structures during the Civil War at the highest levels of each side. He shows how war grew sufficiently complex that, by the Civil War, leaders were forced to work as one, united in their strategies, and also looks at the inherent difficulties that arose given the disparities between leaders of a military background, and those of a more poltical bent.

Glatthaar coedited Leaders of the Lost Cause: New Perspectives on the Confederate High Command, along with Gary W. Gallagher. Although the book primarily contains essays by a number of respected historians and no real groundbreaking information, it does succeed in offering readers a well-rounded collection of thoughts regarding the various leaders of the Confederate Army. Philip L. Bolte, in a review for Armor, found the book to be "a valuable contribution to Civil War literature well worth reading."

Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution, which Glatthaar cowrote with James Kirby Martin, tells about the relationship of the Oneida Indians with Americans, beginning from the days of the colonies when the Oneida's sided against the British during the American Revolution, on through various political struggles, illustrating the ways in which America failed to live up to the promise of that early relationship. The Oneidas were harshly restricted, losing millions of acres of land and suffering from severe population reduction, only regaining some of their former stature in recent years. This little-known side of history is recounted with honesty and careful detail in Glatthaar's and Martin's book. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews remarked: "The text moves with great ease through some very complex issues."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April 1, 1995, Steven E. Woodworth, review of Partners in Command: The Relationships between Leaders in the Civil War, p. 588.

Armor, May 1, 2007, Philip L. Bolte, review of Leaders of the Lost Cause: New Perspectives on the Confederate High Command, p. 50.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, April 1, 2007, G.A. Smith, review of Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution, p. 1399.

Journal of American History, March 1, 1995, John F. Marszalek, review of Partners in Command, p. 1727.

Journal of Military History, January 1, 1999, Joseph G. Dawson, review of Partners in Command, p. 165.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2006, review of Forgotten Allies, p. 820.

Library Journal, December 1, 1993, review of Partners in Command, p. 144.

New York Review of Books, April 12, 1990, James M. McPherson, review of Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers, pp. 33-35.

New York Times, December 23, 1989, Herbert Mitgang, review of Forged in Battle, p. 25.

New York Times Book Review, June 12, 1994, John S.D. Eisenhower, review of Partners in Command, p. 15.

Publishers Weekly, November 15, 1993, review of Partners in Command, p. 65.

Reviews in American History, December 1, 1994, Albert Castel, review of Partners in Command, p. 596.