Fiske : jMississippi J'alhy in the Civil J far 599 namely — 1,227, 890 and 1,406,180, are obtained as the number of enroll- ments made ; the last number Colonel Livermore considers probably too high, and believes that the mean between the two, namely — 1,317,035, will come nearer to the actual number of enrollments made. By converting the terms of service for which men were enrolled, into terms actually served by them, deeming the war to have closed May 4, 1865, without regarding deaths, desertions, etc., and reducing the total of these terms to a standard term of three years, the number of enroll- ments made in the Union and Confederate armies is found to be equal, respectively, to 1,536,678 and 1,082,119 men who actually served three years. The number of Confederates who were killed or died of wounds re- ceived in action is estimated at 94,000, and those who died of disease at at least 164,000, making a total loss by death of at least 258,000. Colonel Livermore presents his subject in clear and simple language, and in a soldierly and most impartial manner, and is to be congratulated on his success. His work is of intrinsic value, and will no doubt be ac- cepted by every intelligent survivor of the Civil War, whether Confeder- ate or Union ; there is nothing but honor in its pages for all. The col- lector of war literature and statistics should and will prize the book highly and the layman will find it interesting and instructive reading. T/u- Mississippi I 'alley in the Civil War. By John Fiske. (Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Pp. xxvi, 368.) It goes without saying that The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War, by John Fiske, is an unusually interesting and readable book. Mr. Fiske could not write a dull book on any subject, and the matters with which he deals in this one, and in his very best manner, might command attentive perusal although treated by the prosiest writers. The book has some minor faults, or what seem to be such in the judgment of those who do not sympathize with the author in the sentiment with which he re- gards the causes and conduct of the great struggle. Such readers can- not help thinking him at times essentially, although perhaps unconsci- ously, partizan. Of partizanship in any offensive sense, or to a degree which is positively misleading, no one who is not himself unduly in- fluenced by prejudice will accuse him ; and it is evident that he has striven to be fair in his estimate not only of the events, but of the actors he writes of. Nevertheless he occasionally uses language which, while not appreciably impairing the value of his work as a military treatise, or its historical accuracy, yet does a certain injustice, produces a wrong im- pression, and reflects on some of the Confederate officers mentioned, in a way that is neither warranted nor generous. It is certainly not fair to style a Confederate cavalry leader a "guerilla," merely because he has performed a special kind of service with more than ordinary enterprise and efficiency. During the war period that term was applied, both in the North and the South, to men who were not soldiers at all, but
