Featured battle : Stones River (Murfreesboro)

Part of American Civil War

Date : 31 December 1862 - 03 January 1863

Rosecrans' Union army of the Cumberland faced Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee at Murfreesboro on the 30th. The Confederates attacked at dawn on the 31st, catching much of the Union force at breakfast as they had before, and drove them back in dissarray into a hooked position 3 miles away. On the 2nd, the Confederates attempted to dislodge Union positions on the important high ground east of the river. The rebels fought hard, routing the Union troops but were then caught in the enfilading fire from the guns across the river and cut down. When the 3rd dawned, with Rosecrans sitting tight, Bragg had no choice but to withdraw. Thought of as a marginal Northern victory, in practice both side suffered in excess of 30% casualties and were crippled for some time after.

The Transformation of British Naval Strategy

James Davey
This is a book aimed more at the specialist rather than the general browser. Having said that it is written in an easy flowing style which makes the subject matter easy to understand. The subject of the book, sub-titled 'seapower and supply in Northern Europe 1808 to 1812' is the logistical problem of keeping a substantial fleet supplied with all its needs far from any base. The story is one of the evolution and development of systems which brought together the different branches of the supply chain to become a very efficient 'machine'. The end user, Admiral Saumarez's fleet, contributed greatly, in terms of the feed back, to the vast improvements made. The text is supported by very few illustrations and maps but with a wealth of tables and graphs.
A book not to missed by students of Napoleonic naval warfare.
I warmly recommend a fascinatingly good read.
The Boydell Press, 2012