A detailed and personal account of the civil war

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	• The Fighting McCooks - America's Famous Fighting Family Charles Whalen, Barbara Whalen Westmoreland Press, 2006 - 421 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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A detailed and personal account of the civil war

The Whalens have done a remarkable job digging through what must have been significant research to bring the tale of the "Fighting McCooks" to the page.
The book is filled with detailed accounts about the campaigns of each of the McCook sons going to war for the Union army. They capture the individual struggles and ambitions of the family members vividly and personalize the stories to not only better understand the McCooks, but the larger struggle of the war and all the associated players of the era.
It's as lush as any well-written historical fiction novel and then amazing to know that the account is actually true. The details of the stories are fascinating and I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a more intimate and personalized narrative of events of that great national conflict.

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absolutely unprecedented under any flag

Three brothers with fourteen sons, all members of the upper middle-class, based in Ohio watch the American Civil War descend like a dark cloud. None of them questioned the need to "Save the Union". All of them activity participated in the saving, some as members of the military and some as civilian volunteers. In the process, they became famous as "The Fighting McCooks". Most readers of Civil War history are familiar with the name and know the outline of the story. However, many of us cannot tie the McCooks together or identify where they fought and died. Reading this book will be a revelation as you pull the stories together and build a full picture of their contributions.

The family members start as Stephen Douglas Democrats, who not liking slavery are willing to accept it to avoid war. The families' politics is one of the strongest minor story lines in the book. They are very well connected and willing to use those connections if they feel it is necessary. By 1860, more than one McCook works for the Republican Party and one has become an Abolitionist. Lincoln's election, secession and war find one McCook drilling at the White House to protect Lincoln from an expected attack of Southerners. This is April 1861 and Washington is cut off from the United States as Maryland decides what to do. In 1865, four members of the family are dead, several have their health ruined and the Union is saved.

The Whalen's produced a unique format by placing the McCooks into a history of the war. As the war unfolds, we meet a family member or renew a friendship with one. This keeps the reader firmly in step with the events of the war, while family participation and problems continually play out. We do a minimal amount of backtracking getting to see the families' story as the war progresses. This took some thought and effort but the result is very rewarding. One of the nicest items is a map of Civil War America at the end of most chapters. Each part of the story updates the map, showing where the McCook was during this phase of the war. The last of these map, on page 346, catalogues the contribution this family made in a very visual and easy to grasp manner.

This is a rousing story of heroic deeds and the authors are able to do it right. The prose is very heroic, intelligent and readable without being awe struck. This is a "warts n all" book, making them all the braver for being human. The authors manage to convey the unique personalities of the seventeen men, while always presenting them as one family. That family was always ready to spring to the defense of a member, pull a string and accept an enemy of one as an enemy of all. Lincoln, Hays, Grant, Garfield, Stanton, Sherman and Vallandigham people this book. One or more of the McCooks was partners with, worked for, talked to, liked or disliked all of these men and a host of others. This was a partisan time and this is a partisan book. The authors accept the stories that favor or damn these men, depending on how the McCooks feel about them. This may cause a reviewer to question some of the book's history, which I feel is incorrect. While modern historians do not agree with many of the stories present as fact, the McCooks accepted them and believed them to be true. The authors remain true to their subject by accepting these stories as the family did.

Physically this is a very good-looking book. Illustrations are in the right place and add to the story. I will mention the on-going map showing the movement of the McCooks again. This map seems to become part of the story an important visual reference all by itself. Another unique item is a bookmark. Each book contains a Red, White & Blue tasseled, laminated bookmark with portraits of the seventeen McCooks. This is just another indication of the thought and effort that went into this book.

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In this compelling narrative, former Congressman Charles Whalen and his wife, Barbara, meticulously follow the Fighting McCooks across forty-six battlefields vividly describing their heroic and patriotic feats. In addition to providing a fascinating account of the McCook men and the women whom they loved, the Whalens capture the political, military, and social climate of the time. This is not only a story about war. This is a story about life in early America. Thanks to twenty years of research and writing, the story of this legendary family and one of America's most self-sacrificing families of all time is finally seeing the light of day. From the first shot fired in the Civil War to the last, the Fighting McCooks were an ever-present force on the battlefield, in Washington, and beyond. Their lives were intimately intertwined with the most powerful men of the time, including President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and General Ulysses S. Grant. But the McCooks were just as comfortable on the front line of battle fighting shoulder to shoulder with their compatriots. Heroic and bold, they fought on forty-six battlefields. No major battle took place in the western theater of war that did not include at least one of the seventeen Fighting McCooks. When war broke out, the McCooks were as diverse as any large family and nearly all were college educated. They were doctors, lawyers, businessmen, politicians, and judges. Two were West Point and Naval Academy graduates. Yet they all had a common thread, they were determined to save the Union. In their quest, three became major generals, three brigadier generals, one naval lieutenant, four surgeons, two colonels, one major, one lieutenant, one private, and one chaplain. Four gave their lives.

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