Diary of Corporal David L. Day: February 8, 1862

BATTLE OF ROANOKE ISLAND.

At daylight, the order to fall in was heard on all sides. Putting on my equipments and taking Spitfire and a big sweet potato, which I had with much labor succeeded in baking, I took my place in my company. The brigade all ready, Gen. Foster gave the order to march. He, with Col. Upton, took his place at the right of our regiment, marching by the flank into the woods. We soon came out to the pickets and the road that runs through the island. Here we filed to the left, marching up the road. Company A, Capt. Pickett, was thrown out as skirmishers. They soon fell in with the enemy's pickets and drove them in. The column moved up the road to within a short distance of the clearing, in front of the rebel works. On the right of the road the ground was hard and free from brush, but on the left was an almost impenetrable swamp, covered with a dense growth of tangle-blush and horse briars. The right wing of the regiment filed to the right, while the left plunged into the swamp, and with swords and jack-knives, succeeded in cutting a path until they had penetrated the swamp far enough to form our line. The regiment was now nearly all in the swamp, the right resting just across the road. The howitzer battery had taken position in the road, in front of our right wing. The 23d and 27th Massachusetts formed on our right, while the 10th Connecticut was held in reserve. We were now in line in the swamp, and facing to the front, commenced firing. The battery had already opened the ball, and were receiving the attention of the enemy in front. We could see nothing to shoot at, but taking our range by the smoke of the enemy’s guns we blazed away. We fired high, low and obliquely, thinking if we covered a wide range of ground, we might possibly lame somebody, and it seemed our shots must have proved troublesome, for they turned their attention to us, pouring musketry and canister shot without stint into the swamp. We were up to our knees in mud and water, so their shot passed over us without doing much damage. We were now ordered to cease firing and advance, but how to advance was the question. We could stand on a bog and cut away the briars in front of us and jump to another one; where they were not too large we could crawl through them, tearing not only our clothes but our hides as well. The officers rendered good service in cutting away the briars with their swords. In this way we could advance a few steps at a time and then fire a few rounds; the enemy all this time showing us marked attention. Capt. Foster of company D was the first man I saw hit. I was watching him as he stood on a bog, cutting away the briars with his sword, and thinking of him as colonel of the old 8th regiment Massachusetts volunteer militia, in which I used to muster. The shot struck him near the eye. He whirled round on the bog, and would have fallen had not three of his men caught him and led him to the rear. I was rather amused at the major's plan of rifle practice; he was practicing with a large revolver, shooting into the air at an elevation of about 80 degrees. Some one asked him what he was trying to act out. “Why,” replied the major, “you see my shots attain their summit directly over the enemy, and if one of those shot in falling should hit a man on top of his head, his goose is cooked just as effectually as though he had been hit with a cannon ball.” By cutting and crowding ourselves through the briars, we advanced to within about 300 yards of the enemy. Our ammunition being now exhausted and having been in the swamp about three hours we were ordered out. The 21st Massachusetts took our places and the 51st New York and 51st Pennsylvania regiments forced their way through to the left front; the three regiments succeeded in getting out on the enemy’s right flank. Seeing that all was now lost, the rebels took to their heels for the head of the island, followed by Reno's and Foster's brigades. At the head of the island, near the enemy's camp, was Gen. Burnside with the 24th Massachusetts regiment, to whom Col. Shaw, in command of the Confederate forces, surrendered. By this, about 3000 prisoners, with their arms, ammunition and stores, fell into our hands. But the greatest prize of all, old ex-Governor Wise, slipped through our fingers. Perhaps, having some premonitions of the fate which awaited his command, he wisely took himself off the island last night, leaving his command with Col. Shaw, of the 8th North Carolina regiment. The old governor probably acted on the principle of the militia captain who was about leading his company into action. He made them a little speech, telling them to be brave and valiant, not to run until actually forced to. “But,” he said, “in case that should happen, and I being a little lame, I think I had better start now.”

THOUGHTS.

During the action I had seen quite a number hit and led back to the rear, but I had little time to think much about it. After the chase commenced and we marched through the little redoubt and over the ground held by the enemy, and I began to see the mangled forms of dead and dying men, I was filled with an indescribable horror and wanted to go right home. I now began to realize what we had been doing, and thought that, if in this age of the world, with all our boasted civilization and education, men could not settle their differences short of cutting each other’s throats, we were not very far removed from barbarism. But I suppose so long as the nature of man is ambitious and selfish he will try to obtain by force what he cannot attain by other means. It was about night when we reached the Confederate camp, found the business had all been done, and Gen. Burnside was master of the situation. We now appropriated to our own use the log barracks of the enemy, leaving them to secure lodgings as best they could, as we had done the night before, with only this difference; they had a large body-guard over them, to see that they were orderly and kept the peace.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 34-6

Great Battle in North Carolina!

REBELS TOTALLY DEFEATED.

Newbern Taken!

THE ARTILLERY CAPTURED!

BALTIMORE, March 18. – The steamer Commodore arrived this morning direct from the Burnside expedition, and reports the capture of Newbern, North Carolina, the defeat of the enemy, and the capture of a large quantity of artillery, after a hard fought battle.

Our loss at Newbern is about 90 killed and 400 wounded.  Our men displayed great bravery.

A bearer of dispatches from Gen. Burnside left immediately for Washington.

It is reported that we took 300 prisoners.

Some reports make our loss 50 or 60 and 250 to 300 wounded.

The fight too place on Friday last.

There are rumors that one of our Brigadier Generals was killed – considered unreliable.

(Special to N. Y. Times.)

BALTIMORE, March 18. – The enemy’s works, six miles below Newbern, were attacked on Friday morning last.  They were defended by a force of ten thousand, having twenty-one guns posted behind formidable batteries, over two miles long.  The fight was one of the most desperate of the war.  Our troops behaved with great steadiness and courage, and after nearly all their positions, capturing three light batteries of field artillery, forty-six heavy siege guns, large stores of field ammunition, 3,000 stand of small arms, and 200 prisoners, including one Colonel, three Captains, and four Lieutenants.  The enemy left a large number of dead on the field.  They escaped by cars to Goldsborough, burning the bridges over the Trent and Clermont, and fired the city of Newbern.  No extensive damage was done to the place.

We lost about one hundred killed, and four hundred wounded, mostly of the New England regiments.

Rev. O. M. Benton was among the killed, and Major Legifidel, 51st N. Y. volunteers, mortally wounded.  Lieut. Col. Morrill of the 23rd Massachusetts, and Adjutant Faustens of the 21st Massachusetts Infantry were also killed.

Sergt. Major D. H. Johnson of the 23rd Massachusetts regiment, came as passenger by steamer Commodore, and from him we gather the following interesting particulars:

Our troops under Gen. Burnside, landed on Thursday evening near the mouth of Swan Creek, on the west side of the Neuse River, fifteen miles below Newbern.  Owing to a dense fog, the vessels did not participate in the fight.

Early on Friday morning the fight commenced.  Our troops advanced along the country road running paralleled with the Neuse river, but a mile or two in the rear, the road was skirted on the west side by a railroad and dense swamp.  All along the riverside were a series of batteries which were taken by our troops one after another, after some bloody hand to hand contests.

Our troops were divided into three brigades, under Generals Reno, Foster and Parks.

Gradually the enemy deserted their guns until we reached a line of earth works running across the road from the river to the swamp on the west, a distance of some two miles.  These earth works were very strong.  They were located about two miles south of Newbern, and below them and the city ran the river.  The country roads and the Railroad both passed through these works, and crossed the Neuse by a bridge.  In front of these works the rebels had felled a large number of trees, forming an almost impenetrable abattis, where the flying rebels were ready to make for a while a desperate stand.

Our men fought until their ammunition was spent, when an order to charge bayonet was given.  The works were finally taken at the point of the bayonet, the enemy flying and leaving everything behind.  In their retreat the rebels burnt the bridges over the Neuse, connecting with both the country road and R. R.

As they had their trains of cars in their rear, just across the bridges, they, of course, were able to carry off their wounded and dead.  Their loss is therefore, not certainly known, but it must have been considerable.

It was in front of the last fortification that our greatest loss was sustained.  The force of the rebels is supposed to have been about 8,000 – we captured a number of prisoners, including Col. Avery, who cursed his soldiers as cowards.

Just as the battle terminated the fog lifted and enabled our gunboats, which had been waiting for an opportunity to participate in the fight to come up the river, and our troops were furnished with means of transportation across the Trent to Newbern.  The rebels attempted to fire the town in their retreat, but were prevented by the citizens, who extinguished the flames as fast as they were started by the soldiers. – None of our Generals or staff officers were killed or wounded.  We captured from thirty to fifty cannon.  Officers of the rebels left their baggage behind and the men threw away everything.  The fight terminated at three p.m., on Friday, when our troops remained masters of the field.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 4

Details Of The Late Battle In North Carolina

NEW YORK, March 19. – The following are the details of the battle of Newberne:

Com. Case was in command of the fleet of Gunboats, and had sunken vessels, torpedoes and other rebel obstructions to overcome and pass, but surmounted them all, with but light damage to two of his fifteen vessels.  Two brigs, three barks and nineteen schooners were sunk by the rebels, above two rebel batteries.  The latter were silenced, the sunken vessels passed and our flag hoisted over the enemies batteries as our forces went along.  This was Saturday afternoon and night.

On Sunday morning a heavy fog set in, but lifted soon, and our boats passed up safely, silenced Ft. Thompson with its twenty guns heavy Columbiads, then Fort Ellis, with nine guns was captured after pretty brisk fighting, but the rebels fled in a panic, and our flag waved over another fort.

Only one fort was left to be engaged and Newberne would be at the mercy of our troops.  This was Ft. Lane, but the rebels having had enough of our boats, offered little, if any resistance, and fled.  The rebels then fired a large number of scows, filled with rosin and turpentine, intending to float them down and burn our gunboats, but they got stuck and burnt away furiously. – The gunboats then shelled the depot and track, but our troops had then crossed, and a white flag was hoisted.  Our Navy did not lose a man.

Operations on the land were briefly as follows.

Our troops landed 12 miles below Newberne, and began to prepare for an advance.  Most of the troops being so anxious to land that nearly every regiment jumped into the water and waded ashore, and the whole disembarkation was performed in less than two hours.

After marching two miles they found the deserted rebel camp with fires burning and a hot rebel breakfast untasted.  The division bivouacked for the night, and early in the morning skirmishing began.

Foster’s brigade, composed of the Massachusetts 23d, 24th, 25th and 26th with the 10th Connecticut in reserve, were in line and engaged a twenty gun battery of the rebels on their left flank, who showered grape, canister and shell upon them, also firing musketry from their infantry.  The 2d brigade comprising the 21st Mass., 51st New York, 51st Penn’a, and 9th N. Jersey, engaged them on the right and General Parks 3rd brigade took position in front.

The 1st brigade bore the brunt of the battle and the 24th Massachusetts had Maj. Stephenson and Lieut. Horton wounded, and the 23d Mass., lost Lieut. Col. Merritt, by a cannon ball carrying away one side of his body.  The 10th Conn., were ordered to support the 27th Mass., which had suffered severely.  The 3d brigade, together with the 2nd, executed a flank movement, and a hand to hand fight ensued of a most desperate character, when our troops drove the rebels out at the point of the bayonet, chasing them out of sight.

The rebels took possession of a Railroad train and fled from Newberne, burning the bridges, the Warrington House and several private dwellings.  A number of whisky and turpentine distilleries had commenced burning but were stopped.

A number of unionists were found in the city.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 3

Official Report of the taking of Roanoke Island

FT. MONROE, February 13.

The gun-boat Stars and Stripes arrived this noon from Burnside’s expedition with a bearer of dispatches for the Government.  They report the rout of the rebels as complete.  Three thousand prisoners were captured, and all their gun-boats burned or captured except two, which escaped in the canal.  The Federal loss in killed is 42, wounded about 140.  Rebels killed about 30 and their wounded less than 100.

The advance from Hatteras took place on Wednesday morning, consisting of about 60 vessels.  The fleet anchored off Stumpy Point that night and the next day proceeded to the entrance of Cotton Sound.  After a reconnoisance the attack commenced.  On Friday morning the Underwriter led on the column.  The rebel fleet was attacked and dispersed in half an hour by the navy, while the remainder attacked the lad batteries.  The fight continued till dark.

During the night ten thousand men were landed, and on Sunday morning 7,000 more.  A masked battery of three guns was soon discovered by skirmishers, and was attacked in front and both flanks.

The 21^st, 25^th and 27^th Mass., the 9^th and 51^st N. Y. and the 10^th Conn. Were particularly engaged.  The 25^th Mass. And the 10^th Conn. suffered most severely.

The fight lasted only two or three hours, when the battery was abandoned.  Our troops pursued, surrounded the rebel camp and took nearly the whole command prisoners.

O. Jennings Wise was shot twice while endeavoring to escape in a bot.  Col. Russell, of the 10^th Conn., was killed at the head of his regiment.  Col. D. Montelle, of the Depennel Zouaves, whose Zouaves were voluntary, was killed.  No other officers were killed above the rank of Lieutenant.  Our total loss in killed and wounded is less than 200, and the number of killed less than 50.

On Sunday P. M. a fleet of fifteen gun-boats started for Elizabeth City.  The place was shelled, and having been evacuated and partially burned by the rebel troops, was occupied.

The Sea Bird, which was the flag ship of Com. Lynch, was run down and boarded, and the gallant Commodore escaped by swimming to shore.

The news from Elizabeth City was received at Roanoke Island on Monday eve.

Gen. Wise was at Nag’s Head and succeeded in escaping to Norfolk.

The rebels made no fight after being driven from their entrenchments, which was done by the Hawkins’ Zouaves and the 21^st Mass.  Young Wise resisted the storming parties till he was wounded and carried off, when his command retreated with the others to the upper part of the island, where they laid down their arms.

Elizabeth City was about half burnt by the rebel soldiers.  The people sent a delegation to Com. Golsborough, asking him to send a force to assist in extinguishing the flames.

Edenton was taken possession of on Wednesday, by Com. Goldsborough, no opposition being offered.

Norfolk and Richmond papers attribute the loss of Roanoke Island to the blundering inefficiency of the navy.  They still persist in asserting that 1000 Federals were killed; they also charged some Roanoke Island farmer with directing and piloting the Yankees to the only point they could effect a landing, the landing being flanked on all sides by an extensive march.

A dispatch from Memphis to Norfolk, admits the Federal flag was cheered on Tennessee River, by people, and assert that the Federals neither seized nor destroyed any private property, not even cotton.

Gov. Letcher issued an order for the formation of home guards, for the defense of Norfolk, Petersburg and Richmond.

Bishop Ames and Hon. H. Fish returned to Baltimore, the rebels refusing to receive them.

The Richmond Dispatch says, our Tennessee exchanges give us gloomy prospects for the future in that part of the Confederacy.  Several leading journals intimate plainly that there is really a threatening state of affairs in East Tennessee, growing out of the idolatrous love of many of those people to the old Union.  The correspondent of the Memphis Avalanche writes that the condition of the interior counties is not improved by the lapse of time.  The people apprehend an immediate advance of the Northern men, and traitors to the south evince their joy.  In every village and neighborhood, the Unionists are making demonstrations.  In many of the Northern counties and even at Memphis there were exhibitions of joy on the arrival of the news at Beach Grove.  Armed bands of Johnson’s and Maynard’s followers are prowling about all directions through the mountains.  In the remote counties in the State men have been shot at night in their own houses, who adhered to the fortunes of the South.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, February 15, 1862, p. 1

51st New York Infantry - "Shepard Rifles"

Organized at New York City July 27 to October 23, 1861. Left State for Annapolis, Md., October 29. Attached to Reno's 2nd Brigade, Burnside's North Carolina Expeditionary Corps, to April, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Dept. of North Carolina, to July, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to April, 1863, Army of the Ohio to June, 1863, Army of the Tennessee to August, 1863, and Army of the Ohio, to September, 1863. District of North Central Kentucky, 1st Division, 23rd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to February, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to May 26, 1864. Engineers, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, to July 2, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, to July, 1865.

SERVICE.--Duty at Annapolis, Md., till January 6, 1862. Burnside's Expedition to Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke, Island, N. C., January 6-February 7, 1862. Battle of Roanoke Island February 8. Duty at Roanoke Island till March 11. Movement to New Berne, N. C., March 11-13. Battle of New Berne March 14. Expedition to Elizabeth City April 17-19. Duty at New Berne till July. Moved to Newport News, Va., July 6-9, thence to Fredericksburg August 2-4. March to relief of Pope, August 12-15. Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia August 16-September 2. Kelly's Ford August 21. Sulphur Springs August 23-24. Plains of Manassas August 27-29. Battles of Groveton August 29; Bull Run August 30; Chantilly September 1. Maryland Campaign September 6-22. Battles of Frederick City September 12; South Mountain September 14; Antietam September 16-17. At Pleasant Valley till October 27. March to Falmouth, Va., October 27-November 17. Jefferson November 11. Sulphur Springs November 13. Warrenton November 15. Battle of Fredericksburg December 12-15. "Mud March" January 20-24, 1863. Moved to Newport News, Va., February 19, thence to Covington and Paris, Ky., March 26-April 1. Moved to Mt. Sterling, Ky., April 3, to Lancaster May 6-7, and to Crab Orchard May 23. Movement to Vicksburg, Miss., June 3-17. Siege of Vicksburg June 17-July 4. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 5-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Destruction of railroad at Madison Station July 19-22. At Milldale till August 6. Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, August 6-20, thence to Nicholasville, Ky. Provost duty in District of Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, to February, 1864. Veterans on furlough March-April. Moved to Annapolis, Md., and rejoined corps. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 3-June 15. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Po River May 10; Ny River May 12; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 22. North Anna River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Bethesda Church June 1-3. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad August 18-21. Poplar Grove Church, Peeble's Farm September 29-October 2. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27-28. Fort Stedman, Petersburg, March 25, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Assault on and fall of Petersburg April 2. Pursuit of Lee to Farmville April 3-9. Moved to Petersburg, thence to City Point and Washington, D.C., April 20-28. Grand Review May 23. Duty at Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va., till July. Mustered out July 25, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 9 Officers and 193 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 174 Enlisted men by disease. Total 378.

SOURCE: Dyer, Frederick H., A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1423-4

Review: Now the Drum of War

Now the Drum of War:

Walt Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War
By Robert Roper

“Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background of countless minor scenes and interiors, (not the official surface courteousness of the Generals, not the few great battles) of the Secession war; and it is best they should not—the real war will never get in the books.” – Walt Whitman, “Specimen Days”

A bibliography of all the books written about the American Civil War since its opening shots fired at Fort Sumter, would easily number in the hundreds of thousands. The Civil War is, by far and away, the most written about topic in American History, and though many have tried, with greater or lesser success, no one, not even those who lived through those four battle bloodied years, has been able to capture the horror of the “real war” in print as it was truly experienced by those who participated in it.

Robert Roper, in his book, “Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War,” has pointedly circumnavigated Whitman’s challenge to future historians by not writing a book specifically about the war. Rather than offering his readers a history of the Civil War, he has instead offered up a not only biography of Walt Whitman, but a biography of the whole Whitman family.

Walt Whitman came from a large, working-class family of Long Island, New York. He was the second of nine children born to Walter and Louisa (Van Velsor) Whitman, eight of whom lived to adulthood. Like many large families, some of the Whitman siblings remained but sad shadows in the light of their more talented and successful siblings. Though Mr. Roper concentrates on the more successful members of the family – Walt, the poet; George, the soldier; and Jeff, the engineer – his narrative does not neglect the lesser known individuals of the Whitman family. Additionally, the author brings a new interpretation of Whitman’s mother, Louisa (Van Velsor) Whitman, the touchstone of the family correspondence, correcting the flawed portrait of a largely illiterate matriarch painted by previous Whitman scholars.

Mr. Roper begins his narrative of the Whitman family, nearly at the beginning with the family firmly established in the working class neighborhoods of Long Island. He follows the family who were constantly on the move, from building, living in, and selling house after house until finally coming to rest, more or less permanently in Brooklyn, and the outbreak of the Civil War.

Shortly after the firing on Fort Sumter, George Whitman enlisted in the 13th New York Militia, a three month regiment and left for the war. After his term of service expired he enlisted as a lieutenant in the 51st New York Infantry. He eventually rose to the rank of major in that regiment, and led his men through twenty-one major battles. He was wounded at Fredericksburg.

Two hours after reading George’s name listed in a casualty list in the printed in the New York Herald, Walt packed a few clothes, withdrew $50 from his mother’s bank account and headed south, first to Washington, D.C. and then on to Fredericksburg, where he found his younger brother only slightly wounded by a shell fragment that had pierced his cheek. Walt’s visit with his with his wounded brother would prove to be that catalyst that changed his life.

Deeply moved by what he saw and experienced at Fredericksburg Walt determined to help where ever he could. Through acquaintances in Washington he was able to find a place to stay and a part-time government job when left him plenty of time to visit the hospitals around Washington, and care for those soldiers who have born the battle.

Walt was a frequent visitor to the hospitals around Washington, making as many as 600 visits. He brought the wounded and dying soldiers small gifts of paper, pens, stamps, fruit, candy and other various items he deemed would be helpful to those he cared for. He sat beside the beds of the wounded soldiers, and talked to them of their lives at home, read them their letters from family and friends, wrote letters for them, held their hands, consoled them, and watched them die. They served as inspiration for his poetry.

Mean while, Mrs. Whitman was home in Brooklyn, receiving letters from her two sons away, George writing from various battlefields, and Walt from Washington. Louisa served as the hub of the family correspondence, all the while caring for the other members of the Whitman family left behind.

It is in the interweaving of these three stories, George at the front, Walt in the Washington hospitals, and Louisa at home that Mr. Roper has excelled. The largely concentrating his focus on these three stories the author does not fail to write about the other members of the Whitman family, most notably, Jesse, the oldest, mentally unstable and violently deranged; Jeff, chief assistant of the Brooklyn Waterworks who purchased a substitute and avoided the draft; the drunk and dying Andrew, and the feebleminded youngest sibling Edward; though less attention has been paid to the Whitman sisters, Mary Elizabeth and Hannah. Using the voluminous correspondence between the members of this large family as well as the journals and notebooks of the poet himself, the author gives his readers not a glimpse of the minutia of war, but rather the larger picture of battles and battlefields, the dead, the wounded and dying, the hospitals and the lives of those left behind.

Mr. Roper also deserves deep praise for not shying away from the topic of Walt’s homosexuality. Extrapolating from the poet’s notebooks and lists of names, Mr. Roper concludes that Walt had an active and open sex life. Though, he most certainly did not sleep with every one listed in his notebooks, there was enough attraction to them for Whitman to make a note of their names, and so too with the boys in his care in the Washington hospitals.

“Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War,” serves as an excellent companion to Whitman’s poetry. A journalist, historian and fiction writer, Mr. Roper provides his readers with the information to more properly put Whitman’s poetry into the context of its time; placing it against his personal life, the lives of his family and momentous events of the Civil War.

ISBN 978-0-8027-1553-1, Walker & Co., © 2008, Hardcover, 432 pages, photographs, endnotes & footnotes, bibliography & index. $28


READING AID: The Whitman Family Tree