Liska, William A. & Perlotto, Kim L. The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. McFarland. (2023). 290 pp., maps, illustrations. ISBN: 978-1-4766-9041-4 $45.00 (Paperback).

The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War is the first unit history EVER written about the 8^th Connecticut, a regiment which saw much action across four years of service, including with the 18^th and 24^th Corps at the Siege of Petersburg.  Authors Bill Liska and Kim Perlotto utilized numerous primary sources collected over thirty years to tell the tale of the 8^th Connecticut in a traditional military history.  The book features numerous first-person accounts weaved into an exciting narrative, fine maps, and plentiful appendices.  It does justice to the men of this long-serving Union regiment who saw duty all along the Eastern seaboard in four different Union Army Corps.

Authors William A. Liska and Kim L. Perlotto have been studying the 8^th Connecticut for decades, collecting first person accounts from the regiment throughout that time. In addition, they are part of a reenactment organization which portrays the Eighth Connecticut Volunteers, Co. A. Both authors reside in Connecticut.  Liska is a retired attorney and Perlotto is a retired computer scientist.  This appears to be their first published book.

Publisher McFarland, located in Jefferson, North Carolina, has a long history of producing Civil War books, especially unit histories.  McFarland books tend to be a bit more expensive than most non-academic presses, but this is due to their business model: “From the beginning, McFarland has been a library-oriented publisher, producing comprehensive reference works and scholarly monographs on a variety of subjects.” Despite the heftier price, most of the Civil War books I’ve read from this publisher have been very well done and often cover obscure topics which might otherwise never see the light of day. In addition, the prices for McFarland Civil War books only increase on the used book market.

The 8th Connecticut certainly had an interesting term of service, and it was a LONG one, lasting over four years from muster in to muster out.  They belonged to no less than four Union Army Corps (9^th, 7^th, 18^th, 24^th) over their lengthy service.  Organized and mustered in during late September to October 1861, the 8^th Connecticut was earmarked for Burnside’s coastal North Carolina expedition of 1862.  They were in reserve at Roanoke Island and saw action at New Bern and during the Siege of Fort Macon.  They, with other regiments of the expedition, formed the core of Burnside’s new Ninth Corps and headed north, narrowly missing Second Bull Run before participating in the Maryland Campaign of 1862.  The 8^th Connecticut fought at South Mountain and at Antietam, the latter day being their worst experience of the entire war.  There they lost nearly half of the 400 officers and men carried into action.  The regiment, perhaps as karmic grace, narrowly missed the worst of the action at Fredericksburg.

In early 1863, after Burnside’s abortive “Mud March,” the 8^th Connecticut was pulled from the Ninth Corps and sent to southeastern Virginia for service with the Seventh Corps.  They spent most of that year in the vicinity of Suffolk and Portsmouth near the Great Dismal Swamp.  This year of garrisoning defensive posts was punctuated with two more exciting events, the Siege of Suffolk in April-May 1863 and their participation in the Blackberry Raid of June 1863, meant to prevent Richmond from reinforcing Lee at Gettysburg.

In 1864 the 8^th Connecticut was again transferred, this time from the Seventh Corps to the Eighteenth Corps, Army of the James.  As part of the latter organization, they participated in Butler’s Bermuda Hundred Campaign, seeing action at Second Port Walthall Junction, Swift Creek, and Drewry’s Bluff. Drewry’s Bluff was potentially the one stain on their proud record, but the authors provide information as to why the criticism was unfounded.  The 18^th Corps (with the 8^th Connecticut in tow) were then sent to fight in the Battle of Cold Harbor, where they were involved in combat on June 1, 1864.  After Cold Harbor the 8^th Connecticut was shipped by riverine transport back to Bermuda Hundred.

From there they advanced against Petersburg on June 15, 1864, the first day of the Second Battle of Petersburg.  With the rest of 18^th Corps, the Connecticut men took portions of the Dimmock Line late that evening.  After the failure to capture Petersburg from June 15-18, 1864, both armies settled into a siege.  The 8^th Connecticut spent good portions of the early months of the Siege of Petersburg near the far right of the Union lines. They faced Petersburg with the Appomattox River guarding their right flank.  They were near or involved in the June 24, 1864 Action at Hare’s Hill, though the book only covers this obliquely in a reference from a letter. Here too they were severely bombarded by Confederate batteries on the opposite side of the Appomattox river on June 30, 1864, though they suffered few casualties.  The 8^th had a splendid view of the Battle of the Crater, which had less than splendid results for the Union.  The last major battle in which the 8^th Connecticut participated occurred during the Fifth Offensive.  The 18^th Corps assaulted Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864 and defended it against Confederate counterattacks the following day.  After being detached serve as Headquarters Guard of the 18^th Corps, the regiment witnessed the Second Battle of Fair Oaks on October 27, 1864. They spent the rest of the Siege north of the James facing Richmond, the latter portions as a member of the newly formed 25^th Corps.  The 8^th was one of the units which entered the Confederate capital in early April 1865 and garrisoned the city in the following months.  They were finally mustered out on December 12, 1865, much later than most volunteer regiments, after over four years of service.

The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War is an important new book for several reasons.  It is the first regimental history ever published on the Eighth Connecticut.  The book also covers an Army of the James regiment.  The stories and experiences of the Army of the James at Petersburg tend to get overshadowed by those from Army of the Potomac.  The authors spent decades collecting primary source material on the 8^th Connecticut from libraries, archives, and private owners.  They decided to write a traditional unit history, focusing mostly on where the regiment went and the battles in which it participated.  Liska and Perlotto did a fine job in the execution, though the Siege of Petersburg section felt a little disjointed with some gaps in the coverage.  This is almost certainly due to the waning number of good writers as casualties and sickness took their toll, an issue which often occurs in unit histories for units fighting late in the war. The somewhat disjointed Petersburg coverage may also be due to the relative inactivity of the regiments north of the James River for lengthy periods of time, especially after the Fifth Offensive ended in mid-October 1864. Despite this minor issue, the authors have a fine grasp of general Civil War knowledge as well as the more detailed knowledge of some rather obscure campaigns in which the 8^th Connecticut fought.

Liska and Perlotto utilized the voices of 8^th Connecticut men early and often in this traditional military history.  To make this work, they needed to do a LOT of research tracking down primary accounts.  And did they ever!  Sergeant Seth Plumb and Captain Charles M. Coit, who led the regiment for lengthy periods during the Siege of Petersburg, are two of the men who particularly stand out for their descriptions and the amount of surviving material.  The authors managed to find no less than twenty-one primary sources scattered in archives, libraries, and private hands.  These men are allowed to tell the story of their regiment long after death.  Liska and Perlotto are to be credited for the way they weave the story together and the amount and quality of the material they chose to include.  I wish they would have included even more from Captain Coit for my own selfish reasons!

Maps in regimental histories are often hit or miss.  Many utilize generic public domain maps with no indication of where the regiment in question was located. Thankfully The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War is NOT such a book.  The authors have included many excellent maps, both at a regional level and at the more granular tactical level.  Multiple maps are included for several key battles in which the 8^th Connecticut fought and show different times on the same day.  Antietam and Second Port Walthall Junction especially receive a lot of attention.  I may have missed this, but I could not ascertain who was responsible for the maps, leading me to believe one of or both authors was/were responsible.  Whoever did the maps, credit goes to the authors and McFarland for recognizing their importance and making sure they were included in such numbers and detail.  These maps greatly increased this reviewer’s understanding of the more obscure campaigns of the 8^th Connecticut.

The appendices also stand out and deserve recognition.  Appendix A is a standard record of service, showing battles, key dates, and organizational structure. The authors utilized Dyer’s Compendium and the Official Records for much of this material.  Appendix B is my favorite portion of the appendices, giving sometimes detailed biographies of key players in the 8^th Connecticut, including many of the men whose voices come through in the narrative.  Images of many of these men were included, often from private collections.  These add to the quality of the biographies. Appendix C looks at the flags of the 8^th Connecticut used during the war, including images of those still extant.  Appendix D covers the arms and equipment used in the war by the regiment.  Their flank companies were armed with Sharps Breech-loaders from the start, and they often were utilized as skirmishers as a result. Appendix E is a nice advertisement for the modern reenacting group to which the authors belong.  Members of the organization provided key support for the authors while they wrote this book.  Appendix F is a rare one for this reviewer.  It covers a bibliography of sources used to create the excellent maps in this book.  Other than potentially missing an opportunity to consult Richard Sommers’ masterful book on the Fifth Offensive at Petersburg or Will Greene’s first book in a Siege of Petersburg trilogy for Second Petersburg, the authors seem to have looked over a wide variety of sources to create these maps.  The time spent researching shows in the quality of the end result.

The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War would be important solely as the first book to cover the 8^th Connecticut, but it is so much more.  The authors, long-time researchers and reenactors of the unit, have spent three decades compiling the material for this book.  The men of the 8^th Connecticut are allowed to tell their own tale. It is almost as if they themselves put out their own regimental history in the late 19^th Century, a result the authors consciously set out to achieve. Readers interested in the war in the Eastern Theater, especially Antietam, the lesser-known seacoast operations, Bermuda Hundred, and the Siege of Petersburg will want to own this book.  Those interested in Connecticut and her participation in the war will also find it useful and informative.  Collectors of unit histories will find the book particularly well done, especially the maps. This first ever unit history of the 8^th Connecticut is highly recommended, and its Petersburg section is useful to students of the campaign.

Reviewer’s Note: A review copy of this book was sent for the purposes of this review.

Title: The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War

Authors: William A. Liska and Kim L. Perlotto

Unit: 8th Connecticut Infantry

Unit Affiliation:

• (2), 1, XVIII
• Unattached, XVIII
• HQ Guard, XVIII
• HQ Guard, XXIV
• (2), 3, XXIV

BTC’s Take: William A. Liska and Kim L. Perlotto, members of the Eighth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, Company A, Incorporated website and reenactors, have spent decades compiling the written recollections of members of the 8th Connecticut.  They’ve taken these recollections and used them liberally in a new history of the Eighth Connecticut, the first unit history ever written about this regiment.   The result is a traditional military history with delightful maps showing where on the battlefield these men actually fought.  The 8th Connecticut was part of the 18th Corps by the time of the Siege of Petersburg, though they fought with Burnside along the North Carolina Coast in 1862 and served in the Ninth Corps at South Mountain and Antietam. It was at the last battle where the 8th Connecticut had its worst day of the war, losing nearly 200 of the 400 officers and men brought into the battle. The unit spent most of 1863 near Suffolk, Portsmouth, and the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia.  The 8th Connecticut fought in the BermudaHundred Campaign before seeing action at Second Petersburg and Fort Harrison during the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.  Multiple appendices round out the book and give readers the list of battles and organizations of the 8th Connecticut, lengthy biographies of key members of the unit including the “narrators” whose words were often used such as Captain Charles Coit and Sergeant Seth F. Plumb, and flags and arms and equipment of the regiment.  The bibliography provides a tantalizing glimpse into the first person accounts the authors found as well as a first for me, a bibliography section specifically dedicated to the maps in the book.

Book Summary/Review:

• Book Review: The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War by William A. Liska and Kim L. Perlotto

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Information:

The Eighth Connecticut Infantry was one of the longest-serving Union volunteer regiments in the Civil War and saw action throughout the Eastern Theater, from Burnside’s expedition in North Carolina to the battles at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, and campaigns throughout Virginia. Drawing on soldiers’ letters and diaries, this first-ever regimental history of the Eighth chronicles four years of combat service, with maps newly created from historical accounts.

William A. Liska is a retired attorney with a career as counsel in the title insurance industry. He lives in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Kim L. Perlotto is a retired computer scientist who spent a career in aerospace engineering. He lives in Simsbury, Connecticut.

Table of Contents:

Maps viii
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword by Matthew Warshauer 1
Preface 3
Introduction 5
Chapter 1. Hartford to Annapolis 9
Chapter 2. Hatteras to New Bern 24
Chapter 3. Fort Macon to Washington, D.C. 48
Chapter 4. Frederick, South Mountain, and Antietam 68
Chapter 5. Fredericksburg to Newport News 88
Chapter 6. Suffolk, Portsmouth, Deep Creek, Home 107
Chapter 7. Deep Creek to Drewry’s Bluff 137
Chapter 8. Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Fort Harrison 156
Chapter 9. Richmond, Lynchburg, and Home 186
Conclusion:  After the War 192
Appendix A. Record of Service 201
Appendix B. Biographies of Narrators and Notables 209
Appendix C. Flags of the Eighth 233
Appendix D. Arms and Equipment of the Eighth 241
Appendix E. The Modern Eighth Connecticut Volunteers 248
Appendix F. Map Notes 250
Chapter Notes 255
Bibliography 281
Index 285

Paperback Edition:

• Buy the Paperback Edition at McFarland
• Buy the Paperback Edition at Amazon

ISBN: 978-1-4766-9041-4

Publisher: McFarland

Release Date: 2023

Pages: 301

The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater Pages Which Mention This Book:

• 8th CT: The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War
• Book Review: The Eighth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War by William A. Liska and Kim L. Perlotto

Acken, J. Gregory (editor) & Mills, Charles J. Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865. The Kent State University Press. (2023). 312 pp., maps, illustrations. ISBN: 978-1-60635-454-4 $55.00 (Hardcover).

In Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865, Editor J. Gregory Acken refreshes and enhances the descriptive and insightful letters of Union staff officer Charles J. Mills during the last year of the war with a new second edition.  Acken builds upon the first edition by Gregory Coco, which had a small print run in 1982 and is relatively hard to find today.  Charley Mills, a Harvard-educated Boston Brahmin from an old and distinguished family, believed strongly in preserving the Union. So strongly did he believe, in fact, crippling wounds did not keep him out of the fight.  Through it all, Mills wrote home to his mother (and occasionally other family) diligently, describing from his staff officer vantage point the actions of the Union Army throughout the Overland and Petersburg campaigns of 1864-65.  Greatly increased notes describe the soldiers and civilians with whom Mills interacts, new maps add to readers understanding, and additional letters provide even more of Mills’ thoughts. Taken as a whole, Through Blood and Fire is a worthy successor to Greg Coco’s rare original and should be on the shelves of anyone interested in the Petersburg Campaign.

Editor J. Gregory Acken, a fine independent historian, has previous experience editing primary source materials for publication. His first book Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson, looked at an officer of the 118^th Pennsylvania who provided first-person details of combat with the Army of the Potomac and who constantly feuded with Colonel (and later Brevet Major General) James Gwyn.  Donaldson was involved in many of the major battles of the Army of the Potomac through late 1863, eventually resigning due to his disagreements with Gwyn.  Brian Pohanka called it “…one of the finest solder accounts of the Army of the Potomac that I have ever read.” Acken recently released a Kent State published set of letters and the diary of Union horse soldier William B. Rawle of the 3^rd Pennsylvania Cavalry entitled Blue-Blooded Cavalryman: Captain William Brooke Rawle in the Army of the Potomac, May 1863–August 1865. In addition to editing first person accounts, Mr. Acken “served for twelve years on the board of governors of the Civil War Library and Museum of Philadelphia” and has written magazine articles as well as contributed book reviews to scholarly journals.

The Kent State University Press and Greg Acken are to be commended for republishing this book, originally edited by Gregory A. Coco in 1982 in a limited print run. Coco purchased relics of Charles J. Mills in 1977. They included swords, a bloodstained cloth, a flag, and other items, but most importantly a “large, leatherbound case” of almost 200 letters.  Coco used 118 of those letters to form the backbone of the first edition. Mills suffered a crippling wound at Antietam in his first combat experience, eventually came back to the Army of the Potomac as a staff officer in the Ninth Corps and Second Corps and provided keen insights into many famous Generals and other staffers.  This book was unfortunately published in a private edition of just 300 and was an excellent candidate for much wider circulation.  Here Editor Greg Acken has stepped into the breach with a second edition, citing several improvements on and additions to the original. Acken has added some letters which were housed in Harvard’s Houghton Library as well as several others which were not included in Coco’s original find.  Unfortunately, the 200 original letters could not be found, so Acken was working with Coco’s transcriptions of the 118 which are found in the first edition.    Acken’s additions are truly felt in two areas: the annotations and the maps.  He greatly added upon and improved Coco’s original notes, identifying “nearly all of the soldiers and many of the civilians mentioned by Mills.”  In addition, his footnotes often provide needed context for the events and people Mills was writing about in letters home.  Dates have often been added in brackets to help readers better follow the letters, and Acken also explores some themes which come through in Mills’ writing.  Original maps Mills hand drew are included as updated maps, and other new maps were added to this edition of the book.   Greg Coco’s widow Cindy Small was supportive and enthusiastic about creating the second edition.

Charles J. Mills, born to a prominent and extremely wealthy family in Boston in 1841, was a son of privilege.  He was given the best education possible and graduated from Harvard in 1860.  Mills’ father, a Boston Brahmin, wasted no time in utilizing his connections to try to secure Charley an officer’s commission in a Massachusetts regiment.  But interestingly, it took quite some to obtain the prize sought after.  Eventually, in August 1862, after the Second Massachusetts had suffered severe officer casualties at Cedar Mountain, Mills was able to achieve his goal.  He was appointed a 2^nd Lieutenant and joined the regiment in time for the 2^nd Manassas and Maryland Campaigns of 1862, being appointed Adjutant prior to the Battle of Antietam.  It was there, on September 17, 1862, Mills received crippling wounds in both legs just below his hips as he sat along the Hagerstown Turnpike north of Sharpsburg, Maryland, knocking him out of the war and into bed for months.

These wounds would have exempted Charley Mills from any further service in the Civil War, but Mills was no ordinary man.  The nature of the wounds necessitated Charley join up as a staff officer to be able to ride a horse.  In the Autumn of 1863, he was appointed as adjutant of the 56^th Massachusetts, a new regiment forming which would eventually join Ambrose Burnside’s Ninth Corps for Grant’s Overland Campaign of 1864.  By the time the Overland Campaign kicked off with the Battle of the Wilderness, Mills was on the staff of the 1^st Division, 9^th Corps, led by BG Thomas J. Stevenson.  Legendary Siege of Petersburg historian Richard J. Sommers provided the Foreword to the 1982 1^st edition, calling Mills “intelligent…literate…refined” and pointing out the advantages in observation with which staff officers are blessed. Mills was present through the rest of the Overland Campaign and most of the Siege of Petersburg, serving at first as a divisional staff officer before being promoted to the Corps level, first with the Ninth Corps and subsequently with the Second Corps.  The Boston Brahmin was well-situated to view the events of 1864-65 through the eyes of the Union high command, and his intelligent and descriptive letters home give readers a glimpse as well.  He ultimately served on the staffs of Stevenson, Crittenden, Ledlie, White, Parke, Hancock, and Humphreys.

As Editor Acken writes, Charley Mills was an opinionated man, sometimes quick to pass judgment but almost always owning up to initial mistaken impressions.  Mills sometimes looked down upon others given his high social standing. He was not racially enlightened, and as Acken notes, “[h]is racially charged comments denigrating African American soldiers, though not uncommon for that era, are difficult to read.” Mills instead was focused on saving the Union.  Mills often wrote home twice a week throughout the Overland and Petersburg campaigns.  He provides first person accounts of the Ninth Corps at 2^nd Petersburg on June 17, 1864, the Crater, Globe Tavern on August 19, 1864, Pegram’s Farm in late September to early October 1864, Boydton Plank Road on October 27, 1864, where he had a hand in capturing the remains of an entire Confederate unit, and others. His evaluations of Union Generals and the staffers surrounding them are invaluable to readers and researchers alike, though he saw the world through Brahmin-tinted glasses. He was well-liked by the Boston elite as well as most everyone else who knew him.  Charley had no trouble making and keeping friends despite serving on a variety of staffs in 1864-65.

Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865 is an excellent second edition with many tangible improvements over the original.  It was an enjoyable read and is a fine addition to the first-person accounts from members of the Army of the Potomac.  Charles J. Mills’ intelligence, diligence in writing home to his mother, and his great descriptive writing combine to make this a stellar account of the last year of the war in the East.  Mills was intimately involved with the inner workings of headquarters staffs at the Corps level for a good portion of the Siege of Petersburg, making this book invaluable to students of the campaign.  Editor Greg Acken was somewhat handicapped by the fact he did not have the original letters.  They have been misplaced in the time since Greg Coco passed away in 2009.  In one case, he could not determine if Greg Coco or Charley himself accidentally wrote Hancock when he meant Humphreys after Mills had transferred to the Second Corps staff and after Hancock had left the front.  Despite this unfortunate fact, Acken strove to make the material more useful and more easily understood for modern readers with extensive annotations, extra letters, improved maps, and a large bibliography.  Mills’ fellow Boston Brahmin’s were prodigious writers after the war, and Acken mined this vein with vigor.  Mills casually name drops numerous friends from Harvard and Boston, including Meade’s staff officer Theodore Lyman, Henry Livermore Abbott, and Robert Gould Shaw of “Glory” fame among many others. While important to researchers and satisfying all scholarly requirements, this book can be picked up and read easily by anyone with an interest in the Civil War.  It is a fantastic account from a rare perspective and should be widely available to students and researchers.  For that, Greg Acken is to be commended.

Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865 is a must have reference work for anyone interested in the Civil War, but especially students of the Siege of Petersburg.  Charley Mills served for a time under James Ledlie, the most incompetent division commander in the Army of the Potomac from 1864-65, and possibly the entire war.  He knew intimately of Henry Pleasants’ mine well in advance of its explosion on July 30, 1864.  He observed the failed Ninth Corps assaults at the Crater and commented unfavorably about the USCT Division’s behavior.  He was involved in lesser-known battles at Globe Tavern, Pegram’s Farm, and Boydton Plank Road.  And through it all, he provided his observations about the men making key decisions which greatly impacted the outcome of the campaign.  Over half of this book contains letters written from and about the Siege of Petersburg.

This second edition of Through Blood and Fire improves upon the original version by increasing reader understanding of the people, places, and events in Charles J. Mills’ letters home.  The youthful Harvard graduate turned staff officer provides insightful commentary about the inner workings of Civil War era divisions and corps level staff.  He witnessed and helped make history at the Battle of Antietam as well as in the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns of 1864-65.  Mills’ determination to help his cause is nearly unequaled in the annals of Civil War history.  By all rights his Antietam wound should have knocked him out of the wat permanently.  For Mills, however, the bloodiest single day of battle in U.S. history was but a precursor of even bloodier campaigns to come.  Anyone interested in Civil War first person accounts, the Army of the Potomac, the Overland Campaign, and the Siege of Petersburg will want to own this book.  At $55 for a new hardcover, the price is steep for average students of the Civil War. In this case, however, the book is well worth it.  The only original available at the time of this review was selling for nearly as much and in just “Good” condition.  The letters of the “intelligent…literate…refined” Charles J. Mills provide a brilliant first-person account of Grant’s campaigns against Lee from a man who was well-situated and more than literate enough to record what was happening around him at Division and Corps headquarters. Lucky for us he did, and lucky too his letters have been ably edited by Greg Coco and Greg Acken.

Reviewer’s Note: An advanced digital copy of the manuscript was sent by the Editor for the purposes of this review.

Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865

edited by J. Gregory Acken

BTC’s Take: In Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865, Editor J. Gregory Acken refreshes and enhances the descriptive and insightful letters of Union staff officer Charles J. Mills during the last year of the war with a new second edition.  Acken builds upon the first edition by Gregory Coco, which had a small print run in 1982 and is relatively hard to find today.  Charley Mills, a Harvard-educated Boston Brahmin from an old and distinguished family, believed strongly in preserving the Union. So strongly did he believe, in fact, crippling wounds did not keep him out of the fight.  Through it all, Mills wrote home to his mother diligently, describing from his staff officer vantage point the actions of the Union Army throughout the Overland and Petersburg campaigns of 1864-65.  Greatly increased notes describe the soldiers and civilians with whom Mills interacts, new maps add to readers understanding, and additional letters provide even more of Mills’ thoughts.

Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865 is a must have reference work for anyone interested in the Civil War, but especially students of the Siege of Petersburg.  Charley Mills served for a time under James Ledlie, the most incompetent division commander in the Army of the Potomac from 1864-65, and possibly the entire war.  He knew intimately of Henry Pleasants’ mine well in advance of its explosion on July 30, 1864.  He observed the failed Ninth Corps assaults at the Crater and commented unfavorably about the USCT Division’s behavior.  He was involved in lesser-known battles at Globe Tavern, Pegram’s Farm, and Boydton Plank Road.  And through it all, he provided his observations about the men making key decisions which greatly impacted the outcome of the campaign.  Over half of this book contains letters written from and about the Siege of Petersburg.

This second edition of Through Blood and Fire improves upon the original version by increasing reader understanding of the people, places, and events in Charles J. Mills’ letters home.  The youthful Harvard graduate turned staff officer provides insightful commentary about the inner workings of Civil War era divisions and corps level staff.  He witnessed and helped make history at the Battle of Antietam as well as in the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns of 1864-65.  Mills’ determination to help his cause is nearly unequaled in the annals of Civil War history.  By all rights his Antietam wound should have knocked him out of the wat permanently.  For Mills, however, the bloodiest single day of battle in U.S. history was but a precursor of even bloodier campaigns to come.  Anyone interested in Civil War first person accounts, the Army of the Potomac, the Overland Campaign, and the Siege of Petersburg will want to own this book.  At $55 for a new hardcover, the price is steep for average students of the Civil War. In this case, however, the book is well worth it.  The only original available at the time of this review was selling for nearly as much and in just “Good” condition.  The letters of the “intelligent…literate…refined” Charles J. Mills provide a brilliant first-person account of Grant’s campaigns against Lee from a man who was well-situated and more than literate enough to record what was happening around him at Division and Corps headquarters. Lucky for us he did, and lucky too his letters have been ably edited by Greg Coco and Greg Acken.

Book Summary/Review:

• Book Review: Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865 edited by J. Gregory Acken

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

About the Book

The insightful letters of a Harvard-educated staff officer’s experience in the Army of the Potomac

Charles J. Mills, the scion of a wealthy, prominent Boston family, experienced a privileged upbringing and was educated at Harvard University. When the Civil War began, Mills, like many of his college classmates, sought to secure a commission in the army. After a year of unsuccessful attempts, Mills was appointed second lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts Infantry in August 1862; however, he was seriously wounded at Antietam a month later. Following a nearly yearlong recovery, Mills eventually reentered the service as a staff officer, although he remained physically disabled for the rest of his life. He was initially with the Ninth Corps during the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns and later at the Second Corps headquarters.

During his time in the army, Mills served under seven different generals and witnessed some of the most intense fighting of the war. Mills’s letters to his family offer enlightening insights about the Civil War in the East as seen from the perspective of an educated, impressionable, and opinionated Bostonian Brahmin.

Compiled, edited, and privately published in a limited edition in 1982 by the late Gregory A. Coco, Through Blood and Fire did not achieve widespread attention and has been out of print for decades. This new edition of the Mills letters, extensively revised and edited by J. Gregory Acken, incorporates additional letters and source material and provides exhaustive annotations and analysis, revitalizing this important primary source for understanding a crucial era of our history.

 

About the Editor

Gregory Acken is an independent historian whose work has focused on telling the stories of Civil War soldiers through their letters, diaries, and memoirs. He is the editor of several books, including Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson and Blue-Blooded Cavalryman: Captain William Brooke Rawle in the Army of the Potomac, May 1863–August 1865.

Hardcover Edition:

• Buy the Hardcover Edition

ISBN: 978-1-60635-454-4

Publisher: The Kent State University Press

Release Date: 2023

Pages: 312

The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater Pages Which Mention This Book:

• Book Review: Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865 edited by J. Gregory Acken
• Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865 edited by J. Gregory Acken

The Civil War Diaries of Charles Kelly: The 44th New York Infantry in the War of the Rebellion

edited by Don Owen

BTC’s Take: Although the diary entries of Charles Kelly waned a bit by the time of the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign occurred and he mustered out in October 1864, this is still a fairly meaty book.  Kelly was an officer in the 44th New York, a regiment in the 3rd Brigade, First Division, V Corps, Army of the Potomac during the Siege of Petersburg.  He fought at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, among others, and was wounded twice during the war.  Editor Don Owen did not place the entire diary in the book, choosing instead to use excerpts and fill in with meaty explanatory text around them.  More to come after I’ve had a chance to read this one.

Book Summary/Review:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Author/Editor Introduction:

Charles Kelly was the great-grandfather of my wife Gael. Charles left behind five volumes of leather-bound, hand-written diaries about 4 1/4″ wide by 6 1/2″ high, in which he recorded his wartime experiences. The diaries date from October 6, 1862 to October 9, 1864. Some of the entries are in ink and some in pencil; in general, they are difficult to read. Gael and I have spent many hours transcribing the diaries verbatim into readable form.

This work is an attempt to follow Charles Kelly through his war yearsand, based on his diaries, to get a sense of what he experienced. I have also provided background into the broader scope of what Charles, together with millions of other Americans experienced before and during the time he served in Company C of the 44th New York Volunteer Infantry.

-Don Owen

Paperback Edition:

• Buy the Harcover Edition

ISBN: 979-8-9870665-0-8

Publisher: By the Dock Publishing

Release Date: 2022

Pages: 296

The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater Pages Which Mention This Book:

• 44th NY: The Civil War Diaries of Charles Kelly: The 44th New York Infantry in the War of the Rebellion

Cobb, William R. (editor) & Reed, John C. The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox. Savas Beatie. (2023). 192 pp., 4 maps, 8 images. ISBN: 978-1-61121-514-4 $19.95 (Paperback).

Georgia Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War Memoirs are captured and ably edited in The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox. Although Reed served from First Manassas to Appomattox, his memoirs are extremely uneven in detail and coverage, as he was often knocked out of the war for lengthy periods due to illness. Despite this, Reed’s account has its high points, including excellent descriptions of the First Battle of Manassas as well as The Battle of Fussell’s Mill on August 16, 1864. It also shows the political maturation of a Confederate soldier and aristocrat as he comes to realize it was better for the South to have lost the war and slavery to be at an end. For the very first time, the entire Reed manuscript has been published in annotated form by Savas Beatie.

This is editor William R. Cobb’s first book on the Civil War.  He is well-known in baseball history and SABR (Society of American Baseball Research) circles for his numerous books on the history of baseball, especially his edited biographies of Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner. Like many in the business of writing and editing Civil War books Cobb is not a professional historian.  He holds degrees in Physics, Nuclear Engineering, and Engineering and Management. Cobb’s ancestor served in the 59^th Georgia, which at times was brigaded with Reed’s 8^th Georgia in Tige Anderson’s Brigade.

John C. Reid (later Reed), a minister’s son, was an antebellum lawyer in Georgia. He spent three years studying in the North at Princeton before the war.  His father wished him to go into the ministry and follow in his footsteps, but Reed didn’t take to it.  Instead, he poured his heart and soul into three years of intense Greek and Latin study in the late 1850s.  His dedication to education and learning shows in his numerous references to classical and military history throughout his memoirs. Reed’s father was a wealthy slaveowner, and Reed grew up in the Southern aristocracy, privy to many advantages in life. Reed served in the 8^th Georgia, a regiment primarily associated with George T. “Tige” Anderson’s Brigade, Hood’s Division, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. He thought seriously about publishing these memoirs in the late 1800s, but nothing came of it.  They lay in the Alabama State Department of Archives and Military History until “the late 20^th Century” before being rescued from obscurity.

The following is a description of Reed’s Civil War service.  He joined what would become a company of the 8^th Georgia as a 2^nd Lieutenant not long after Georgia seceded in 1861, rising to the rank of Captain and commanding the company at Appomattox.  He was present at First Manassas and provides what is to date the best description of Bartow’s Brigade at that battle in his memoir.  The 8^th Georgia wintered in Centreville before being moved to the York-James Peninsula, where they participated in the Peninsula Campaign and saw action again at Warwick Dam. Reed lost his brother early in the war.  He was mortally wounded at Seven Pines on May 31, 1862.  After the Seven Days, Reed’s regiment marched north to participate in the Second Manassas Campaign.  Reed and the 8^th Georgia were engaged late on the afternoon of the second day of fighting on August 30, 1862 near Henry Hill.  Reed lost his friend Jake Phinizy at this battle, and was wounded himself on the back of the neck from artillery fire.  The wound and his exertions now kept him out of the war for many months. He missed Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg during his lengthy recuperation.  Hood’s Division was not present at Chancellorsville.  Reed says almost nothing of battles and campaigns between Second Manassas and Gettysburg, preferring instead to reflect on a few personal vignettes of his time as a Confederate soldier. Reed was in the thick of the second day’s fight at Gettysburg, and he was wounded a second time.  He rejoined his regiment in late August 1863, was sent to Charleston, SC with his brigade, missing Chickamauga, and then finally rejoined Longstreet’s Corps in East Tennessee in time to participate in the Knoxville Campaign.  Reed gives a good description of this campaign from his perspective.  He also covers Longstreet’s Corps overwintering in East Tennessee after their failure to capture Knoxville.

Although Reed was at the Wilderness, he disappointingly covers it in one small paragraph, jumping immediately to Spotsylvania.  There Reed led his company for the first time.  But he soon became sick and was knocked out of action from mid-May to July 1864, missing the North Anna, Cold Harbor and the early stages of the Siege of Petersburg entirely.  When Reed returned, he and the rest of Field’s (Hood’s former) Division were most often stationed north of the James River protecting Richmond, and so they saw relatively less action than other units.  One massive exception was during the Second Battle of Deep Bottom.  Reed writes in some detail about the skirmishing at New Market Heights on August 14, 1864 and the larger and more serious Union attack in the same vicinity at the Battle of Fussell’s Mill on August 16, 1864.  Reed’s account of the 8^th Georgia’s role in this latter fight is one of the best I’ve read in 20+ years studying the Petersburg Campaign. After going over a few more personal vignettes, Reed covered his experiences at the Battle of Williamsburg Road, or Second Fair Oaks, on October 27, 1864.  Portions of this battle were fought on nearly the same ground as McClellan’s opening attack at the Seven Days at Oak Grove in late June 1862. Reed says no more about the Siege of Petersburg and picks up late on April 2, 1865, as Field’s Division and the rest of the Confederate Army started their retreat from Petersburg and Richmond.  He covers some fighting done by Field’s Division on April 7 before getting into his recollection of the surrender of Lee’s Army at Appomattox Court House two days later.

Reed provides a long monograph on the postwar years, covering his views of the “Old South” versus the “New South.” He ultimately concluded it was better for the South to have lost with slavery permanently ended rather than any other alternative. I was surprised to see in these postwar writings he personally thought the average ex-slave was had “as much mental capacity” on average as anyone else, only needing to be raised in “a pure moral atmosphere” to succeed.  In most other ways, however, Reed’s views on Blacks and slavery echoed the standard views of former Confederate soldiers.

Editor William Cobb provides tight and informative editing paired with concise explanatory footnotes to provide readers with context.  And boy oh boy will readers need that added context given Reed’s many obscure references to classical and military history. Reed’s memoirs, published in full for the very first time, are a welcome addition to Confederate first person accounts.  Reed was well educated, wrote well and in an engaging style, and was very descriptive when he wanted to be.  His numerous personal vignettes describe life in an average Confederate regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia.  Most if not all these stories would be lost to history if not recorded by Reed’s pen.  The downside for those of you expecting a complete narrative of the war from First Manassas is that Reed was away for many months several times throughout his career.  There is nothing at all written about Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.  Very little is written about Sharpsburg (Reed was not present) and the Wilderness (where he was present). Reed also wrote very little about the Siege of Petersburg, but the few exceptions stand out for their detail.

The maps in this book mostly come from Hal Jerspersen at CWMaps.com as well as from Hampton Newsome, who created the maps in several of John Horn’s books about the Siege of Petersburg. They are excellent as usual, which is a hallmark of Savas Beatie books across the publisher’s entire run. A very short bibliography covers only one page.  Rick Allen’s roster of the 8^th Georgia, also published by Savas Beatie, is included.  Editor William Cobb used it many times to identify men Reed discussed in his manuscript.

The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox, edited by William R. Cobb, is an important if uneven addition to the Army of Northern Virginia’s literature.  It is as tantalizing as much for what it contains as for what it doesn’t.  What if Reed, for instance, had participated in the Battles of Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and the Wilderness?  The cynic might reply that we would risk having no manuscript at all, but the possibility of more detailed and well written material from John C. Reed remains a sadly missed what might have been.  Despite this, Cobb has provided an important new account of First Manassas and Fussell’s Mill, along with several dozen looks into the everyday life of soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia.  Competitively priced at $19.95, this book is a must have for anyone interested in First Manassas and the Army of Northern Virginia.

The reviewer purchased this book for the purposes of this review.

Editor’s Note: Do you have information on this unit’s role at the Siege of Petersburg?  Please contact us using the Contact button in the menu at the top of the screen.  We are happy to exchange information with other researchers.

Muster In: Organized at Wytheville, VA on April 1, 1863.¹
Muster Out: May 10, 1865²

Commander(s):
Captain John W. Barr
Commander Image

Commander 2
Commander Image

Commander 3
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.³

Second Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.⁴

Third Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.⁵

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.⁶

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.⁷

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.⁸

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.⁹
• Weapons:

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle:

• Not present at the Siege of Petersburg.¹⁰

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle: Crutchfield’s Artillery Brigade | Chaffin’s Bluff | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army (at least 1 section and Barr)¹¹

• Commander: Captain John W. Barr (March-April 1865)¹²,¹³
• Unit Strength:
• Weapons:
• Note: The men of this battery and Captain Barr might have been utilized as infantrymen or possibly manned heavy artillery in their short time southeast of Richmond at Chaffin’s Bluff.  More research is needed.¹⁴

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles¹⁵:

• None found

Bibliography:

Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

• Levi Virginia Artillery (Barr’s VA Battery)

Sources:

The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox

edited by William R. Cobb

BTC’s Take: Georgia Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War Memoirs are captured and ably edited in The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox. Although Reed served from First Manassas to Appomattox, his memoirs are extremely uneven in detail and coverage, as he was often knocked out of the war for lengthy periods due to illness. Despite this, Reed’s account has its high points, including excellent descriptions of the First Battle of Manassas as well as The Battle of Fussell’s Mill on August 16, 1864. It also shows the political maturation of a Confederate soldier and aristocrat as he comes to realize it was better for the South to have lost the war and slavery to be at an end. For the very first time, the entire Reed manuscript has been published in annotated form by Savas Beatie. The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox, edited by William R. Cobb, is an important if uneven addition to the Army of Northern Virginia’s literature.  It is as tantalizing as much for what it contains as for what it doesn’t.  What if Reed, for instance, had participated in the Battles of Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and the Wilderness?  The cynic might reply that we would risk having no manuscript at all, but the possibility of more detailed and well written material from John C. Reed remains a sadly missed what might have been.  Despite this, Cobb has provided an important new account of First Manassas and Fussell’s Mill, along with several dozen looks into the everyday life of soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia.  Competitively priced at $19.95, this book is a must have for anyone interested in First Manassas and the Army of Northern Virginia.

Book Summary/Review:

• Book Review: The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox edited by William R. Cobb

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:

BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:

Publisher Info:

About the Book

John C. Reed fought through the entire war as an officer in the 8th Georgia Infantry, most of it with General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The Princeton graduate was wounded at least twice (Second Manassas and Gettysburg), promoted to captain during the Wilderness fighting on May 6, 1864, and led his company through the balance of the Overland Campaign, throughout the horrific siege of Petersburg, and all the way to the Appomattox surrender on April 9, 1865.

The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer is a perceptive and articulate account filled with riveting recollections of some of the war’s most intense fighting. Reed offers strong opinions on a wide variety of officers and topics. This outstanding memoir, judiciously edited and annotated by William R. Cobb, is published here in full for the first time. The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer is a valuable resource certain to become a classic in the genre.

Advance Praise

“This is rare, authentic and fascinating. The author was in the midst of things . . . where the shooting and killing occurred.” – Dr. Emory M. Thomas, Regents Professor of History Emeritus, University of Georgia

“This professional edition of Capt. John Reed’s poignant memoir offers vivid accounts of a Georgia infantry regiment in camp and battle with the Army of Northern Virginia from First Manassas to Appomattox. The gritty gripping descriptions of combat mesh well with his reminiscences of the lighter side of a soldier’s life. This is a must-read for students of Confederate infantry operations.” – John Horn, award-winning author of The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War and The Siege of Petersburg

“Captain John C. Reed, son of a minister and a well-educated gentleman, served with the 8th Georgia in the Eastern Theater. His recollections from First Manassas to Appomattox . . . offer value to students of the war, and his foray into the Western Theater and participation in the Knoxville Campaign sheds more light on this action, as do his accounts of Longstreet’s understudied winter of ’63/64 in East Tennessee.” – Michael K. Shaffer, Civil War historian, author, newspaper columnist, and instructor at Kennesaw State University and Emory University

“John Reed captures the spirit of the times and the experiences of a young Georgian who has gone to war to defend his home and loved ones in service that ranged from Manassas to Appomattox. The memoir offers insights into the horrors and humor of soldier life in the conflict that engulfed his world.” – Brian Steel Wills, author and Director of the Civil War Center at Kennesaw State University

Paperback Edition:

• Buy the Paperback Edition

ISBN: 978-1-61121-514-4

Publisher: Savas Beatie

Release Date: 2023

Pages: 192

The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater Pages Which Mention This Book:

• 8th GA: The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox
• Book Review: The Military Memoirs of a Confederate Line Officer: Captain John C. Reed’s Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox edited by William R. Cobb

Drake, Janet M. Remember me to all the friends: Civil War Letters from George W. Harwood Massachusetts 36^th Regiment. Damianos Publishing. (2022). 360 pp., illustrations, maps. ISBN: 978-1-941573679 $29.95 (Paperback).

Rare is the book containing letters and/or diaries of a soldier who served out his entire term without missing a day.  George W. Harwood of the 36^th Massachusetts Infantry was just such a man. He served in the Union Army for nearly three years, and through it all he never had to leave the front for sickness or wounds, only missing small periods of time on furlough and recruiting duty.  In Remember me to all the friends: Civil War Letters from George W. Harwood Massachusetts 36^th Regiment, editor Janet Drake carefully laid out and annotated Harwood’s remarkable set of letters home to his family from August 1862 to June 1865.

Editor Janet M. Drake is not a direct descendant of George Harwood. Instead, Harwood was Drake’s great-grandfather’s cousin.  Her family received the letters from Frances D. Martin, Harwood’s great-niece, their relative, and friend. Clearly Drake took a loving interest in these letters and takes pride in continuing the legacy of their careful preservation.  Like many of us (yours truly included), Jan Drake is not a professional historian, having obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and a Master’s Degree in Library Science.  The latter degree propelled the editor to a lifelong career as a librarian in university, corporate, and public libraries. Her passions are traveling and history, which mirrors nicely her work on the widely traveled Union Ninth Corps in this book.

George W. Harwood served nearly three years in the Union Army, all of it with the 36^th Massachusetts, a regiment in the Ninth Corps.  Diligent students of the Civil War will note with excitement, as I did, the Ninth Corps’ extensive travel history.  Even more exciting, Harwood was with his regiment almost the entire time it existed, only missing a few weeks on furloughs and a slightly longer stretch recruiting in the Spring of 1864, which allowed him to miss the bloody fighting at the Wilderness and the early days at Spotsylvania Court House.

Briefly, Harwood joined the 36^th Massachusetts in August 1862 as a private, writing his first preserved letter home on September 4, 1862.  The 36^th moved to the seat of war and narrowly missed the bloody Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, arriving just a few days later and getting assigned to the Ninth Corps.  This was a relationship which would last through the end of the war.  They stayed with the Army of the Potomac as part of the Ninth Corps and witnessed the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.

Harwood also participated in the embarrassing Mud March of early 1863.  Eventually the Ninth Corps was moved west to Kentucky, where they stayed from March-June 1863 before being sent with a portion of the Ninth Corps to the Siege of Vicksburg.  Harwood and the 36^th manned the portion of the Union line facing east to protect the Union soldiers besieging Vicksburg from an attack on their rear.  They were involved in the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, where Harwood received the first of two flesh wounds he suffered during the war.  In August 1863 the 36^th moved back to Kentucky and eventually to East Tennessee in the vicinity of Knoxville.  Here they were involved in the Knoxville Campaign and the Siege of Knoxville.   Harwood received his second flesh wound, this time in the neck, on the Union retreat to Knoxville. The Ninth Corps emerged victorious over the veterans of James Longstreet’s famous First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.

Harwood was involved in a recruiting trip back to Massachusetts in early 1864, missing the beginning of the Overland Campaign at the Wilderness, only returning after the Battle of Spotsylvania began.  From then on Harwood participated in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac and the Ninth Corps, including Cold Harbor, many battles at the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. In 1864 Harwood’s longevity and character began to pay off.  He received promotions to sergeant in January 1864 and then to 1^st Lieutenant in June 1864.  He commanded various companies of the 36^th Massachusetts from that point until after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Harwood received his discharge in June 1865.

Throughout the letters, George W. Harwood asks about those he loves at home and gives news about other men from his hometown of North Brookfield, Massachusetts.  Sadly, many of these men were wounded and killed during the war, including some of Harwood’s close friends and relatives.  He was instrumental in getting the effects home for several of his friends who were killed in battle. He often stresses his belief in God and his desire to have his family place their trust in God, especially his father.  Harwood would occasionally ask about how things were progressing on the family farm, often asking how his colt was doing in his absence. He was always interested in the doings of his family and friends, and as the war drew to a close he asked more and more about various potentially single women. As the war progressed Harwood was assigned duties as an orderly sergeant and later as a company commander which necessitated much writing on his part.  He often wrote long letter home with a lot of detail of soldier life.  Whether he is discussing his amusement at soldiers standing in knee-deep water after digging their tent into the ground or his interactions with other officers and men, Harwood never fails to have an interesting comment on something in almost every letter. In addition, his letters act as a sort of unofficial itinerary of the 36^th Massachusetts throughout the war.  His letters written during the Siege of Petersburg will prove invaluable in terms of placing the regiment at various points in the campaign. For example, readers learn Harwood and the 36^th Massachusetts were stationed at Fort Rice from November 1864 to at least February 1865 based on the location he lists at the top of most of his letters.

Though this book is fantastic in terms of the letters’ content and the editors’ knowledge of the Civil War, there are some oddities which should be discussed. Before I get into those, here is Drake’s explanation to her approach in her Introduction: “Everyone who has worked with the letters has kept the wording, spelling, and punctuation as close as possible to George’s writing. I have kept a letter format similar to the originals to preserve as much as possible the experience of reading letters written from a military camp. Punctuation in the nineteenth century was not yet standardized, so often it is missing entirely. A handwritten letter also is spaced more loosely than a printed one. Therefore, when it is necessary for the reader to easily understand George’s thinking, I have kept a space between words instead of inserting the punctuation which a modern reader would expect. When necessary for clarity I have sometimes added words in [square brackets]. George’s letters are in roman (non-italic) font (for clarity) and my explanations and context notes are in italics.”

This is mostly fairly standard and it works very well.  The more you read the more you get into the cadence Harwood used in his writing. There are oddities, however, with the annotation method.  There are no standard footnotes or endnotes in the book.  Instead Drake explains what Harwood means in italics after each letter.  It works just fine but is decidedly non-standard in approach.

In addition, Drake refers to all regiments in archaic fashion, calling the 36^th Massachusetts the “Massachusetts Thirty-Sixth,” doing the same for all other regiments mentioned in the book.  It isn’t wrong, per se, given Civil War era people themselves often referred to units in this manner.  But it is a bit jarring to see repeatedly if you have any background in reading Civil War books.

Lastly, Drake’s interpretation of a few battles seems just slightly shy of the mark.  For instance, on page 317 George is clearly describing the March 25, 1865 Battle of Fort Stedman.  He mentions: “Saturday forenoon.   We were aroused this morning at 4 o’clock by a charge on our right nearly in front of Meads Station. the rebs drove in our Pickets + I think took one of our Forts… it lasted from 4 to 8 in fact it has not wholy ceased yet.” “Saturday forenoon” is the morning of Saturday, March 25, 1865, which is the day the Battle of Fort Stedman began.  Meade’s Station is directly behind Fort Stedman on the US Military Railroad.  Harwood very accurately describes what happened at the Battle of Fort Stedman. As a fellow member of the Ninth Corps, he was stationed only slightly farther to the left, or south, of the engagement.  Drake mentions in italics “this engagement took place just before the Battle of Fort Stedman on the western end of the line, on March 25.”  But Harwood was in fact describing his first reaction to the Battle of Fort Stedman itself. This sort of thing is rare but does occur in several places.

Despite the minor issues mentioned above, this was a FANTASTIC book.  Harwood’s letters alone are worth reading in any format.  The editor clearly did her research and cared deeply about getting things right.  Despite a few minor quibbles, she did just that. Her choice of editing worked well and allows modern day readers to clearly understand a Civil War soldier’s letters home.  It seems obvious the Editor’s lifelong work as a librarian positively impacted the research done to find and catalog the wide number of people, places, and events George Harwood experienced in his nearly three years of army life in the Union Ninth Corps. As just one specific example, anyone who knows about and uses the Lytle-Holdcamper list of Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1790-1868 when trying to identify Civil War era steamships is doing their homework.

The maps in the book are minimal but very effective for this sort of study.  At the beginning of many chapters a regional map of the area where the 36^th Massachusetts’ location was added.  Important sties mentioned in George’s letters are included and marked prominently on the map.  Illustrations abound, including images of George Harwood and some of the many people he mentions in his letters. These were well done and were positive contributions to the book.

There are numerous appendices in the book which are extremely helpful to remind the reader where Harwood was and what he was doing throughout the war.  Harwood also mentions many of his extended family.  In addition to bracketed reminders in the text, an appendix covers the family trees of this soldier’s extended family.  Several including his brother-in-law Freeman Doane were also soldiers. “Appendix III” is the Bibliography, which would traditionally just be listed as a bibliography rather than as an appendix.  Here it is clear the editor did a lot of deep reading to better explain Harwood’s letters.  Highlights include the Official Records, a must in any study of the Civil War, William Marvel’s biography of long time Ninth Corps commander Ambrose Burnside, Earl Hess’ book on the Knoxville Campaign of 1863, and Henry Burrage’s regimental history of the 36^th Massachusetts, originally published in 1884.

Remember me to all the friends: Civil War Letters from George W. Harwood Massachusetts 36^th Regiment is one of the better books of soldier’s letters I’ve read over the years.  Anyone with an interest in first person accounts of the Civil War will want to own this book.  Those with an interest in the Union Ninth Corps will find it even more fascinating.  At $29.95 it is very reasonably priced for the content it contains. George Harwood was in many hot places on the battlefield and experienced a lifetime’s worth of travel over three years in the army and lived to tell the tale. Editor Janet Drake has lovingly and carefully taken Harwood’s letters and presented them in an engaging and easy to read fashion.  We as readers are all the richer for it. Harwood discusses all manner of things with his family back home and often reflects on his time in the army and what it means for him to have gained this life experience at so young an age. This book also serves as a fine itinerary of the 36^th Massachusetts’ travels during the Civil War, as Harwood was with the unit from their muster in until his muster out several months after Appomattox.

Note: A free PDF version of this book was provided for the purposes of this review.