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A famous American writer's view of the Civil War

Charles Carleton Coffin is now recognised as one the important journalists, authors and polititicians of the American nation. At the time of the Civil War he was working for the Boston Journal and was already an experienced correspondent. Writing under the pen-name of 'Carleton' he witnessed virtually every campaign from the Battle of the Wilderness to the fall of Richmond. Prior to his journalistic career he worked as a civil engineer and regularly assisted the Federal military in the field in that capacity. In this book the reader benefits from a view of the Civil War as seen by an expert observer and translated into words by an accomplished wordsmith. This is a perfect book for those who enjoy journalism and Civil War history. Coffin takes the reader to the battle of Bull Run, action at Forts Henry and Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, operations at New Madrid and Island Number Ten culminating in the fighting around Memphis. A worthwhile addition to every library of the American Civil War. ... Read more

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In this classic memoir of the Civil War, Confederate soldier Sam R. Watkins balances the horror of war with an irrepressible sense of humor and sharp eye for the lighter side of battle. ... Read more

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The South's raiding cavalry on campaign

This substantial, well known and highly regarded work presents itself to the reader as a history of a renowned unit of Confederate Cavalry. Whilst that is undoubtedly the case, the narrative is made the more relevant, interesting and indeed entertaining because its author rode within its ranks. So the book also works admirably as a first hand account of the experiences of a cavalier of the South at war. John Hunt Morgan was a Kentuckian and a regular soldier who was drawn, in common with so many of his native state, reluctantly into war against the federal government. He raised the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry regiment and as its Colonel fought at Shiloh, but it was as a raider that Morgan's Cavalry achieved most fame and, for some, notoriety. 'Morgan's Raid' which took place in July 1863 was a remarkable feat of cavalry command. With lightning manoeuvres Morgan broke past the Union lines and led nearly 2,500 Confederate cavalrymen deep into Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio making this action the deepest incursion into the north of any body of uniformed Confederate troops in the war. For those interested in the dash, élan and actions of this redoubtable body of horse soldiers and their talented commander, Duke's book-a deservedly recognised classic-is essential. Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket for collectors. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This is a nice cleaned up version of the original which was quite a book in the making.Here is an excerpt from the book:The following diary was originally written in lead-pencil and in a book the leaves of which were too soft to take ink legibly. I have it direct from the hands of its writer, a lady whom I have had the honor to know for nearly thirty years. For good reasons the author's name is omitted, and the initials of people and the names of places are sometimes fictitiously given. Many of the persons mentioned were my own acquaintances and friends. When, some twenty years afterward, she first resolved to publish it, she brought me a clear, complete copy in ink. It had cost much trouble, she said; for much of the pencil writing had been made under such disadvantages and was so faint that at times she could decipher it only under direct sunlight. She had succeeded, however, in making a copy, verbatim except for occasional improvement in the grammatical form of a sentence, or now and then the omission, for brevity's sake, of something unessential. The narrative has since been severely abridged to bring it within magazine limits.(Timeless Classic Books) ... Read more

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Volume One. The last two chapters are: Second Bull Run and Prelude to Antebellum. Numerous maps. ... Read more

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The colonel's diary; journals kept before and during the civil war by the late Colonel Oscar L. Jackson...sometime commander of the 63rd regiment O. V. I (1922)



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Twenty-one-year-old Sam R. Watkins of Columbia Tennessee joined the Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment. He recounts his experiences of the civil war, its commanders, its Yankee enemies and ultimate surrender on April 26, 1865. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A confederate retrospective
Former Confederate soldier Samuel watkins wrote this reminiscence of his combat and campaign experiences some twenty years after the Civil War.

By far, this is one of the best narratives I have yet read, especially from an enlisted man's perspective. Watkins gives us a vivid picture of the hardships and ordeals that were common to fighting men of both sides of the conflict: brutal infantry engagements and artillery barrages, grusome wounds, fatal epidemics, year-round universal suffering of all personnel under extreme variations of weather, shoddy uniforms that fell apart soon after it was issued, near-starvation, relentless marches across hostile country over harsh terrain.

The tale is not entirely grim. Watkins humorous recollections of camp-life, and the eccentric and comical characters he sometimes served with, have a certain "Mark Twain" flavor. He regularly lampoons buffoonish officers, and notes the questionalble connections and circumstancs by which some of them acquired their commissions. For those who are war veterans, reading Watkin's tale reminds us that some things never change.

There are several striking aspects in this story:
-The most memorable aspects, are his graphic descriptions of the walking-wounded and other casualties during a battle.Watkins describes soldiers horrendously maimed, some of them torn open with vital organs spilling everywhere, limbs severed completely, or nearly so. Some of the most grievous damage was inflicted by minie-ball ammunition that every infantryman used with his muzzle-loaded rifle. It was quite apparent to the author (and the reader familiar with the conditions of Civil War era field-hospitals)that those mangled men were in their final moments.
-Watkins also describes the suffering that the civilian population endured, as much at the hands of their own Confederate troops as Union Army. Desperation for food and basic shelter reduced formerly disciplined fighting-men intothieves and bandits as the war dragged on.
-It was not unusual for some soldiers to change sides, quite frequently, in some cases.
-Watkins describes a marksmanship contest, which was held to determine which personnel in the regiment would be issued the limited quantity of coveted Whitworth rifles. Southern armies certainly had no shortage of skilled riflemen.

Co. Aytch review
pretty interesting views, stories are always best when told from a
perspective of a low man on the totem pole.

One of the greatest Civil war books ever written!
One of the greatest Civil War books ever written. It is the first hand account of a Confederate private from Columbia, Tennessee fighting in some of the bloodiest battles and skirmishes of the war. Sam Watkins of the "Maury Greys" saw a lot of fightin' and dyin' while serving as part of Company H in the Army of Tennessee. He had many brushes with death and risked capture on several occasions. Read his accounts of the battles at Shiloh, Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville just to name a few. This book is something every serious Civil War buff should have in his or her library.

the absolute best book on the army of tennessee!
the best diary of a civil war veteran i have ever read!!

A Civil War classic.
This fast, short read is a Civil War memoir written by a private in the First Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate army, the "Maury Grays", about twenty years after the war. Channel surfers and Ken Burns fans may recognize "Co. Aytch" as a favorite source of quotes forWar historians, and for good cause. The book is not a history of the war - Watkins is at pains to make this point - but rather a view of what one private saw. And by his telling of it, he saw a lot. He was at or around half the Civil War battles you ever heard of - Manassas, Shiloh, Chatanooga, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta - and a bunch of others of which you probably never heard. By the end of the war he was one of seven men still living from his original company of one hundred twenty. Watkins's classic front-porch, army veteran style was likely developed over the course of many retellings, during which - just perhaps - one or two of the episodes were a tiny bit stretched. Taken prisoner three times - followed by three escapes - grazed or hit by bullets innumerable times, once having his hat removed by a cannonball, Watkins is occasionally hard to believe. A special strength of Watkins's style, however, is his abilty to switch from, for example, a lurid and breath-taking description of men in battle at the "Dead Angle" of the Hundred Days Battle northwest of Atlanta to scathing sarcasm in his assessment of General Hood's performance in that campaign. Humor abounds in this book, some of it uproarious - as in the description of a preacher who was courageous in his sermonizing but not in battle. Much of Watkins's humor, however, is gently sardonic: "Well, reader, let me whisper in your ear. I was in the row, and the following pages tell what part I took in the little unpleasant misconception of there being such a thing as north and south." "Co. Aytch" has many qualities reminiscent of "The Red Badge of Courage".The two works - the former an extroverted memoir and the latter introspective fiction - convey strongly the private's nearly constant condition of not knowing the big picture of an army's movements - a knowledge reserved for generals and for historians. The two works also offer scenes of battle which bring the reader into the action through judicious choice of descriptive detail. Watkins writes: "We were charging through an old citizen's yard, when a big yellow cur dog ran out and commenced snapping at the soldiers' legs - they kicking at him to keep him off. The next morning he was lying near the same place, but he was a dead dog." Elsewhere Watkins writes: "The sun was poised above us, a great red ball sinking slowly in the west, yet the scene of battle and carnage continued", which recalls a famous, and stronger, concluding sentence from a battle scene in "The Red Badge of Courage": "The red sun was pasted onto the sky like a wafer." It is difficult to know, finally, what to make of Sam R. Watkins. His judgements of his contemporaries are trapped in contradiction by the values of his region and era. His acceptance of the south's aristocractic ethos causes him toretreat repeatedly from his own trenchant, plainspoken criticisms of this or that general's performance; and yet the criticisms, once stated, do remain. Likewise, Watkin's patriotic and religious convictions mix with his stright-talking nature to produce contradictory opinions. All any incompetant soldier need do to be rehabilitated in Sam Watkins's eyes is to get killed in battle for his country. This triggers an immediate suspension of criticism and lengthy sentences of praise, with flowery references to reunions to come in the blessed hereafter. Watkins's most troubling conflict, however, is between his graphic depictions of the senseless brutality of the war - which of themselves amount to an argument for pacificism - and of his refusal to finally reject war either generally or in this instance. He of all human beings has seen enough to take the shine off chivalry - but he will not give it up. Sam Watkins stays true to the cheers of the ladies and of the preachers who sent him and his friends off to war in 1861. Watkins's social background triumphs over his own moral sense; and so, in the end, we get not a moral document but a wonderfully colorful description. "The tale is told. The world moves on, the sun shines as brightly as before, the flowers bloom as beautifully, the birds sing their carols as sweetly, the trees nod and bow their leafy tops as if slumbering in the breeze, the gentle winds fan our brow and kiss our cheek as they pass by, the pale moon sheds her silvery sheen, the blue dome of the sky sparkles with the trembling stars that twinkle and shine and make night beautiful, and the scene melts and gradually disappears forever." ... Read more

Product Description
Near the end of her classic wartime account, Susie King Taylor writes, "there are many people who do not know what some of the colored women did during the war." For her own part, Taylor spent four years without pay or formal training nursing sick and wounded members of a black regiment of Union soldiers. In addition, she worked as a camp cook, laundress, and teacher. Written from a perspective unique in the literature of the Civil War, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp not only chronicles daily life on the battlefront but also records interactions between blacks and whites, men and women, and Northerners and Southerners during and after the war.

Taylor tells of being born into slavery and of learning, in secret, to read and write. She describes maturing under her wartime responsibilities and traveling with the troops in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. After the war, Taylor dedicated herself to improving the lives of black Southerners and black Union Army veterans. The final chapters of Reminiscences are filled with depictions of the racism to which these efforts often exposed her.

This volume reproduces the text of the original 1902 edition. Catherine Clinton's new introduction provides historical context for the events that form the backdrop of Taylor's memoir, as well as for the problems of race and gender it illuminates.

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Customer Reviews (1)

Not worth the money. Narrative lacks detail and emotion
I am very interested in the Civil War from a female perspective so I decided to get this book. I have to say I was very disappointed with it.

Ms. Catherine Clinton give an introduction which is good and informative.

When comparing this to other narratives I have read about the war this one falls flat. Ms. Taylor's narrative is lacking detail and emotion. I thought I would get a better understanding about life in camp, but that was not the case. For instance Ms. Taylor writes about fleas in her tent and how she barely slept. That's great, but how did that make her feel? Did she hate camp life? Did she question what she was doing there? And to be perfectly honest I'm not quite sure what her role was. On St. Simon's Island she was teaching children but when she got to Camp Saxton I have no idea what she did. It seemed like she was wandering around with the troops. Did she cook? Clean? ???

From page 52 on Ms. Taylor explains what her life was like after the Civil War. So the pages of her explaining what life was like in camp are rather slim. With Catherine Clinton's introduction the reader only gets 52 pages of camp life(minus the first two chapters on her ancestors and childhood). This book is not 136 pages of a woman's experience during the Civil War.

Overall this was a great disappointment. I was hoping to read an engaging account of a black woman's experience but instead Ms. Taylor's explanation of the war was dry and lacked emotion. One thing I enjoyed about this book was how she observed race relations. I thought that was interesting and was the books one saving grace. ... Read more