From Fields of Fire and Glory: Letters of the Civil War [With Letters]

by Rod Gragg

A young soldier, mortally wounded, pens a last letter to his beloved father from the battlefield. That letter, along with 19 others from the Civil War, are reproduced here in facsimile for readers to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811833607
• ISBN13: 9780811833608
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"

Customer Reviews

Humbling

There are not many books that bring the Civil War to life in such a way as this one does by Rod Gragg. To read the actual letters written by Civil War soldiers - both North and South - in their own hand is one of the most humbling experiences this social historian has ever had in studying history. Letters describing battles, life in camp, camaraderie between soldiers, and a particularly gruesome first person account by a Quaker nurse's experiences during surgery. One very sad letter written by a dying soldier (who's own blood stained the letter itself) told his father of "the particulars of my death. I would like to rest in the grave yard with my dear mother and brothers...Let us all try to reunite in heaven..." First person accounts such as these gave me quite a humbling experience. Then to have the photographs and a bit of biographical information of those who wrote these vignetts of a long ago time just about brings it all home. I cannot recommend enough this truly amazing book. It gives one a whole new perspective of the War Between the States (as it was known then), every bit as much as Ken Burn's documentary. If there ever was a book that brings the past to life, this is it.