Book Review: True Crime in the Civil War

True Crime in the Civil War: Cases of Murder, Treason, Counterfeiting, Massacre, Plunder & Abuse by Tobin T. Buhk

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This was a gift but indeed it was spot on as I do enjoy reading about the Civil War and I like True Crime.

It is a neat idea and takes the premise that crime never stops. I was a bit worried since the title and cover are fairly nondescript and the author doesn’t have a large CV. Also the reviews are mixed at best.

That said, it was much better than one might be led to believe. It is very detailed with the author heavily using resources of that day.

True Crime these days is usually sensationalistic like serial killers. There’s plenty of murder here, but also counterfeiting, Andersonville and the assassination of Lincoln among other things.

So it goes from the notorious names like the Lincoln conspirators, Nathan Bedford Forest, Bloody Bill Anderson and William Quantrill, to Benjamin Butler and the legend of Sue Mundy to more obscure names.

The story of how certain individuals came to counterfeit (and help sink) Confederate money is a fascinating one. By causing inflation and chaos, it’s been said that Samual Upham hurt Dixie more than General McClellan ever did.

The plot to burn New York is another interesting war side note. As interesting as the bumbling, hare brained plot is that it almost succeeded if not for one easy mistake.

It is of note (though maybe not unrelated) the longer pieces are the least interesting. The author would likely have been better served by condensing some of the stories. 21 pages on Temperance Kelly, for example tells of an interesting murder case but becomes a tedious discussion of her court trial.

Again and again, I think Buhk puts in information because he can, but would be better served by brevity.

I saw none of the complaints that others did- his writing was fine and the copy I have was error-free. My biggest beef is that is so reliant on the newspapers of the time that it’s detailed, but bogs itself down. It’s not that it treats its subject me as too lightweight but maybe not lightweight enough.

I would recommend it to someone who has a certain level of interest in the stories inside. Buhk is probably not served well by the fact I have read some excellent books in the last couple of years that cover a lot of ground in this book.



View all my reviews