A War of the People: Vermont Civil War Letters (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS69 the Chattahoochie [sic] River, September 4, 1864" (245), Fleharty announces the fall ofthe Southern bastion to the victorious national armies commanded by William T. Sherman. Then quite abruptly, with the apparent close of the campaign , he concluded his series of letters and stopped writing to the newspapers. Fleharty informed his readers that his reasons to discontinue his war dispatches were "weighty and most decidedly confidential" (246). The decision to quit sending newspaper dispatches, however, did not end Fleharty's war experiences, for he continued to serve faithfully to the conclusion of the war, marching with Sherman to the Sea and in the advance through the Carolinas. A number of the impressions Fleharty recorded about the final western campaigns, provided in a number of personal letters, are incorporated by the editors in their detailed and generous introduction. Jottings From Dixie provides a welcome study of Fleharty's entire life— from prewar through postwar experiences. The press dispatches illustrate a remarkably open and perceptive mind. Beyond thoughtful accounts ofregimental activities, Fleharty often informed his readers about the natural history and historic sites of the South—such as a personal investigation of the Stones River battlefield—he took the opportunity to visit when off duty. Extremely Uterate, the descriptions arid insights into soldiering during the turbulent years of civil war are clearly written and helped reveal to his audience a people and a society most of them would never have the opportunity to experience. In recent years, more and more historians have become aware of the great value of wartime letters to newspapers in helping our generation understand the Civil War. The collection of soldier-correspondent letters by Sgt. Maj. Stephen F. Fleharty provides a compelling and interesting narrative ofthe daily challenges facing the common Civil War soldier. It is unfortunate that the young man chose to quit his soldier-correspondent duties with the fall ofAtlanta—but who are we to judge such a personal decision? Rather, the reader should consider it most fortunate that the provocative impressions this entertaining Illinois soldier deemed important to record have finaUy been published for the enjoyment of future generations. Stacy D. Allen Shiloh National Military Park A War ofthe People: Vermont Civil War Letters. Edited by Jeffrey D. Marshall. (Hanover, N.H.: University Press ofNew England, 1999. Pp. xviü, 357. $25.00 paper.) Writing to his son, William Jr., on July 29, 1861, William Young Ripley of Rutland, Vermont, reflected on the results and significance of the first Battle of Bull Run. "This is a war of the people, and the men at Washington—will find that they are only agents int he matter" (40). Jeffrey D. Marshall, university archivist and curator of manuscripts at the University of Vermont, has taken his 70CIVIL WAR HISTORY title and his cues from Ripley's letter. This volume includes over 140 carefully selected letters from Vermont soldiers of every rank and civilians of every economic and social class. Marshall foUows the Civil War from its earliest days through the beginnings of the disbanding of the Union army in June 1865. He drew his sources from an estimated nine thousand extant letters in ten public research institutions and three private collections. Correspondents include Vermont soldiers and officers in the infantry, cavalry , and artillery, musicians, one of the 150 Vermont African American soldiers , a French Canadian who enlisted in a Vermont regiment, chaplains, the parents, siblings, wives, and friends ofsoldiers. The soldiers write on the march, sometimes using a cartridge case or saddle as a writing desk, and form tents and barracks. They write to say that they have survived; to express optimism, discouragement , patriotism, piety, and occasionally their prejudices. They describe details and sometimes the seamier sides of camp life and the dehumanizing viciousness of soldiering. They recount their experiences in battles, comment on what they read in newspapers or letters from home, and quell or report rumors . Often they reveal how little they themselves know of what is happening or has happened in the events in which they participate. They write to request boxes ofprovisions, occasionally to request bottles of Uquor that they can sell at great profit, and most of all to request letters from home...