Category: #History

Posted in #History

My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans

Posted on by BookReviews

“A welcomed addition to the growing literature on the care of disabled Civil War veterans . . . cleverly conceived, ably crafted and eloquently written.” —R.B. Rosenburg, author of Living Monuments
 
In the wake of America’s Civil War, homeless, disabled, and destitute veterans began appearing on the sidewalks of southern cities and towns. In 1902 Kentucky’s Confederate veterans organized and built the Kentucky Confederate Home, a luxurious refuge in Pewee Valley for their unfortunate comrades. Until it closed in 1934, the Home was a respectable—if not always idyllic—place where disabled and impoverished veterans could spend their last days in comfort and free from want.
 
In My Old Confederate Home, Rusty Williams frames the lively history of the Kentucky Confederate Home with the stories of those who built, supported, and managed it: a daring cavalryman-turned-bank-robber, a senile ship captain, a prosperous former madam, and a small-town clergyman whose concern for the veterans cost him his pastorate. Each chapter is peppered with the poignant stories of men who spent their final years as voluntary wards of an institution that required residents to live in a manner which reinforced the mythology of a noble Johnny Reb and a tragic Lost Cause. Based on thorough research utilizing a range of valuable resources, including the Kentucky Confederate Home’s operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, and family stories, My Old Confederate Home reveals the final, untold chapter of Kentucky’s Civil War history.
 
“Teems with humanity. Williams has a storyteller’s gist for making historical characters come alive . . . It offers a new angle on the South’s Lost Cause.” —Charles Reagan Wilson, author of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Editorial Reviews

Review

Won the Douglas Southall Freeman Award in 2011.

“My Old Confederate Home is a good story well told.”Gaines M. Foster, author of Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1913

“Williams’s book is a welcomed addition to the growing literature on the care of disabled Civil War veterans and the Confederate soldiers’ home movement. He narrates a compelling, true story, cleverly conceived, ably crafted and eloquently written.”―R. B. Rosenburg, author of Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers’ Homes in the New South

“Teems with humanity. Williams has a storyteller’s gist for making historical characters come alive. This well-researched account of the establishment of a Confederate veterans’ home in a state, Kentucky, that did not even support the Confederacy is a dramatic story of a diverse range of people who responded to the needs of Civil War veterans. It offers a new angle on the South’s Lost Cause.”―Charles Reagan Wilson, author of Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920

“[My Old Confederate Home tells] of the nuances and “byway” stories involving the war – the personal stories, the oddities, the forgotten. . . . about a forgotten and overlooked aspect of the War Between the States.”Old Virginia Blog

“This well-written book is highly recommended to Civil War enthusiasts.” -Daily Oklahoman

“Based on the Kentucky Confederate Home’s operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, family stories, and other valuable resources, My Old Confederate Home reveals an unwritten chapter of Kentucky’s Civil War history.” ―Joseph-Beth Newsletter

“Williams provides the history of this home and what happened during its existence. This well-written book is highly recommended to Civil War enthusiasts.” ―Benet Exton, The Oklahoman

“Rusty Williams’ definitive account of the Kentucky Confederate Home was written from extant original sources and documents . . . and is intended for both general readers and scholars.” ―Marion B. Lucas, Bowling Green Daily News

“Williams rekindles the significance of respecting veterans and honoring their contribution to history. He also emphasizes the importance of average Americans supporting veterans despite the political tensions and economic hardships that follow war. As the story of the Kentucky Confederate Home shows, caring for veterans is the first step to repairing an injured nation.” ―civilwar.com

“Rusty Williams’ My Old Confederate Home demonstrates how the Kentucky Confederate Home in Pewee Valley was forged and maintained through a mutually beneficial partnership between government and private organizations. By profiling a shining example of how societies can and should honor and care for veterans in need, it highlights important lessons for present and future generations.” ―cwba.com

“Freelance writer Rusty Williams has written the first history of the Kentucky Confederate Home, which operated in Pewee Valley, near Jefferson County, for thirty-two years during the early 1900s. . . .This book will provide some very worthwhile insight on the experiences the Confederate veteran might have had while living there.” ―Kentucky Ancestors

“Williams tells how Kentucky tried to provide some support for its needy Confederate veterans long after the cannons were quiet but while many of the older Rebel soldiers were still alive during the emotional “Lost Cause” era. This entertaining narrative utilizes the individual stories of many of the home’s benefactors, managers and residents.” ―Berkeley Scott, Kentucky Monthly

“Provide readers with an excellent account of efforts made by ex-Confederate who were business and political leaders in the state to provide a place for their comrades who had fallen on hard times.” ―Post and Courier

“This book is a real jewel for your Confederate Library, just as the Confederate home in Kentucky was the jewel of all the places that were set up across the southern veterans.” ―Lone Star Book Review

“Williams provides an excellent summarization about Confederate veterans’ organizations in Kentucky after the war.” ―Bits and Pieces

“This book is a real jewel for your Confederate library, just as the Confederate home in Kentucky was the jewel of all places that were set up across the south for southern veterans.” ―The Lone Star Book Review

“This interesting tale of late-19th-century Kentucky politics, the workings of Civil War veterans’ organizations, and the careers of institutionalized Civil War veterans is sure to hold your attention.” ―Civil War News

“William’s book teems with human interest stories that undergird an institutional history. My Old Confederate Home will find broad appeal among scholarly and popular audiences who have an interest in thepost-Civil War lives of Kentucky’s Confederate veterans, social welfare, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the mythology of the Lost Cause…Williams makes great strides in unraveling the Lost Cause mythology that encased the Kentucky Confederate Home, it’s inhabitants, and its supporters…Williams story and its lively characters illuminate Kentucky’s responses to its needy veterans and how these efforts ensured a proper place for the states’ citizen-soldiers.” ―H-Net Reviews

“…a fascinating read. . . . No library on Kentucky Civil War history will be complete without this book.”―The Journal of America’s Military Past

“Using detailed records of the home, Mr. Williams is able to cover the entire period of operation from inception to the death of the final Veteran. . . . an interesting and moving read.” ―DCV Today

“All readers…will appreciate Williams’s descriptive writing and colorful storytelling which brings his many subjects, and the time period in which they lived, to life.”―Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“Williams reveals the final, untold chapter of Kentucky’s Civil War history.”―Appalachian News-Express

“Williams should be commended for his energetic and very readable history of one of the South’s most successful postwar efforts to provide solace and assistance to Confederate veterans as they ambled toward the grave.”―Journal of Southern History

“A useful introduction into the grassroots formation, organization, and management of Confederate homes. Throug his meticulous research and a cast of lively characters, Williams has indeed created a respectable place for Civil War veterans.”―West Virginia History

“This work is a captivating narrative and a fine addition to several burgeoning sub-fields in southern history, including the Lost Cause, social welfare, women’s history, and progressive reform.”―Louisiana History

From the Inside Flap

In the wake of America’s Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Confederate veterans trudged back to their homes in the South, where the nation whose ideals they had fought for no longer existed. Lingering war wounds, missing limbs, or the horrors of brutal warfare left some unable to care for themselves. Homeless, disabled, and destitute veterans began appearing on the sidewalks of southern cities and towns, unwanted and unsupported by the government.

Driven by compassion for their less fortunate comrades, in 1902 Kentucky’s Confederate veterans organized and built the Kentucky Confederate Home, a luxurious refuge that sheltered almost a thousand needful men who had worn the gray decades before. For three decades the Home was a respectable — if not always idyllic — place where invalid, decrepit, and impoverished veterans could spend their last days in comfort and security. Part military encampment and part rest home, the Home became a tourist destination and a living museum where twentieth-century schoolchildren could meet the men who marched at Shiloh or defended Atlanta.

In My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans, Rusty Williams frames the lively history of the Kentucky Confederate Home through the stories of those who built, managed, and inhabited it: a daring cavalryman-turned-bank robber, a small-town clergyman whose concern for the veterans cost him his pastorate, a senile ship captain, a wealthy benefactress with a scandalous secret, and more.

Based on the Kentucky Confederate Home’s operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, family stories, and other valuable resources, My Old Confederate Home reveals an unwritten chapter of Kentucky’s Civil War history. Each chapter is peppered with the poignant stories of men who spent their final years as voluntary wards of an institution that required residents to live in a manner which reinforced the mythology of a noble Johnny Reb and a tragic Lost Cause.

From the Back Cover

In the wake of America’s Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Confederate veterans trudged back to their homes in the South, where the nation whose ideals they had fought for no longer existed. Lingering war wounds, missing limbs, or the horrors of brutal warfare left some unable to care for themselves. Homeless, disabled, and destitute veterans began appearing on the sidewalks of southern cities and towns, unwanted and unsupported by the government.

Driven by compassion for their less fortunate comrades, in 1902 Kentucky’s Confederate veterans organized and built the Kentucky Confederate Home, a luxurious refuge that sheltered almost a thousand needful men who had worn the gray decades before. For three decades the Home was a respectable — if not always idyllic — place where invalid, decrepit, and impoverished veterans could spend their last days in comfort and security. Part military encampment and part rest home, the Home became a tourist destination and a living museum where twentieth-century schoolchildren could meet the men who marched at Shiloh or defended Atlanta.

In My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans, Rusty Williams frames the lively history of the Kentucky Confederate Home through the stories of those who built, managed, and inhabited it: a daring cavalryman-turned-bank robber, a small-town clergyman whose concern for the veterans cost him his pastorate, a senile ship captain, a wealthy benefactress with a scandalous secret, and more.

Based on the Kentucky Confederate Home’s operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, family stories, and other valuable resources, My Old Confederate Home reveals an unwritten chapter of Kentucky’s Civil War history. Each chapter is peppered with the poignant stories of men who spent their final years as voluntary wards of an institution that required residents to live in a manner which reinforced the mythology of a noble Johnny Reb and a tragic Lost Cause.

About the Author

Rusty Williams, a freelance writer and historian, has written for the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Antonio Express-News and the Associated Press. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

Posted in #History

The Day Dixie Died: The Battle of Atlanta

Posted on by BookReviews

A history of one of the most important battles waged on American soil that changed the course of the Civil War and helped decide a presidential election.


In the North, a growing peace movement and increasing criticism of President Abraham Lincoln’s conduct of the war threatened to halt US war efforts to save the Union. On the morning of July 22, 1864, Confederate forces under the command of General John Bell Hood squared off against the Army of the Tennessee led by General James B. McPherson just southeast of Atlanta.
Having replaced General Joseph E. Johnston just four days earlier, Hood had been charged with the duty of reversing a Confederate retreat and meeting the Union army head on. The resulting Battle of Atlanta was a monstrous affair fought in the stifling Georgia summer heat. During it, a dreadful foreboding arose among the Northerners as the battle was undecided and dragged on for eight interminable hours. Hood’s men tore into US forces with unrelenting assault after assault. Furthermore, for the first and only time during the war, a US army commander was killed in battle, and in the wake of his death, the Union army staggered. Dramatically, General John “Black Jack” Logan stepped into McPherson’s command, rallied the troops, and grimly fought for the rest of the day. In the end, ten thousand men—one out of every six—became casualties on that fateful day, but the Union lines had held.
Having survived the incessant onslaught from the men in grey, Union forces then placed the city of Atlanta under siege, and the city’s inevitable fall would gain much-needed, positive publicity for Lincoln’s reelection campaign against the peace platform of former Union general George B. McClellan.
Renowned Civil War historian Gary Ecelbarger is in his element here, re-creating the personal and military dramas lived out by generals and foot soldiers alike, and shows how the battle was the game-changing event in the larger Atlanta Campaign and subsequent March to the Sea that brought an eventual end to the bloodiest war in American history. This is gripping military history at its best and a poignant narrative of the day Dixie truly died.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The decisive clash in Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta campaign is the battle recounted in Ecelbarger’s history. Precipitated by Confederate commander John Bell Hood’s all-out gamble to reverse the hitherto inexorable Union advance, the fight escalated into a characteristically bloody Civil War fray that killed or wounded about 12,000 men. From describing Hood’s attack plan, Ecelbarger launches into its initiation with a flank attack and climax with a burst through the Union center that seemed to deliver Southern victory––until Union General John Logan (memorialized in a prominent Chicago equestrian statue) galloped into history and bronze by repulsing the rebels. Narrated in increments of regiment-on-regiment collisions that aggregated into the battle, Ecelbarger’s account includes guide maps to the combat and survivors’ testimonies to scenes of its carnage. In control of his sources, Ecelbarger acquits himself well as a Civil War historian, enabling conceptualization of the battle’s course and visualization of its ground—a significant attribute of this work to buffs, since obliteration of the battlefield by urban growth hamstrings imagining the event except through such able presentations as Ecelbarger’s. –Gilbert Taylor

Review

Advance Praise for THE DAY DIXIE DIED

“[The] Battle of Atlanta emerges as one of the Civil War’s more dramatic engagements in this vivid re-creation…Ecelbarger paints a fine panorama of a seldom-sung but rousing epic.”

—Publishers Weekly

“The author places the reader on the battlefield as an observer watching the struggle of both sides during that hot and sultry day in 1864…This is an excellent book to add to your Civil War battles and campaigns book shelf.”

—The Lone Star Book Review, WOW! rated

“Noted Civil War historian Gary Ecelbarger has written the definitive study of the Battle of Atlanta, the climactic encounter in a campaign that cemented Abraham Lincoln’s prospects for reelection in 1864 and doomed the Confederacy to defeat. In this deeply researched work, Ecelbarger not only provides the clearest and most detailed account ever written of the battle itself, but he also explains clearly and convincingly what was at stake. His analyses of the strengths and foibles of the leading figures in the battle are exceptionally insightful, and his treatment of the suffering of the men in the ranks most poignant.”

—Peter Cozzens, author of Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign

Praise for THE GREAT COMEBACK

“Ecelbarger, a Civil War historian and Lincoln scholar, presents a side of Lincoln not frequently seen: a politician on the make, carefully tailoring his message to various audiences.”

—Booklist

“Artfully shows how, from a career in cinders, Lincoln rose in a mere two years to seize the presidential nomination in May 1860. . . . Ecelbarger’s scholarship is sound, his prose enthralling.”

—Publishers Weekly

“This is a rousing—yet authoritatively researched—account of one of the most dramatic, unlikely, and history-altering presidential conventions ever. . . . Gary Ecelbarger [emerges] as a major force in Lincoln scholarship.”

—Harold Holzer, author of Lincoln: President-Elect

“Ecelbarger offers a lively and challenging explanation of Lincoln’s rise to power.”

—Daniel W. Stowell, editor of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln

“With impressive research and engaging prose Ecelbarger shows a fact of Lincoln’s rise to the presidency that has never before been explored and in the process weaves a tale that is as interesting as it is inspiring.”

—Steven E. Woodworth, author of Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861–1865

Praise for BLACK JACK LOGAN

“[Gary Ecelbarger’s] research is full and exhaustive, his judgments mature, and his narrative style engaging. The result is one of those biographies that cannot help but be good.”

—William C. Davis, editor of The History Book Club Review

Posted in #History

Hell Hath No Fury (St. Martin’s True Crime Classics)

Posted on by BookReviews

Their society-page marriage became a fatal-attraction nightmare. From the bestselling author of The Preppy Murder Trial.

Dan Broderick was one of California’s most successful attorneys; his wife, Betty, a beautiful socialite. But when Betty discovered Dan’s hidden life, the façade of LaJolla’s golden couple was shattered. What followed was a vicious five-year battle that finally ended in a shocking double-murder.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Dan manipulated the law to strip Betty of everything she loved: her home, her friends—even her children. When she frantically tried to fight back, he had her committed to a mental hospital. His new wife, Linda, even sent the once-beautiful Betty wrinkle cream ads and weight loss pamphlets.

Consumed by hatred and thoughts of revenge, Betty’s rage exploded on the night of November 5, 1989. Before the sun rose the next day, Dan Broderick and his gorgeous new wife were dead—their bullet-riddled bodies wrapped in the blood-soaked sheets of their bed.

Hell Hath No Fury is a shocking story of wealth, passion, revenge, and a woman driven to murder.


stacey Hannam

5 out of 5 stars

Privilege Gone Wrong

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2014

Format: Kindle

Verified Purchase

I was always fascinated by the Lifetime movie starting Meredith Baxter and Stephen Collins about 20 years ago. I didn’t know that this movie didn’t exaggerate much. The story reads very dramatically.

Betty Broderick was a spoiled rich girl. Dan Broderick was very full of.himself and forgot along the way that his family were the ones who loved him the way he was.

Betty had every right to be jealous when Dan met and fell for his secretary Linda. She was younger, didn’t have the physical burdens from raising kids for most of her life, no anchors tying her down. Dan saw this energetic beauty and immediately saw her in the front seat of his sports car.

Betty was a great mom by everybodys accounts. She went to every activity her children had. Dan was too busy becoming a millionaire to witness this.

While I understand that murdering him was wrong, a woman who has been through this life can understand the bitterness and sadness and frustration Betty went through. After all, she gave Dan and her children the best looking years of her life. and

Posted in #History

Shotguns and Stagecoaches: The Brave Men Who Rode for Wells Fargo in the Wild West

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“A rip-roaring history of moving the mail in the wildest of the Wild West days” from the New York Times–bestselling author of Texas Ranger (Kirkus Reviews).


Here are the true stories of the Wild West heroes who guarded the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoaches and trains, battling colorful thieves, vicious highwaymen, and robbers armed with explosives.
The phrase “riding shotgun” was no teenage game to the men who guarded stagecoaches and trains on the Western frontier. Armed with sawed-off, double-barreled shotguns and an occasional revolver, these express messengers guarded valuable cargo through lawless terrain. They were tough, fighting men who risked their lives every time they climbed into the front boot of a Concord coach.
Boessenecker introduces soon-to-be iconic personalities like “Chips” Hodgkins, an express rider known for his white mule and his ability to outrace his competitors, and Henry Johnson, the first Wells Fargo detective. Their lives weren’t just one shootout after another—their encounters with desperadoes were won just as often with quick wits and memorized-by-heart knowledge of the land.
The highway robbers also get their due. It wouldn’t be a book about the Wild West without Black Bart, the most infamous stagecoach robber of all time, and Butch Cassidy’s gang, America’s most legendary train robbers.
Through the Gold Rush and the early days of delivery with horses and saddlebags, to the heyday of stagecoaches and huge shipments of gold, and finally the rise of the railroad and the robbers who concocted unheard-of schemes to loot trains, Wells Fargo always had courageous men to protect its treasure. Their unforgettable bravery and ingenuity make this book a thrilling read.

About the Author

JOHN BOESSENECKER, a San Francisco trial lawyer and former police officer, is considered one of the leading authorities on crime and law enforcement in the Old West. He is the award-winning author of several books, including the New York Times bestselling Texas Ranger. In 2011 and 2013, True West magazine named Boessenecker Best Nonfiction Writer. He has appeared frequently as a historical commentator on PBS, The History Channel, A&E, and other networks.

Posted in #History, #non-fiction

Saved at the Seawall: The 9/11 Boatlift Story We Should Remember

Posted on by BookReviews

There are certain dates that don’t need a year attached to them.

September 11 is one of them.

For those of us old enough to remember that day, the memories can still be surprisingly close. We remember where we were. We remember the television coverage. We remember trying to reach people we loved.

And we remember the overwhelming sense that something had happened that we didn’t yet understand.

Twenty-five years later, I still find some stories about September 11 difficult to read.

So I wasn’t looking for another book about 9/11.

I was looking for something else entirely.

And then I discovered the boats.

The Story I Didn’t Know

I recently came across a History Channel article about the September 11 Boatlift.

I stopped.

I had never heard this story.

I knew about the towers. I knew about the firefighters, police officers and other first responders. I knew about the people who were trapped and the people who escaped.

But somehow, I had never learned about what happened along the waterfront.

While Lower Manhattan was becoming increasingly isolated, hundreds of thousands of people were trying to find a way off the island.

The bridges and tunnels had closed.

Public transportation was disrupted.

And people began moving toward the water.

Then the boats started coming.

That discovery led me to Jessica DuLong’s book, Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift.

And I realized I had found one of those pieces of history that deserves to be remembered.

When the Boats Became the Way Out

The water surrounding Manhattan suddenly became an escape route.

Ferries.

Tugboats.

Dinner boats.

Fireboats.

Commercial vessels.

Private boats.

The maritime community of New York Harbor began responding to the crisis.

Some vessels were already nearby.

Others came from across the harbor.

They carried people away from Lower Manhattan and brought them to safety.

And the extraordinary thing is that this massive evacuation wasn’t the result of some perfectly executed emergency plan.

People simply saw what was happening and responded.

The U.S. Coast Guard eventually called for “all available boats.”

But vessels were already moving toward Manhattan before that call went out.

Nearly Half a Million People

This is where the numbers become almost difficult to comprehend.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s official history describes the operation as the evacuation of more than 500,000 people from Manhattan, using hundreds of local ferries as well as commercial and private craft. The Coast Guard calls it the largest maritime evacuation in recorded history, completed in less than eight hours without a loss of life during the maritime evacuation.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum gives a somewhat more conservative estimate of 300,000 to 500,000 people transported to safety.

That difference isn’t surprising.

There wasn’t one central passenger manifest for every boat involved. The evacuation was an enormous, rapidly developing operation involving vessels of many different types.

But whether you use 300,000, 400,000, nearly 500,000, or the Coast Guard’s figure of more than 500,000, the scale is astonishing.

Hundreds of thousands of people were carried away from Lower Manhattan by water in a matter of hours.

And Then There’s Dunkirk

This is the part of the story that really stopped me.

When we think about a dramatic evacuation by boat, many of us immediately think of Dunkirk.

Operation Dynamo, conducted from May 26 through June 4, 1940, has become one of the best-known maritime rescues in history.

More than 338,000 British and Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk.

The story became known as the “Miracle of Dunkirk.”

And rightly so.

The evacuation was an extraordinary achievement carried out under wartime conditions, with hundreds of naval and civilian vessels involved.

But here’s something I didn’t know until I started digging into the 9/11 Boatlift:

The number of people evacuated from Manhattan on September 11 was greater than the number evacuated from Dunkirk itself.

Dunkirk: 338,226 people.

9/11 Boatlift: approximately 300,000–500,000 people, with the U.S. Coast Guard reporting more than 500,000.

The comparison needs a little care because the broader 1940 evacuation also involved Allied troops being rescued from other French ports.

But when we compare the famous Dunkirk evacuation with the evacuation from Manhattan, the numbers make one thing very clear:

The 9/11 Boatlift belongs in the same conversation.

In fact, by the commonly cited figures, it was larger.

And yet I had never heard of it.

The Little Ships of New York Harbor

The comparison to Dunkirk is more than just about numbers.

At Dunkirk, civilian vessels became part of a desperate rescue effort.

In New York Harbor, ordinary working vessels did something remarkably similar.

But there is another difference.

The people being evacuated from Manhattan weren’t soldiers retreating from a battlefield.

They were commuters.

Residents.

Visitors.

Office workers.

People who had simply been in Lower Manhattan that morning.

They were trying to get home.

And the people operating the boats were, for the most part, doing something very ordinary:

They were doing their jobs.

Except this wasn’t an ordinary day.

The People Behind the Number

This is where Jessica DuLong’s book becomes especially important.

A statistic can tell us that nearly half a million people were evacuated.

A book can tell us what it was like to be one of them.

Saved at the Seawall is built around eyewitness accounts and the stories of both the people who were evacuated and the mariners who carried them away.

That’s one of the reasons I think this book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in history.

It brings the story down to the human level.

People standing along the waterfront.

People looking for a way out.

People trying to find family members.

People who didn’t know what would happen next.

And then a boat arrives.

About 800 Mariners

One of the details in Saved at the Seawall that really brings the scale of the response into focus is the number of people involved on the water.

According to the foreword by Mitchell Zuckoff, approximately 800 mariners aboard at least 150 watercraft participated in the Boatlift.

Think about that.

Hundreds of people who knew New York Harbor.

People who understood tides and currents and docks and ferries.

People who knew how to move boats through crowded waters.

People whose ordinary knowledge suddenly became critically important.

They didn’t have a magic solution.

They had boats.

They had experience.

And they had people who needed help.

That was enough.

The Courage to Go Toward the Trouble

There is a question at the center of the Boatlift that I can’t quite shake:

What makes someone turn toward a disaster when everyone else is trying to get away from it?

The mariners didn’t know exactly what they were heading into.

The situation was still unfolding.

There was no guarantee that the harbor would remain safe.

Yet they went.

The boats came toward Manhattan.

They took people aboard.

They carried them away.

Then they turned around and came back.

And did it again.

That doesn’t sound like the kind of heroism we see in movies.

There’s no swelling soundtrack.

No dramatic speech.

Sometimes courage is simply recognizing that somebody needs help and deciding to go.

The Book Behind the Story

Jessica DuLong is particularly well suited to tell this story.

She is a journalist, historian and mariner, and she served as chief engineer of the historic New York City fireboat John J. Harvey.

That detail matters.

DuLong wasn’t writing about the maritime world from a distance.

She knew it.

She understood the harbor, the vessels and the culture of the people who work on the water.

And she had her own September 11 experience.

The John J. Harvey, a retired 1931 fireboat that was being restored by volunteers, was brought back into service after the attacks. It pumped seawater to Ground Zero for four days, helping provide water for firefighting after the city’s water infrastructure had been damaged.

DuLong was one of the boat’s engineers.

That personal connection gives Saved at the Seawall another layer.

She wasn’t simply researching an interesting historical event.

She was writing about a community she knew—and about a day she experienced.

From Dust to Deliverance to Saved at the Seawall

There’s another piece of the book’s history worth knowing.

The book was originally published in 2017 under the title Dust to Deliverance: Untold Stories from the Maritime Evacuation on September 11.

In 2021, Cornell University Press published a new edition under the title Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift.

The newer edition includes a new preface by DuLong and a foreword by Mitchell Zuckoff.

I actually like the new title.

Saved at the Seawall captures the image at the heart of the story: people reaching the waterfront and finding that someone had come to get them.

Why This Story Matters

I don’t think remembering the Boatlift makes September 11 a “feel-good” story.

There is nothing feel-good about that day.

Nearly 3,000 people died.

Families were shattered.

First responders gave their lives.

Thousands of people were injured or traumatized.

The consequences continued long after the smoke cleared.

Remembering the Boatlift doesn’t change any of that.

But it does remind us that the story of September 11 isn’t made up exclusively of destruction.

It also contains extraordinary acts of courage, compassion and cooperation.

The people who operated those boats didn’t undo the tragedy.

They simply helped people survive it.

And sometimes that’s what courage looks like.

Why I Wanted to Read This Book

I found Saved at the Seawall because I happened to read about the Boatlift.

That’s one of the things I love about books.

They have a way of opening doors into parts of history we didn’t even realize were missing.

I thought I knew the story of September 11.

Then I discovered the boats.

Then I discovered the mariners.

Then I discovered that hundreds of thousands of people had escaped Lower Manhattan by water.

And suddenly there was an entire story I had never heard.

That’s exactly the kind of discovery that makes me want to read a book.

My Recommendation

I recommend Saved at the Seawall.

I would, however, give prospective readers the same warning I would give myself:

This is a book about September 11.

Some of the stories are difficult.

If you’re someone who finds personal accounts of that day especially hard to read, you may want to take your time with it.

That’s not a criticism.

In fact, I think it’s part of why the book is meaningful.

DuLong isn’t asking us to forget what happened.

She’s asking us to remember something else that happened, too.

People helped people.

The Story We Should Remember

Twenty-five years after September 11, there are stories from that day that almost everyone knows.

And there are stories that still haven’t received the attention they deserve.

The 9/11 Boatlift is one of them.

When the bridges and tunnels closed and hundreds of thousands of people found themselves stranded in Lower Manhattan, the harbor became a way out.

And the boats came.

They came before there was a fully organized plan.

They came when the situation was still unfolding.

They came because mariners saw people in distress and responded.

Approximately 800 mariners aboard at least 150 vessels helped carry hundreds of thousands of people to safety.

The U.S. Coast Guard calls it the largest maritime evacuation in recorded history.

And the number of people evacuated from Manhattan was greater than the number rescued from Dunkirk itself.

I think that’s a story worth knowing.

I think it’s a story worth reading.

And, perhaps most importantly, I think it’s a story worth remembering.

Because on one of the darkest days in American history, there were people standing at the seawall.

And when they looked out at the harbor, the boats came.

Book Details

Title: Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift
Author: Jessica DuLong
Foreword: Mitchell Zuckoff
Publisher: Cornell University Press / Three Hills
Publication: 2021 edition
Original title: Dust to Deliverance: Untold Stories from the Maritime Evacuation on September 11
Genre: History / Oral History / Maritime History

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The 9/11 Boatlift

The Book

Dunkirk

One Last Thought

Some stories are difficult because of what happened.

Others are difficult because of what they ask us to imagine.

The 9/11 Boatlift does both.

But it also gives us something else to hold onto.

On a day when so much was lost, people still found ways to help one another.

Sometimes history remembers the people at the center of an event.

Books like Saved at the Seawall remind us to look toward the edges, too.

Because sometimes, at the edge of the story, there is a seawall.

And beyond it, there are boats coming home.