Un-Civil War

Gretchen Beilfuss Witt

June 24, 2013

Un-Civil War

            The Edith M. Clark History Room has a very solid collection of books pertaining to the American Civil War.  There are many resources that allow folks interested in their Confederate or Union forebears, to find the Regiment and company to which their ancestor belonged.  They can also find where the regiment was stationed during a certain campaign and what the movements of a specific company were.  We have materials on the big players of the Civil War including Born to Battle:  Grant and Forrest a look at two brilliant combatants who each became renowned for his intelligence, resourcefulness and grit.  “Stonewall” Jackson’s military career and his personal life are portrayed in books entitled Lost Victories and they married Confederate officers, the story of Anna Jackson, Stonewall’s wife and her five sisters all of whom married Confederates. 

            Many lesser known greats are in the collection as well.  Anecdotes and personal narratives from Civil War participants – soldiers and civilians alike make this frightening time come alive.  Tales from the North and the South is an anthology full of tales of compassion, bravery, betrayal and imprisonment from all sides of the war.  Junius and Albert’s Adventures in the Confederacy is an exciting tale of the escape of two newspapermen from our own Salisbury Confederate Prison and their flight to safety and the North.

            Some more specialized topics of which the average reader might be unaware are also represented in the collection.  Sharpshooters, for instance, were prevalent on both sides and instrumental in the Civil War.    Berry Benson's Civil War book: memoirs of a Confederate Scout and Sharpshooter relates the experiences of one specific marksman.  Shock Troops of the Confederacy by Fred L. Ray speaks expressly about the development of precision marksmanship in the years before the American Civil War.  He elucidates the forgotten role of the sharpshooter battalions of the Army of North Virginia in the war and in the development of modern tactics.  The book describes the participation of sharpshooters in certain battles as well as identifying specific weapons, why each was used and by whom.  For instance, Whitworth rifles appear on the ship manifests for blockade runners, but were rare in the Confederate army as they were extremely costly at $100 up to $1000 if equipped with a telescope, full kit and a thousand rounds.  Most Confederate sharpshooters used the two-band Enfield at a much more reasonable cost of $12-$25 each.

            Aldo S. Perry’s book, Civil War Courts-Martial of North Carolina Troops is a melancholy but fascinating read.  He relates the court martial and in many cases the executions of soldiers who after joining or being conscripted into the army, deserted.  Particularly amusing is the story of one deserter whose wife was made of sterner stuff.  She told him plainly that he could not live with her if he did not go back to his company and further said he would get not even a drink of water from her.  He returned to duty and survived the war.  Perry’s narrative includes the execution of two brothers who deserted in order to search for food as they were starving; upon their return a week later they discovered they had been court-martialed and sentenced to death.   Writing sanguinely to their father before sentence was carried out, one brother remarked that they must serve as an example to other soldiers.

            Pull up a chair and read a story or two about the remarkable experiences of these earlier Americans.  Who knows, they might be related!