My Ten Best Books About The Civil War’s Common Soldier

By Harold Holzer · Originally published November 2021 · p. 15

1. What They Fought for, 1861–1865 (Louisiana State University Press, 1994) and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 1997), both by James M. McPherson. These are two separate titles, but they are inextricably connected: the first, a preliminary survey of soldiers’ patriotic aspirations, based on original sources; the latter, a deep-dive analysis of their motives, hopes, dreams, and fears and, importantly, their coming to terms with emancipation as a motive for combat among Union troops. This is top-notch McPherson, which means the best there is. 2. Soldiers Blue and Gray by James I. Robertson, Jr. (University of South Carolina Press, 1988). Anyone who ever got to hear the legendary “Bud” Robertson lecture on the diet, health, sanitary challenges, and religious beliefs of “Billy Yank” and “Johnny Reb” will recognize in this pioneering study his unmistakable, honeyed voice and his profound understanding of the human spirit under pressure. Robertson knew this subject better than anyone; his gentle authority is evident on every page. The book is more than 30 years old, but it still thrums with vivid stories and telling detail. A classic page-turner. 3. The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies, by Peter S. Carmichael (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Truly revelatory, this deeply

researched study reveals more contradictions than common causes among soldiers trying desperately to survive. Here is one of the most realistic and original studies of men at war from the Director of the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute. It is a major achievement that all but deals an overdue death blow to the nostalgic view of romanticized war. 4. Lincoln’s Men: How President Lincoln Became Father to an Army and a Nation, by William C. Davis (Free Press, 2000). Rich in telling anecdote, this wonderful book shows why a quintessentially civilian commander-in-chief won the hearts and loyalty of his soldiers; he represented the common man. The stories of the troops’ reaction to Lincoln’s visits to the front are alone worth the price of the book, which puts to use a lifetime of study in original, sometimes obscure sources. This is a personal favorite of mine: Davis’ research is as always masterful, his story-telling captivating, and this book made a real contribution to Lincoln studies. 5. Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments that Redeemed America, by Douglas R. Egerton (Basic Books 2016). Among the essential books on the “colored troops,” Egerton’s is the most recent and perhaps the most deserving of a careful read. Noah Trudeau’s and Dudley Taylor Cornish’s earlier efforts are worth noting as well, but Egerton has done something special with his new survey, summoning an analysis-based empathy for these soldiers’ special sacrifice. One critic declared that no one can read this book without developing an understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement. I tend to agree. 6. Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams During the Civil War, by Jonathan W. White (University of North Carolina Press, 2017). How could common soldiers not be tempest-tossed and haunted each and every night? White’s terrific study painstakingly illumines their hopes, longings, and fears, deftly balancing examples from both memoir and popular illustration. The result is gripping. Blessedly short on Freudian analysis and rich in original reminiscence, this is a truly original contribution to the Civil War bookshelf. (Full disclosure: White is my friend, and the vice chairman of the Lincoln Forum, which means I got to hear him lecture on this book as well.) 7. All for the Union: The Civil War Diary of Elisha Hunt Rhodes (Vintage Books, 1992). It’s been around forever, but Ken Burns made it immortal. Rhodes could write like an angel, and some of his entries approach the poetic; that they were written under the cloud of almost constant combat danger makes them even more breathtaking. Rhodes served and survived the war from Bull Run all the way to Appomattox, mustering out at the ripe old age of 23 and living another 50 years. Read this edition, which features a new preface by gifted historian Geoffrey Ward, who scripted Burns’ Civil War mini-series. 8. “Co. Aytch,” Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment; or, a Side Show to the Big Show, by Samuel R. Watkins (Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1882). Justly famous and still remarkably entertaining, this is one of the best original accounts of Confederate soldiers at leisure, in combat, riled up, and struck down. Humorist Watkins first published the stories in a newspaper series, but the book version has been a must-read since it first appeared in 1882. It has been republished many times since (beginning in 1900), and remains widely available in paperback. 9. The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (Louisiana State University Press, 1943) and The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union (BobbsMerrill, 1952), both by Bell I. Wiley. Here is the granddaddy of collected reminiscences of the ordinary fighting men on both sides. These companion books are nearly 80 years old, and maybe a bit musty, but they all but launched the genre, deeply influenced subsequent generations of historians, and still deserve places on any top-ten list. 10. What this Cruel War was Over: Soldiers, Slavery and the Civil War, by Chandra Manning (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007). This eye-opening study posited that both Union and Confederate foot soldiers ultimately came to understand that slavery was the cause of the war, and for the South, the means of its destruction. Manning mined many new original sources for this, her debut book, and the result is a stunning, must-read accomplishment.

Harold Holzer, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum and former cochairman of the U. S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, is the author of more than 50 books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He won the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize and four other awards in 2015 for his book Lincoln and the Power of the Press, and received a 2008 National Humanities Medal.