Catton’s thesis in This Hallowed Ground is to cover the Union side of the Civil War, but he not only covers the war itself he also covers events leading up to and after the war. Catton covers the beating of Senator Charles Sumner on May 22, 1956 over the problem of Kansas’s statehood; John Brown in Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas; and the ways and problems in keeping the Border States (especially Maryland and Missouri). Catton fulfills his thesis in covering the entire major and even some of the minor battles in the war all from the Union

The maps inserted into this book are also very helpful. The maps show the western and eastern theatres of battle with all the sites marked off on the map. It would be even more helpful if more specific battle maps were added to the book. That way the reader could understand more about the terrain and distance covered in one battle. For example, the Battle of Gettysburg would be easier to understand if a more complex map were added detailing the battle.

“In the black hours of early morning the United States officers stood at the parapet atop Fort Sumter and looked off in the darkness toward the place where, they knew, the nearest guns had been planted.... And at last there was a quick flash, like heat lightning, and a sullen red spark climbed up the black sky, seemed to hang motionless for a second then exploded in great light and rocking sound that would reverberate across the land and mark an end and a beginning-the American Civil War.”

This Hallowed Ground is a relatively small book that contains an abundance of information. Readers can understandably marvel at all the information covered in a book this size. The entire Civil War and its causes are covered in just four hundred and ninety five pages (not including the notes, acknowledgements, bibliography, or index pages). This Hallowed Ground is jam-packed with information.

Catton could have gone into more detail on a few of th

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