Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 147

BOOK REVIEWS soon, and instead focused on the replacement depots and rear echelon formations in Algeria and Morocco. By April 1943, planners within the War Department gave approval to expand Darby’s new Ranger Force to three battalions (1st, 3rd, and 4th battalions) for the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. By the end of January 1944, Darby’s Ranger Force ceased to exist as a fighting force, after the disaster at the battle of Cisterna. Darby’s night infiltration attack neutralized a German staging area for an all-out drive to smash American forces in the Cisterna sector but found the 1st and 3rd battalions surrounded and cut off by tanks and numerically superior forces. Darby, with the 4th Battalion as the Reserve, tried desperately to reach the trapped Rangers. Darby’s key failure at Cisterna was the lack of good intelligence. The Rangers unknowingly entered an area that had become heavily reinforced by veteran German units from the eastern front. Lightly equipped Rangers without proper support were no match for battle-hardened mechanized German units. While elementary in style, Altieri presents personal experiences and insight as an original member of Darby’s Rangers. The Spearheaders is a necessary read for any student of Ranger operations in World War II, as you can study the early formation, training, and employment of this elite force. Adam J. Carson, Fort Gordon, Georgia THE REVOLUTION’S LAST MEN The Soldiers Behind the Photographs Don N. Hagist, Westholme Publishing, Yardly, Pennsylvania, 2015, 256 pages W rinkles on their faces run like ancient rivers across rugged terrain. Eyes of aged men born in the eighteenth century glare at you from 1864 daguerreotype photographs, conveying a seriousness about their past, present, and future. The Revolution’s Last Men: The Soldiers Behind the Photographs, by Don Hagist, impels the reader to look at the pictures before reading the biographies of these centenarians who were alive during the American Civil War. After soaking in the historic photographs, the reader must understand that this is a book about a book. Specifically, Hagist’s book is a genealogical investigation of the facts, or lack MILITARY REVIEW  January-February 2017 thereof, of the Rev. Elias Brewster Hillard’s original work, Last Men of the Revolution. In early 1864, the outcome of the American Civil War remained undecided. The earth continued to consume the dead on battlefields, as described in detail by proUnion newspapers and echoed by the cries of grieving parents and widows. An infant nation was crawling into a fourth year of the cauldron of war, resulting in a wave of apathy among many northerners. Hillard, a prominent minister from Connecticut, saw an opportunity to rally war-weary Unionists when Nelson and Roswell Moore published photographs of the living veterans of the American Revolution. In an attempt to rally the Union, Hillard embarked on a quest to interview these aged veterans and publish their stories along with the Moores’s photographs. Last Men of the Revolution was completed and published in the same year, receiving accolades and recognition for his patriotic endeavor. However, Hillard did not have access to pension records, nor did he attempt to validate the veterans’ stories. He excluded revolutionary veterans living in southern states as that would be contrary to his motivation to rally northerners. There was also the fact that these veterans were late in years, some literally on their deathbeds when interviewed. In The Revolution’s Last Men, Hagist conducts an exhaustive examination of the original interviews and subjects them to contemporary genealogical investigative techniques in order to correct, update, or corroborate the veterans’ stories. As a result, Hagist brings a historical moment alive by artfully depicting the timeframes, events, and hardships these veterans faced during the American Revolution. The book contains a foreword by renowned genealogist Maureen Taylor, who explains the efficacy of Hagist’s book in correcting and updating portions of Hillard’s interviews. Introductions by Hagist and a reprint of Hillard’s original preface provide readers a 145