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
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