[REVIEW] From First to Last: The Life of William B. Franklin

Joshism

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From First to Last: The Life of William B. Franklin
by Mark A. Snell
Fordham University Press (2002)

William Franklin was a moderately well-known but not very well regarded Union general during the American Civil War. This biography started as the author's doctoral dissertation. It is heavily based on Franklin's extensive correspondence with his wife, which had previously been unavailable. He wrote with a frequency and apparent frankness beyond even McClellan or Meade.

Franklin was a career Army officer before the war, having graduated first in his class at West Point. The prewar years cover the first 50 pages, out of 364 pages of main text. Particularly disappoint to me was Franklin's extensive work on lighthouses over an eight year span - first as a District Engineer and Inspector in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts then as the Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board - is reduced to two paragraphs and a footnote. The footnote states in part: "According to the architectural historian of the Main Historic Preservation Commission, 'Franklin's impact on the design of Maine's light stations in the 1850s was substantial.'" Unfortunately, Snell apparently did not think that that substantial impact was important enough to cover in any detail.

The bulk of the text cover's Franklin's wartime experience, which is also where the aforementioned letters primarily come into play. More than three quarters of the book covers the events from 1861 through 1864. Franklin first served with the Army of the Potomac then in the Department of the Gulf. Snell gives Franklin a reasonably even treatment. It feels slightly apologist at times, but within reason. For example, Snell argues Franklin has received unfair criticism for some of his actions at Crampton's Gap (Maryland Campaign of 1862), but that he also made serious mistakes immediately after that engagement especially his failure to attack the next day in Pleasant Valley.

Franklin's letters cast a fresh light on his actions during and after Fredericksburg, particularly regarding Ambrose Burnside. This biography also puts Franklin's behavior in context with other events during his career.

The last 30 pages cover the remaining nearly four decades of Franklin's life with the Colt firearms company and various civic roles. It's a pretty interesting and probably not well known period of Franklin's life.

This is a well-written and interesting biography. For something the started as a dissertation, it doesn't come off as overly academic. It's an excellent example of a thesis serving as a theme and point of focus without beating the reader over the head with it. The use of Franklin's personal papers as a major source really helps the reader to get to know the subject better (rather than simply know about).

I would highly recommend this book to Civil War buffs. For a more general audience, I think the heavy focus on the Civil War will make it less accessible. It seems best read after you're already familiar with wartime events in Virginia from 1861 to 1863.

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Joshism

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From this biography come two particularly interesting quotes from a letter written by William Franklin on Feb 9, 1861. Keep in mind Franklin was a staunch conservative Democrat in the same vein as McClellan and Buell. Emphasis added.

"I must confess that the outrageous actions of the seceding states make me feel more like a Republican than I ever felt before. At any rate parties are fast reducing themselves to Union and Disunion, and nearly the only Union men are Northern men."
(Feb 9, 1861)

"[The] great cause of trouble now seems to be Fort Sumter. An attack is certainly imminent there, and I think it very doubtful whether the excitement of that event might not make the border states go off at once."
 

jgoodguy

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"[The] great cause of trouble now seems to be Fort Sumter. An attack is certainly imminent there, and I think it very doubtful whether the excitement of that event might not make the border states go off at once
Luckily only 4 did. He was right, the excitement pushed them into the Confederacy.
 

O' Be Joyful

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Particularly disappoint to me was Franklin's extensive work on lighthouses over an eight year span - first as a District Engineer and Inspector in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts then as the Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board - is reduced to two paragraphs and a footnote. The footnote states in part: "According to the architectural historian of the Main Historic Preservation Commission, 'Franklin's impact on the design of Maine's light stations in the 1850s was substantial.'

Can you add which lighthouses he oversaw and are still standing today?

And did George Meade have any involvement with those stations?
 

Joshism

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Can you add which lighthouses he oversaw and are still standing today?

And did George Meade have any involvement with those stations?
Franklin and Meade were in different lighthouse districts so basically no overlap in projects.

There's not enough information that I can access online to pin down exactly which lighthouses Franklin worked on. However, odds are good he designed all two dozen lighthouses built in Maine in the 1850s, along with their keeper dwellings and auxiliary structures. He definitely designed the Cape Ann Twin Lights.

As Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board, he handled correspondence between the Boar and the District Engineers. He was probably also instrumental in the creation of several standardized designs used in lighthouse construction.

I'm a guest blogger for the US Lighthouse Society and one of my columns was about Franklin: https://news.uslhs.org/2020/08/20/bright-ideas-4-william-franklin/
 
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