Soldiers' Letters and Letter Writing in Civil War America

Independent scholar Foltow draws upon extensive research in letters that soldiers from Illinois exchanged with relatives and friends to give us a unique "ground up" look at the Civil War.

After a chapter discussing literacy and letters in America during the mid-nineteenth century, and the difficulties soldiers' often face in writing and posting letters, Flotow gives us ten chapters in which excerpts from letters by soldiers, and often by their correspondents, help illustrate many aspects of life and soldiering during the war. These cover enlisting and training, soldiering, long distance relationships with families, combat, encountering Southern society and slavery, views on Lincoln, other politicians, and generals, coping with disability and disease, the experience of prisoners-of-war, and the complexities of postwar adjustment.

There are numerous little anecdotes that offer insights into soldiering, often with amusing comments (e.g., a funny description of a "dog tent"), as well as how the war effected men's views about abolition, the stresses of separation, and more, including a very amusing series of exchanges between a soldier and his sweetheart.

Flotow often adds commentary to the various quotes, defining unfamiliar terms, identifying references, and explaining details of life, such as the cost of paper, pen, ink, and postage.

As a bonus, in an appendix, Flotow gives us a brief profile of each of the more than 150 men quoted in these pages.

While Flotow's book gives us a look at the war as seen by soldiers from the Prairie State, it seems likely that their experiences were similar to those of troops from other parts of the country. In Their Letters, In Their Words is a good read for anyone interested in soldiering and society during the Civil War.

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Note: In Their Letters, In Their Words is also available in e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium