Black (The Battalion), a veteran of the U.S. Army Rangers, extrapolates a lineage of the special forces group back to the American Civil War in this accessible history. The book focuses primarily on those who led Confederate units that performed missions behind the lines of conventional armies, harassing and impeding operations, such as Confederate cavalry commander Turner Ashby, whose forces stopped trains and blew up a canal dam. Black describes how these operations were organized, planned, and executed, and how they caused problems for more conventional commanders. The author stretches the term “ranger” further than most historians would condone (including both conventional cavalry, on the one hand, and guerilla fighters, on the other—and even the Blackhawk service of future president Abraham Lincoln). But this entertaining book’s tales of unconventional Civil War adventure will appeal to the general reader.

Publisher Weekly

The term Special Forces has come to encompass all highly trained special operations units from the British Commandos in 1940, but Special Forces go back through history to the ancient civilizations and were an important element during the American Civil War. – Very Highly Recommended

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Firetrench

It would be expected that given the sometimes informal territorial boundaries and the absence of a language barrier, the American Civil War would be fertile ground for covert operations. This book describes the talented men who dared to go behind enemy lines for reconnaissance and disruption. It is a thoroughly good read.

Michael McCarthy. Battlefield Guide

Michael McCarthy