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.
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 59th Georgia, which at times was brigaded with Reed’s 8th 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 8th 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 20th 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 8th Georgia as a 2nd 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 8th 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 8th 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 8th 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 8th 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
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:
Sources:
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Weaver, Jeffrey C. The Nottoway Artillery and Barr’s Battery, Virginia Light Artillery. H.E. Howard, 1994, pp. 126-127 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
Weaver, Jeffrey C. The Nottoway Artillery and Barr’s Battery, Virginia Light Artillery. H.E. Howard, 1994, pp. 126-127 ↩
Weaver, Jeffrey C. The Nottoway Artillery and Barr’s Battery, Virginia Light Artillery. H.E. Howard, 1994, pp. 126-127 ↩
Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 45 ↩
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.
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
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 36th 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 36th 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 36th 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 36th Massachusetts in August 1862 as a private, writing his first preserved letter home on September 4, 1862. The 36th 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 36th 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 36th 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 1st Lieutenant in June 1864. He commanded various companies of the 36th 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 36th 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 36th 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 36th 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 36th 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 36th Massachusetts, originally published in 1884.
Remember me to all the friends: Civil War Letters from George W. Harwood Massachusetts 36th 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 36th 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.
BTC’s Take: 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 36th 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 36th 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.
Remember me to all the friends: Civil War Letters from George W. Harwood Massachusetts 36th 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 36th Massachusetts’ travels during the Civil War, as Harwood was with the unit from their muster in until his muster out several months after Appomattox.
Harwood was present at the Second Battle of Petersburg, the Crater, Globe Tavern, Pegram’s Farm, and the Third Battle of Petersburg, and was a short distance down the line from the Battle of Fort Stedman. This book is chock full of Petersburg information for interested readers.
During the Civil War George W. Harwood enlisted for three years with the Thirty-sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. He was twenty years old, a graduate of the public schools in the town of North Brookfield, in Worcester County, Massachusetts. He came from a family who had farming and cattle trading interests. He had also worked in the shoe manufacturing trade, which was a prominent industry in North Brookfield at the time. This book is the collection of the letters he wrote home almost weekly for those three years.
His regiment travelled with General Ambrose E. Burnside’s Ninth Corps from Maryland, to Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and back to Virginia. Along the way there were numerous skirmishes, some major battles, and he provides an excellent description of the war and the land from a soldier’s perspective. The regiment participated in the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, the Siege of Knoxville, the Overland Campaign, and the Petersburg Campaign. George was promoted twice, first to sergeant and then to first lieutenant. His letters home to family and friends often mention others in his regiments, friends and cousins in other regiments, and news about people back home in North Brookfield.
The Burnside Ninth Corps was sometimes referred to as the “wandering corps” as they travelled across a large portion of the area where Civil War engagements took place, from east to west and then back east. Because of these travels and his promotions, the reader sees a larger view of the Civil War than is often presented. The geographical coverage is extensive, and the perspective varied, as George’s experience as a private differs greatly from what he encountered as a commissioned officer.
The letters were passed down in the family from George’s parents and sister to his great niece and then to a cousin and her husband. They are now lovingly cared for by their daughter, the author of this book.
Paperback, 7 x 10 x 0.813”, 360 pages, $29.95, ISBN 9781941573679, published 2022. Available from Silver Street Media.
OR XL P1 (Broadfoot Sup.) #58: Excerpts from Memorandum of Major James D. Ferguson, AAIG, FitzLee/Cav/ANV, June 15-July 31, 18641
SOPO Editor’s Note: The Broadfoot Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies is rare and not sold in single volumes. As a courtesy to researchers, I’m making available summaries of the reports contained in this set relevant to the Siege of Petersburg.
Summary: In this nine-plus-page memorandum, Major James D. Ferguson, the Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General of Fitz Lee’s Cavalry Division, provides a day by day itinerary style recounting of events in the division. Highlights include the pursuit of Sheridan’s Union Cavalry on its retreat from Trevilian Station as well as the First Battle of Reams’ Station on June 29, 1864. This is a FANTASTIC resource, and I would love to be able to reproduce it in full on my site for the benefit of researchers and students of the campaign.
OR XL P1 (Broadfoot Sup.) #57: Report of Captain William M. McGregor, commanding 2nd Stuart VA Arty, July 1-31, 18641
SOPO Editor’s Note: The Broadfoot Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies is rare and not sold in single volumes. As a courtesy to researchers, I’m making available summaries of the reports contained in this set relevant to the Siege of Petersburg.
Summary: This short half-page report covers the movements of McGregor’s Battery, aka the 2nd Stuart VA Horse Artillery during the month of July 1864. Based on McGregor’s report, it does not look like this battery was engaged in any major fighting in the entire month.
Source: Edwin L. Halsey Papers, Southern Historical Collection, The Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Available Online?: No. If you have access to this report, please CONTACT US. I would like to publish it on my site.
Source:
Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Part I, Reports, Vol. 7, pp. 336-337 ↩
OR XL P1 (Broadfoot Sup.) #56: Report of Captain John J. Shoemaker, commanding Lynchburg Beauregard VA Arty, June 13-July 31, 18641
SOPO Editor’s Note: The Broadfoot Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies is rare and not sold in single volumes. As a courtesy to researchers, I’m making available summaries of the reports contained in this set relevant to the Siege of Petersburg.
Summary: In this one-page report, Captain John J. Shoemaker, commanding the Lynchburg Beauregard VA Artillery, gives an account of his battery’s movements and actions from June 13-July 31, 1864. Highlights include their participation in the affair with Union gunboats at White House Landing on June 20, 1864 and the pursuit of Wilson’s Raiders culminating in the June 29, 1864 First Battle of Reams’ Station.
Source: Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, Virginia, exact location not listed
Available Online?: No. If you have access to this report, please CONTACT US. I would like to publish it on my site.
Source:
Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Part I, Reports, Vol. 7, pp. 335-336 ↩
OR XL P1 (Broadfoot Sup.) #55: Report of Brigadier General Williams C. Wickham, commanding Wickham/FitzLee/Cav/ANV, June 29-30, 18641
SOPO Editor’s Note: The Broadfoot Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies is rare and not sold in single volumes. As a courtesy to researchers, I’m making available summaries of the reports contained in this set relevant to the Siege of Petersburg.
Summary: In this one-page report, Brigadier General Williams C. Wickham, commanding a brigade in Fitzhugh Lee’s Cavalry Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, gives his account of the June 29, 1864 First Battle of Reams’ Station.
Source: Eleanor Brockenbrough Library, Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, exact location not listed
Available Online?: No. If you have access to this report, please CONTACT US. I would like to publish it on my site.
Soure:
Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Part I, Reports, Vol. 7, pp. 334-335 ↩
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.
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