- Hardcover: 500 pages
- Publisher: Stackpole Books; illustrated edition edition (15 Aug 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0811709019
- ISBN-13: 978-0811709019
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,291,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This work presents the American Civil War experiences of Captain Francis Donaldson, one of the finest eye-witness accounts to emerge from the Army of the Potomac. It features dramatic descriptions of the fighting at Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and life in the ranks.
From the Author
A very important book by a member of the Army of the Potomac
In these 117 never before seen letters (some of the originals covered more than 50 sheets of writing paper), Francis Adams Donalson, an impressionable, high strung 20-year-old Philadelphian, details his experiences while serving in two Pennsylvania regiments attached to the Army of the Potomac. Initially enlisting at war's outbreak in the 71st Pennsylvania, he worked his way up from private to second lieutenant before he was wounded at Fair Oaks in May 1862. Commissioned a captain in the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers upon his recovery in August 1862, he survived the horrors of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Fall 1863 campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, only to see his military career ended due to the climax of an ongoing feud with his commanding officer. These letters provide a wealth of insight into the battles of the Armay of the Potomac, the attitudes of the men of that army, and at the same time reveal much about the internal feuding and backbiting that existed within many of the volunteer regiments which served during the American Civil War. The letters laid, virtually unnoticed, in the holdings of the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia until 1989, when I "re-discovered" them and began editing them for publication. All of my personal proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated to the non-profit Civil War Library and Museum. It's hard not to sound biased about your work when writing a review like this, so I'd like to share with you what Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, author and editor of numerous Civil War books (and one of Ken Burns' "talking heads" from the PBS miniseries on the Civil War)had to say about the Donaldson letters: "The Donaldson Civil War correspondence is arguably the most interesting and perceptive that it has been my fortune to read in more than 40 years." Additionally, the book was honored by being chosen as an alternate selection of the History Book Club for November 1998.
In these 117 never before seen letters (some of the originals covered more than 50 sheets of writing paper), Francis Adams Donalson, an impressionable, high strung 20-year-old Philadelphian, details his experiences while serving in two Pennsylvania regiments attached to the Army of the Potomac. Initially enlisting at war's outbreak in the 71st Pennsylvania, he worked his way up from private to second lieutenant before he was wounded at Fair Oaks in May 1862. Commissioned a captain in the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers upon his recovery in August 1862, he survived the horrors of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Fall 1863 campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, only to see his military career ended due to the climax of an ongoing feud with his commanding officer. These letters provide a wealth of insight into the battles of the Armay of the Potomac, the attitudes of the men of that army, and at the same time reveal much about the internal feuding and backbiting that existed within many of the volunteer regiments which served during the American Civil War. The letters laid, virtually unnoticed, in the holdings of the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia until 1989, when I "re-discovered" them and began editing them for publication. All of my personal proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated to the non-profit Civil War Library and Museum. It's hard not to sound biased about your work when writing a review like this, so I'd like to share with you what Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, author and editor of numerous Civil War books (and one of Ken Burns' "talking heads" from the PBS miniseries on the Civil War)had to say about the Donaldson letters: "The Donaldson Civil War correspondence is arguably the most interesting and perceptive that it has been my fortune to read in more than 40 years." Additionally, the book was honored by being chosen as an alternate selection of the History Book Club for November 1998.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The 1st California Regiment was raised under the authority of President Abraham Lincoln by his close friend and former Illinois Whig party confidant, Edward D. Baker. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The 1st California Regiment was raised under the authority of President Abraham Lincoln by his close friend and former Illinois Whig party confidant, Edward D. Baker. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
After E.P.Alexander's Fighting for the Confederacy (edited by Gary Gallagher) this is the best Civil War officer's narrative in existence. Want a real treat? Read it. You Confederates will love it too.
Format:Hardcover
This is an outstanding set of letters by a perceptive officer in the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry. It certainly ranks in the top five of Army of the Potomac letter collections published in the last decade. Donaldson was opinionated, but also intent on description, not chat. He provides excellent narratives of most of the major campaigns, but more importantly he offers insights into ordeals and events often overlooked--everyday struggles lost to history. Gregory Acken has done an outstanding job of introducing, annotating, and editing the missives, offering the reader cues to the important themes that course through the correspondence. For the serious researcher of the Army of the Potomac, this book will become an oft-cited source. For the more casual student, these letters are a vivid, first-rate look at the experience of America's Civil War.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
One of the best collections of soldier letters
12 Dec 1998
Format:Hardcover
This is an outstanding set of letters by a perceptive officer in the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry. It certainly ranks in the top five of Army of the Potomac letter collections published in the last decade. Donaldson was opinionated, but also intent on description, not chat. He provides excellent narratives of most of the major campaigns, but more importantly he offers insights into ordeals and events often overlooked--everyday struggles lost to history. Gregory Acken has done an outstanding job of introducing, annotating, and editing the missives, offering the reader cues to the important themes that course through the correspondence. For the serious researcher of the Army of the Potomac, this book will become an oft-cited source. For the more casual student, these letters are a vivid, first-rate look at the experience of America's Civil War.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
The second best Civil War narrative I have ever read
5 Feb 1999
Format:Hardcover
After E.P.Alexander's Fighting for the Confederacy (edited by Gary Gallagher) this is the best Civil War officer's narrative in existence. Want a real treat? Read it. You Confederates will love it too.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
The standard for Civil War memoirs.
26 Aug 2001
Format:Hardcover
In letters to his brother and aunt, Francis Adams Donaldson chronicled his daily experiences during three years in the infantry of the Army of the Potomac. Not intending that his words would find their way into publication, he used his letters home to express his hopes, ventilate his frustrations, and convey to his family some sense of the tedium, grandeur and horror he was experiencing. Presented almost as written, this collection of correspondence brings an honesty and immediacy not found in the often sanitized volumes of other Civil War memoirs. Donaldson was a very young man when he began his service as a volunteer in a Pennsylvania regiment. Enduring the intensity of combat, called upon to lead but not trained as a professional soldier, craving recognition and promotion, his often bitter criticisms of the abilities and personal qualities of his peers and superiors reflect his own inevitable stress and insecurity. There are other collections of such letters from Civil War combatants. What sets this book apart is J. Gregory Acken's remarkable editing and research. Almost every individual and place name mentioned by Donaldson, even if only in passing, is referenced by a footnote. Where available, photographs of the soldiers are provided. You won't be left wondering what happened to these men, whether they survived the wounds which result in their passing from the pages of the memoir, or the course of their careers as they leave the unit; their fate is there in the footnotes. Each chapter is headed by a brief section placing the subsequent letters in historical context. My only criticism of the book comes in these sections, which introduce some jarring redundancies by quoting passages later contained within the letters, themselves. The book comes most alive in the letters describing the battles of Gettysburg and Mills Run. Though it can be a long read at times, you will finish it with the feeling of having shared, in the words of the subtitle, the Civil War experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson.
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