Jamieson, Perry D. 1947-

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Jamieson, Perry D. 1947-

PERSONAL:

Born March 16, 1947; married; wife's name Stephanie. Education: Wayne State University, Ph.D., 1979.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Crofton, MD. Office—AF/HOH, 3 Brookley Ave., Box 94, Bolling AFB, Washington DC 20032-500.

CAREER:

Historian, educator, and writer. Air Force History Support Office, Washington, DC, historian, 1980—. Also lecturer at the U.S. Defense Department's Joint Military Intelligence College; appointed fellow to the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation.

WRITINGS:

(With Grady McWhiney) Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1984.

Crossing the Deadly Ground: United States Army Tactics, 1865-1899, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1994.

Death in September: The Antietam Campaign, Ryan Place Publishers (Forth Worth, TX), 1995.

Air House: A History, Air Force History and Museums Program (Washington, DC), 2001.

Lucrative Targets: The U.S. Air Force in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations, Air Force History and Museums Program (Washington, DC), 2001.

Winfield Scott Hancock: Gettysburg Hero, McWhiney Foundation Press (Abilene, TX), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Perry D. Jamieson is a historian who studied under Grady McWhiney, a noted Civil War historian. Jamieson, who has been a historian with the Air Force History Support Office since 1980, wrote his first book with McWhiney, which is titled Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage. The book is considered a significant work on Civil War military tactics.

In Jamieson's next book, Crossing the Deadly Ground: United States Army Tactics, 1865-1899, the author examines the primary problem of military tactics in the late nineteenth century, examining the military's development from primarily a coastal defense force to engaging in warfare against the various Native American tribes, and finally becoming a modern military force. In the book's preface, the author writes: "Although the late nineteenth century brought the United States Army no major conventional conflicts, it nonetheless proved a crucial period in American military history." The author later added in the preface: "The tactical problem that dominated the period began to emerge during the Civil War, when defenders protected by field works delivered rifled infantry fire and deadly artillery blasts against attackers approaching in close-ordered lines. After the ghastly battles of the 1860s, improvements in weapons technology and field engineering made assaults even more dangerous than they had been for General George E. Pickett's men at Gettysburg or John Bell Hood's at Franklin. How could attackers advance across the open terrain in front of defenders who were so well armed and protected?"

Crossing the Deadly Ground examines how the primary issue in warfare at the time was the vulnerability of an attacking force across territory between the defensive positions of the two sides. Jamieson delves into how theoreticians in the United States worked to devise tactics but had little opportunity to test them because most of the U.S. Army was scattered in small units throughout the United States and the Western hemisphere. According to the author, this same scenario led to the stalemate on the Western Front of Germany during World War I and resulted in an enormous number of casualties. Nevertheless, the author does discuss the tactical aspects of charging against entrenchments and modern rifles during the Spanish-American War, as well as the first phase of the Philippine-American War, both of which took place at the end of the nineteenth century. Writing in the Historian, Brian M. Linn noted that Crossing the Deadly Ground is "a valuable analysis of the debate over tactics and … also sheds much light on the post-Civil War army." Linn added: "He provides a fine summary of army practices in the Indian Wars, confirming the views of many historians that these campaigns had little impact beyond encouraging faith in the offensive."

In his 2003 book Winfield Scott Hancock: Gettysburg Hero, Jamieson chronicles the battlefield exploits of General Winfield Scott Hancock, a Union general who gained fame for crucial contributions to the Union's victory at Gettysburg. Although the author primarily focuses on Hancock's role in the Battle of Gettysburg, he also discusses Hancock's involvement in the Indian Wars, Mexican-American War, and Reconstruction, along with his bid for the presidency in 1880. The book includes maps and photographs. "Jamieson handles well the details of Hancock's wartime rise to fame as ‘Hancock the Superb,’ as he does the rest of the general's Civil War service," wrote John E. Deppen on the Civil War News Web site. David Fitzpatrick, writing in the Journal of Military History, noted that the book is for the general public and "will be of value to those who have a casual interest in the Civil War."

In addition to his books on the Civil War, the author has also written about U.S. Air Force history. For example, in Lucrative Targets: The U.S. Air Force in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations, the author provides a look at the U.S. Air Force's involvement in the U.S. war with Iraq in the early 1990s, particularly focusing on the force's contribution to two operations: Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Jamieson, Perry D., Crossing the Deadly Ground: United States Army Tactics, 1865-1899, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1994.

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April, 1996, Allan R. Millett, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 590.

Choice, February, 1995, A.J. Graybar, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 997.

Civil War History, March, 1996, Edward Hagerman, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 64.

Historian, summer, 1995, Brian M. Linn, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 800.

Journal of American History, June, 1983, Herman Hattaway, review of Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage, p. 153.

Journal of American Studies, April, 1996, Brian Holden Reid, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 136.

Journal of Military History, July, 1995, Ethan Rafuse, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 536; October, 2004, David Fitzpatrick, review of Winfield Scott Hancock: Gettysburg Hero, p. 1264.

Journal of Southern History, February, 1996, Roger J. Spiller, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 166.

Public Historian, spring, 1996, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 91.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 1995, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 55; August, 2004, review of Winfield Scott Hancock, p. 68.

Western Historical Quarterly, spring, 1996, Herbert M. Hart, review of Crossing the Deadly Ground, p. 94.