Here’s my first book review for Civil War Monitor … Mark R. Wilson’s The Business of Civil War: Military Mobilization and the State, 1861-1865. Enjoy.
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Crossroads 
It (the book, not your review) was a struggle to read, but well worth the effort, especially the early mobilization stuff and the evolution of secondary receivables markets.
Excellent review. I hadn’t heard of this and look forward to reading it too.
I will have to check this out. I am interested in the decision process for determining whether to build in government (ship yard, ordnance lab, armory) facility or contractor facility. How procurement of specialty items was managed (detailed specification, functional specification, and contract field administration). Also the role of local (eg Army Continental Dept) vice national/DC bureau procurement.
In such a short review, you probably did not have time to address it — but I have often wondered how Grant’s early experiences as quartermaster in Mexico shaped his perspective in the Civil War. Does Wilson touch on this at all?
And, whether Wilson does or not, could you give an idea about your thoughts on the subject. I confess my reading is pretty much concentrated on the Union side, so it could easily be that I’m just not familiar with how successfully the Confederates addressed problems of logistics.
But the things I have read have made me feel like Grant was always thinking of the question of logistics — whether he cut lose from his base, as he did at Vickburg or whether he figured out a way to break a stranglehold supply siege, as he did at Chattanooga. It almost seems like Grant loved to see a genius like Montgomery Meigs, and wanted to facilitate him as much as he could. City Point, of course, was amazing. Naturally, I do see how the armies (and the US Navy) sought to disrupt the lines of support for the opposing side.
Anyway, do you have any comments you could make on a general comparison between how effectively Confederate an Union commands dealt with logistics?
FWIW, I think Sherman is also credited with having a “genius” for logistics in Steve Woodworth’s “Nothing but Victory.” Of course, much of the credit probably lies with subordinate officers. But Sherman definitely worried about things like forage for horses and putting trains to highest and best use. Plus, he was the visionary who carried “spare tunnels.” CRS
http://books.google.com/books?id=cjNdjYGIh3kC&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=sherman+spare+tunnel&source=bl&ots=I37fmXUlvK&sig=lnr7_kAsdpLAEggH0Ka60n5Q6_w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6XktT9aVAabg0QGh-IDECg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=sherman%20spare%20tunnel&f=false
Thanks for the heads up and the review. Somehow I had missed this one.
Wow. That book has been around a while. I reviewed it way back in 2007!
Great book, though.