My Ten Best Books for 2021

By Wayne L. Wolf · Originally published November 2021 · pp. 20–21

1. The Story of a Common Soldier. By Leander Stillwell. Franklin Hudson Publishing Company, 1920. This book details fascinating life of Leander Stillwell of the 61st Illinois Infantry’s Co. D from barracks

life at Camp Carrollton and Benton Barracks to his unit’s battles at Shiloh, Corinth, and Vicksburg. His adventures don’t end on the battlefield but continue at the hospital at Helena, Ark., and his service after the war. 2. The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War. By John Horn, Savas Beatie Publishers, 2019. This is the story of the Petersburg regiment and its campaigns under William Mahone and David Weisiger at 2nd Manassas, Crampton’s Gap, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, as well as several smaller engagements. Not limiting himself to battle reminiscences, the author included personal glimpses into the lives of the men who made up the 12th Virginia. 3. War Talks of Confederate Veterans. By George S. Bernard. Fenn and Owen Publishers, 1892. Here are wonderful personal accounts of campaigns, battles, prison life, hospital horrors, and war sacrifices by the common soldier and how even decades later, these remembrances were still vivid and formative to the men who fought the war.

4. Reminiscences of the War of 1861–1865. By Philip Brown. Richmond: Whillet and Shepperson Publishers, 1917. Brown presents a Southern soldier’s experiences in the trenches with all the fears, pathos, struggles, and suffering endured during four long years. 5. Gunner with Stonewall. By Monroe Cockrell, ed., Louisiana

State University Press, 1995. These are the recollections of William T. Poague, Lt. of Artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia. This book is a memoir written specifically for his children as the story of his service and sacrifices so that his children could appreciate the courage and reasons why Southerners fought for four long years against overwhelming odds. 6. Personal Recollections of the War of 1861. By Charles A. Fuller. Sherburne, N.Y. News Job Publishing, 1906. This is another intimate and well written account of one soldier’s life in the Union army whose sole purpose was to save the Union. His intimate details make everyday life in the army come alive and cover both the tedium of camp life and the horror of war. 7. New Perspectives on the Union War. Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth Varon, eds. Fordham University Press, 2019. This book is a series of articles that explores both the common soldier and civilian contributions to the war effort including such previously neglected topics as Catholic Conservative Unionism, radical rhetoric as an influence on the war, Elizabeth Keckley, and the role of regimental histories. A great read on often neglected insights into the war and the home front. 8. Disaster on the Mississippi: The Sultana Explosion. By Gene E. Salecker. Naval Institute Press, 1996. The Sultana was transporting over 2,000 survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba prisons when it exploded in April 1865 taking the lives of over 1,500 Union soldiers. This book not only details the disaster but delves into the personal lives of those on board, the fates of every passenger on the Sultana, and the methods of death. The volumes of research made available would lead any researcher to new avenues of inquiry into the common soldier. 9. Best Girl: Courage, Honor and Love in the Civil War. By Steve Magnuson. Dog Ear Publishing Company, 2018. The inspiring story of two young lovers embroiled in the cauldron of the Civil War. Rufus Dawes and Mary Beman Gates are ordinary civilians who experience the war first hand when Rufus joins the 6th Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade and Mary serves on the home front. Part biography, part history, and part fiction, this love story could have been about any young couple in the war. 10. The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy W. Graham. By Janet E. Croon. Savas Beatie Publishers, 2018. The diary of a disabled young boy who, although disabled, records life in the South through the war years by reading everything he could get his hands on. A wonderful picture of home life during the Civil War.

Wayne L. Wolf is Professor Emeritus at South Suburban College, the past president of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Roundtable, and the author of numerous Civil War books including Two Years Before the Paddlewheel, The Last Confederate Scout, Heroes and Rogues of the Civil War, and Soldiers, Sailors and Scoundrels of the Civil War.