Books, Time, Relatives, and The Civil War
Categories: Movies & Books , Local Interest , Travel , Nonfiction
I recently posted a Turning the Page entry about the Charles Dickens book A Christmas Carol. It was published in 1843, 163 years ago.
Looking at these dates gave me pause. My great-grandfather George Peet, who was my mother's father's father, was born in 1844, the year after A Christmas Carol was published.
This same great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, lost his leg at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, spent time in the dreaded Libby Prison, and came home to tell about it. Thank goodness, since consequently here I am. He was a member of the 5th Ohio Volunteers, based out of Camp Dennison, Ohio, which is just a little bit east of Cincinnati.
It's fascinating to me how literature can span time and unify us like it does. And it also shows yet again how there really is nothing new under the sun.
Ohio was a Union border state in the Civil War, and contributed men and supplies to the war effort.
There are lots of novels set during the Civil War.These few are about Southerners:
- Cold Mountain (1997) by Charles Frazier, story of a soldier and the effect of the war on him, his family, and his home town; also a movie
- Gone With the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell, classic story of an elite Southern family and the toll the war took on them, made into a movie in 1939; and the sequel Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley set during Reconstruction
- Howard Bahr has so far written three masterful "Novels of the Civil War": The Black Flower (1997), about the battle at Franklin, Tennessee, and its effect on the town and people; The Year of Jubilo (2000) with soldiers returning home to face Reconstruction; and Judas Field (2006) the story of a man facing his 20-year past as a civil war soldier at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee
- How I Found the Strong (2004) by Margaret McMullen, a powerful juvenile novel about the impact of the Civil War at home
Nonfiction on the War in the North:
- The Longest Raid of the Civil War (1999) by Lester V. Horowitz; "Little-known and untold stories of Morgan's raid into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio"; Morgan's troops passed within a mile of where I live now, in suburban Cincinnati
- Civil War Monuments in Ohio (2006)
- Major McKinley: William McKinley and the Civil War (2000) by William H. Armstrong, tells about young McKinley and what let him to enlist, then how his military service combined with his ernest convictions shaped his political career
- Fighting McCooks (2006) by Charles W. Whalen, about the family that gave 17 fighting men to the Civil War and lost 4
- Eagles On Their Buttons (1999) by Versalle Washington, about the first regiment from Ohio made up entirely of free black men
The war in general:
- Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara, focuses on the Battle of Gettysburg
- Red Badge of Courage (1895) by Stephen Crane, classic story written within living memory of the war
- Andersonville (1955) by MacKinlay Kantor, centering on the prison
If you are interested in where the war was fought, consider these guides:
- Atlas of the Civil War Month by Month (2004), by Mark Swanson; "Major Battles and Troop Movements", a fascinating chonological retelling of the war
- The Civil War Trusts's Official Guide to the Civil War Discovery Trail (1998), a guide for travelling to the battlefields
- The Civil War Battlefield Guide (1990), chronological listing of battles and maps of the campaigns
- Civil War Battlefields and Landmarks (1996), "Guide to the National Park Sites" with contemporary and modern photos of the park battlefield sites, maps, and contact information
2 Comments
The literature base, both scholarly and popular, on the American Civil War is simply amazing.
In addition to the list provided in this blog entry, interested readers should also consider the following groundbreaking works:
James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom—oft considered the definitive single volume work on the Civil War. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Battle Cry of Freedom is a highly readable volume that offers a comprehensive treatment of the Civil War Era from Antebellum through Reconstruction. McPherson writes with an eloquence not generally seen in academic history.
For those more daunting souls, who have the time, energy, and desire to tackle the grand daddy of Civil War literature, look no further than Shelby Foote’s The Civil War: A Narrative. Spanning 2,936 pages, Foote’s 3 volume Civil War is a stunning literary and historical achievement.
Mary Ann, Your ancestor was the youngest of the eleven children of Thomas and Mary Peet. My ancestor was Thomas Peet , the eldest child. I do family history and would be interested in any photos of these eleven children you might have. I have a keen interest in the Civil War also. Charles , George’s brother, was killed in the Battle of Port Republic in Virginia. You may know this already. Sincerely, David