Our Favorite Books: Jon-Erik Gilot’s Top 5 Books

“I’m the only one that’s honest about ranking my kids. You guys act like you all love them all the same and you don’t. I don’t know why y’all act like that.” – Coach Prime, September 2023

In the unlikely event my wife ever reads this blog, let me state unequivocally that I love both of my children the same. Hard stop. But if we were to include my books as an extension of my children – which she occasionally does – then I certainly have my favorites.

A few that come to mind (in no particular order)…

Freedom’s Dawn: The Last Days of John Brown in Virginia by Louis A. Decaro (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015). As a student of John Brown, I found DeCaro’s book to be an outstanding addition to Brown literature. Picking up at the conclusion of the raid, the author follows Brown from the engine house to courthouse and the gallows, examining the fallout and reverberations as the country descended towards civil war.

Frederick W. Lander: The Great Natural American Soldier by Gary L. Ecelbarger (LSU Press, 2001) As far as biographies go, Gary Ecelbarger’s bio of Gen. Frederick Lander is a wonderful look at an overlooked early war general. Lander was a national celebrity in the nineteenth century – an explorer, a poet, a renaissance man seemingly forgotten today, likely because he died fairly early in the war in a remote corner of West Virginia. The author follows Lander from his days exploring and surveying in the far west, his service at Philippi and wounding and Ball’s Bluff, and his death at Paw Paw.  Readers are left to wonder what contributions Lander might have made had he lived longer.

September Suspense: Lincoln’s Union in Peril by Dennis E. Frye (Antietam Rest Publishing, 2012) In this book, author Dennis Frye examines the Maryland Campaign through the pages of period newspapers. History enthusiasts are spoiled in that we know how the story ends. We take for granted that people living during these events did not know what the next day or even the next hour might bring. If you can suspend the reality that you know the ending, readers will find this book as gripping and suspenseful as any you’re likely to read.

The Battle of Scary Creek: Military Operations in the Kanawha Valley, April – July 1861 by Terry Lowry (Quarrier Press, 1998) I have this title here less for the book itself but more for the author. One of the deans of West Virginia Civil War studies, Terry Lowry’s books occupy a prominent place on my bookshelves. His titles on Scary Creek, Carnifex Ferry, the Kanawha Valley Campaign, and Droop Mountain are so good and so detailed that I can’t imagine anyone needing to touch those topics again. Anyone considering writing a micro-tactical battle or campaign study would do well to snag a few of Lowry’s titles.

Sealed with Their Lives: The Battle of Crampton’s Gap, Burkittsville, MD, September 14, 1862 by Timothy J. Reese (Butternut & Blue, 1998) South Mountain – and more specifically Crampton’s Gap – has been my favorite battlefield since my first visit nearly thirty years ago. Reese’s study places Crampton’s Gap within the broader Maryland Campaign and thoroughly examines the regiments and personalities that clashed on the slopes of South Mountain. A former resident of the area, Reese tells the story with a local flair, as only someone who has walked the ground can do. Highly, highly recommended.

Part of a series.