Top Ten Biographies/Autobiographies of Lesser-Known Figures

By Jonathan Noyalas · Originally published November 2021 · pp. 18–19

1. His Autobiography, Poems, and Comic War Papers. James M. Dalzell Cincinnati, OH: Robert Clarke & Co., 1888. From his home in Caldwell, Ohio, slightly more than two decades after the Civil War’s end, James Dalzell, who enlisted as a private in the 116th Ohio Infantry in August 1862, fulfilled a promise he made to the “public” and published his autobiography. By the time of the book’s publication, Dalzell had been elected to various political posts in Ohio including prosecuting attorney for Noble County and member of Ohio’s House of Representatives. While Dalzell’s autobiography covers all facets of his life until the mid1880s this volume has always been one of my favorites because Dalzell and his comrades in the 116th Ohio spent a great deal of time in the Shenandoah Valley in 1863 and 1864. Included in the book are twelve “War Sketches” which focus on various moments during Dalzell’s service as a private in the regiment. These short vignettes focus on Dalzell’s military service including reminiscences about the winter of 1864 in the Shenandoah Valley, the Battle of Piedmont,

Winchester, General Robert H. Milroy, and interactions with African Americans. 2. Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, the Confederacy’s Most Unlikely Hero. Gordon C. Rhea. New York: Basic Books, 2004. While historian Gordon C. Rhea is best known for his classic studies covering various aspects of the fighting during the Overland Campaign, arguably the most powerful book he has written to date is this volume which traces the life Private Charles Whilden, 1st South Carolina Infantry. Whilden, nearly forty years old at the time he enlisted in 1864, endured numerous failed ventures in the decades prior to the war and when the conflict broke out, he attempted to enlist to fight for the Confederacy, but epilepsy precluded him from enlisting; that is, until 1864 when Confederate ranks became so depleted that requirements eased. At the epicenter of Rhea’s biography of Private Whilden are his actions during the Confederate counterattack on the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania. As the 1st South Carolina advanced, Whilden, who carried the regimental flag, noticed it was coming loose from the staff. Aware that the flag falling from the staff might stymie the Confederate advance, Whilden became, as Rhea noted “a human flagpole,” wrapped the standard around himself, and continued forward. While Rhea’s biography powerfully traces Whilden’s story, including his wounding at Spotsylvania and death in 1866 when an epileptic seizure caused him to fall face down in a “mud puddle” and drown, it provides a compelling example of how the biography of a common soldier can be used to explore such broad themes as Confederate perspectives about devotion to duty, slavery, honor, and combat. 3. With the Old Confeds: Actual Experiences of a Captain in the Line. Samuel D. Buck. Baltimore, MD: H.E. Houck & Co, 1925. A native of Warren County, Va., Samuel Buck never intended that his reflections about his service during the Civil War would be published, but after his death in 1920 his friends convinced his wife, Alice, to publish them. Buck, who enlisted in the 13th Virginia Infantry in the spring of 1861 rose from the rank of sergeant to captain by the spring of 1863. Wounded on multiple occasions throughout the war, Buck’s thoughts about his wartime experiences have always appealed to me for the insight his thoughts offer about Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign and operations in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864. 4. “From a ‘Whirlpool of Death… to Victory”: Civil War Remembrances of Jesse Tyler Sturm 14th West Virginia Infantry. Mary E. Johnson, ed. Charleston, WV: West Virginia History, 2002. Forty years after the Civil War’s end, Corporal Jesse Tyler Sturm, 14th West Virginia Infantry, published stories about his wartime exploits in a variety of newspapers in Kansas and West Virginia. Following the rediscovery, in 2000, of Corporal Sturm’s typed manuscript by a descendant, Sturm’s observations about the Civil War were published in this volume. The bulk of Sturm’s account focuses exclusively on the Shenandoah Valley. While Sturm provides detailed accounts of the battles in which the 14th West Virginia participated, the difficulties of soldier life, both in camp and on the battlefield, and his assessments of officers in the Shenandoah are candid and revealing. Additionally, Sturm’s reflections provide some insight into the tension that existed among the various elements of General Philip H. Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah. Following the appearance of Sturm’s personal reflections in 1911, Granville Davisson Hall wrote Sturm and declared that Sturm’s writings were “so readable… so graphic and vivid.” More than a century later that assessment still holds. 5. America’s Corporal: James Tanner in War and Peace. James Marten. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2014. I have long been-interested in the Grand Army of the Republic so needless to say that my level of excitement about James Marten’s biography of James Tanner was off the charts when it was released seven years ago. Tanner enlisted as a private in the 87th New York Infantry in the autumn of 1861; in 1905 he was elected the G.A.R.’s commander in chief. Tanner’s story is a powerful one. While Marten notes that Tanner “relished fame” throughout his life, Tanner’s biography is inspiring. After losing both legs during the Second Battle of Bull Run and then learning how to walk using prosthetic limbs, Corporal Tanner knew he had to reinvent himself. After learning stenography, Tanner worked as a clerk in the War Department for the conflict’s duration. His home’s proximity to Ford’s Theater on the evening of April 14, 1865, and skill as a stenographer thrust him into the important role of recording testimony in the Petersen Boarding House about President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Although an obscure figure today, Tanner proved quite powerful for decades in postwar politics and veterans’ affairs. 6. A Volunteers Adventures: A Union Captain’s Record of the Civil War. John William DeForest, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996. Although slim, this volume presents a compelling narrative of the life, service, and thoughts of Captain John William DeForest, 12th Connecticut Infantry. Originally published in 1946 by Yale University Press, elements of DeForest’s reflections on his military service appeared in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine between 1864 and 1868. DeForest’s perspectives about his service, which ranged from early March 1862 through the Battle of Cedar Creek, presents a compelling narrative of a company commander’s experiences in Louisiana and Virginia. This volume has always appealed to me because it provides DeForest’s candid assessment of the directives his superiors ordered him to carry out. Of particular note are DeForest’s thoughts about having four companies under his charge shoot at nothing for several hours prior to Union general George Crook’s flank attack at the Battle of Fisher’s Hill on September 22, 1864. 7. A Rebel Cavalryman with Lee, Stuart, and Jackson. John N. Opie. Chicago: W.B. Conkey Company, 1899. Thirty-two years after the Civil War’s end, John Opie, a Shenandoah Valley native, published the story of his experiences as a soldier in the 6th Virginia Cavalry. Opie’s volume follows his enlistment as a private, at the age of seventeen, through his capture in early 1865, imprisonment at Elmira, and parole. It has always been a staple in my library because of his descriptions of the Shenandoah Valley’s landscape and his reflections the conflict’s impact on the region. Particularly poignant is Opie’s meditation on one of the most destructive periods during the conflict in the Valley, the Burning. While Opie did not deny the devastating toll that period between late September and early October 1864 took on the Valley’s landscape and its families, he placed the Burning into historical context and asked his readers to ponder: “Which is the worst in war, to burn a barn, or kill a fellow-man?” 8. A Duryee Zouave. Thomas P. Southwick. Brookneal, VA: Patrick A. Schroeder Publications, 1995. Originally published in 1930, Sergeant Thomas P. Southwick’s reflections on his service in the 5th New York, Duryee Zouaves, has long-been one of my favorite histories by one of the conflict’s rank and file. Southwick enlisted in the regiment in the spring of 1861 and mustered out of service in May 1863; he might have fallen into obscurity had it not been for the efforts of his daughter Elizabeth to publish her father’s story. While Southwick’s narrative of his regiment’s experiences at engagements such as Gaines’ Mill and the Second Battle of Bull Run are quite powerful, Southwick’s musings about glory and balancing patriotism with personal circumstance have always attracted me to this volume, one I continually reference in my courses at Shenandoah University. 9. Hanging Rock Rebel: Lt. John Blue’s War in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Dan Oates, ed. Shippensburg, PA: The Burd Street Press, 1994. Between 1898 and 1901, John Blue, a lieutenant in the 11th Virginia Cavalry published a series of articles recounting his experiences as soldier and scout for The Hampshire Review. While Blue’s reflections about various actions, including irregular operations, in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia initially drew me to this book years ago, I find Blue’s accounts of his experiences as a prisoner of war, attempted escapes, and descriptions of interactions with Union guards quite compelling. 10. The Bonds of War: A Story of Immigrants and Esprit De Corps in Company C, 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Diana L. Dretske. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2021. While each of the books on this list highlights an individual story, this book illuminates the wartime experiences of five individuals, all immigrants, Edward Murray, Loughlin Madden, Jr., James Murrie, William B. Lewin, and John Y. Taylor, who all enlisted in the 96th Illinois Infantry during the summer of 1862. By war’s end two of the five, Madden and Taylor, had made the ultimate sacrifice for their adopted country. This book’s appeal is that it not only uses micro-history to present an intimate portrait of how conflict impacted five 96th Illinois’ infantrymen or what motivated immigrants to fight for their adopted nation, but how the Civil War impacted their loved ones at home during the conflict and in the years after. Dretske’s collective biography of these five men who journeyed to the United States between 1841 and 1854 is a powerful volume and illustrates the usefulness of studying the lives of the common soldier. Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute in Winchester, Virginia, a professor in Civil War Era Studies at Shenandoah University, and founding editor of Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era. He is the author or editor of fourteen books. Noyalas’ latest book, Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era, was published by the University Press of Florida.