Saturday, November 11, 2023

"Butcher Burbridge" by Bryan S. Bush

Oh man, I knew a little bit about Union General Burbridge before reading this one, but I was blown away by how crazy of a story this is!

Very briefly, General Burbridge was put in charge of Kentucky late in the Civil War, with the support of some heavy weights of the time (Lincoln, Sherman, etc).  Well, he orders (and has carried out) the execution of southern sympathizers and guerillas through the state.

It seems that, in an effort to really upset the masses, he also gets involved in a weird pork scam with the government, upsetting farmers.  He also gets his hands dirty with some election tampering.  Another move not particularly popular with the masses at the time involved his push to allow blacks to serve as soldiers in the military.

The story is very complicated....  but author Bryan Bush tries successfully to keep the story followable telling about the General's movements and actions.  Other Kentucky notables like Sue Mundy (Jerome Clarke) and John Hunt Morgan are major characters in the story.

As the book ends, it is obvious that some see Burbridge as a hero, and some don't.  A very notable act of admiration came from the 56th US Colored Cavalry who presented Burbridge with an impressive gift of a sword and spurs valued at $1,000 at Camp Nelson.
 

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