Mountains Touched with Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863 Paperback – January 1, 1995

The author’s research was impeccable. My only complaint is that I got lost occasionally among all the names that were thrown at me. A few more maps would help as well.

One of my favorite books on this important battle.Anything written by Mr. Sword is worth purchasing and illuminating. Any students interested in the Western theater should purchase this book. Fabulous, readable, well researched , fast moving, and interesting.This reviewer highly recommends this great book.

Wiley Sword's comprehensive interpretation of events surrounding Chattanooga in 1863 is excellent. Sword takes the reader strait from end of the Chickamauga battle to the situation of Chattanooga and the primary leaders who fought the campaign in part I. Part II is more focused on the troops and their stories, and Part III is aptly titled the fighting, and is the biggest portion of the book. Sword covers all of the pertinent events about the way Bragg confronted the problems at hand, as well as the personality conflicts with his officers. Sword believes that Bragg should have continued to maneuver as Longstreet recommended he do, and of course Bragg did not take that sound advice and besieged the city instead. He does not mention the plan that Longstreet had to mount as offensive against Bridgeport and Stevenson, Alabama to close the spot where Union forces were coming into. This approach to winning Chattanooga is a recent edition to Civil War history in the most recent book on Longstreet explained as a modern general. Sword also makes a few assumptions that Longstreet was expecting to take command over from Bragg, but there is really little evidence beyond rumor. He stresses that Longstreet wanted Lee to come west to fix things, but Lee would not, and that Lee thought Longstreet should stay and take over. Overall this is a very good book on Chattanooga and contains a lot of good research. Other reviewers have said here they want more and better maps. I thought what maps Sword used in this book are good, definitely worth the price.

He has been wanting this book for some time, so this was for Valentine's Day--I know--real romantic! But he got exactly what he wanted in this book. He's a real historian and has marked in it repeatedly! Thank you for the fast service!

being a history buff I enjoy reading all thing dealing with American history. this book caught my attention from the start all the way throughout.

I finally understand the Chattanooga Campaign. Thanks, Wiley Sword!

For the most part this was an entertaining and useful book. I did not enjoy it as much as Sword's other works, for two reasons. First, the maps were poor and not well situated throughout the text. Often events were described and the locations were not on any of the overall regional maps. It was also difficult to find the relevant map so an index would have been helpful. Considering the main audience for this work is composed of Civil War buffs, detailed and covenient maps should have been a top priority. Second, I think there was some mild hyperbole used throughout, with verbs chosen to unnecessarily sharpen the conflict between fueding generals. Other than these points I thought this book was a wonderful exposition of the siege of Chattanooga. After reading it I will have to visit Missionary Ridge all over again. I highly recommend Sword's other books to the Civil War enthusiast.

Excellent book!