Armies of Deliverance - a Breathtaking Narrative of The Civil War

In the Armies of Deliverance (2019), Elizabeth R. Varon gather up a assortment of different documents that range from mainly books and photograph imagery. With those in hand, Varon was able to layout the groundwork that showed the battle of the Civil War from different sides, along with the struggles people faced who were not fighting in the war. This book gives a new look into what happened during the Civil War.

Varon’s goes into details of past events that took place by separating them within different sections of the book. Much like other books that talk about the Civil War, the book does not follow just a single individual but over many as the story unfolds. Such as in the beginning it talks about the first Bull Run, and what a man by the name of Charles Blackford saw as he rode through the aftermath. With that example, the book contains a lot of information from various sources that are numbered throughout the book which allows the reader to easily find where the sources in the notes section of the book.

Not only was Varon’s able to provide a good detail section where she was able to locate all her information from, but she was able to sort it out based on where in her book it is mention and what pages she found that information on. Along with the information tuck away into an organize notes section at the back of the book she provided several illustrations that includes events that happened to both white and black folks. Photographs images of important figures mention throughout the book. As well as maps show casing the paths that were taken during the war showing the path in different states.

With early America being mainly a white man's nation where anyone who had dark colored skin had next to nothing in rights even though they are human too, white women would have had more rights than a slave but were not allowed to do a lot of things that a white man was able to do. So, it is not surprising that during the middle of the Civil War women would try to enter the men's fields. Varon wrote about that during May of 1863, reformers in the North were being led by females which would then form the Women's Loyal National League, or the WLNL for short and its focus was to try to counterbalance the other organizations that were mainly led by the white men.

The Civil War as its name dictates was a war, and like most wars not only was there death happening on to both parties but also capturing prisoners as well. Varon states that both sides agreed to exchange prisoners after a given battle was over, which is one man for another man. However, things do not always work in the long run as hatred grows within a person. One event that is not mentioned as much in history books that are talked about is called the Fort Pillow massacre, where a prisoner soldier from the Confederate side would be killed for each black soldier that was killed during the battle.

The Armies of Deliverance by Elizabeth R. Varon, told the stories of the battle of the Civil War, however, not just the side that won. But both sides stories who fought to defend what they believed was right for their county. It goes over the details of the people that fought in the war, and how it was affecting them which are normally glossed over in most history classes. It talks about not only events that happened during the war, but also how bloody war it got as it took place in the United States. Varon's book gives an interesting insight into the war that everyone knows about, and should be picked up especially if one wishes to know more about the details of the Civil War.