HISTORY: CIVIL WAR

About Five Shelves Worth of Civil War-related books

Dear Son,

We are fortunate that our library is strong in history, including the history of the U.S.' most defining war, the Civil War.  But a note first about creating a history collection, which is to say, about studying history. One should have primary sources, secondary sources, personal narratives, philosophies, political and military strategies, art and so on. The books should acknowledge both leaders and common man and woman. Hopefully, a collection can also include items published during the actual time of the conflict.  We have about five shelves of books devoted to the Civil War -- Dad has done a great job curating this portion of the library.

Time Life Books' Collector's Library of the Civil War

The first set of books I want to share is Time Life Books' Collector's Library of the Civil War which presents nearly 10,000 pages of personal narratives from the participants in the war -- a primary source.  We have 29 of the 30-book series reprinted in 1993 from the 1908 edition.  These are lovely gold-embossed, leather-bound books with the front cover embossed with images.  Here are images from one of the books we have, PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF A CAVALRYMAN by J.H. Kidd:

Here is a list of the individual books (we have them all except for Mrs. Fannie A. Beers' Memories, A Record of Personal Experiences and Adventure During Four Years of War, which I highlight here to remind your father to go hunt for it):

Barber, Lucius W., Army Memoirs of Lucius W. Barber, Company 'D,' 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 1894

Beaty, John, The Citizen-Soldier; or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, 1879

Beers, Mrs. Fannie A., Memories, A Record of Personal Experiences and Adventure During Four Years of 'War,' 1888

Billings, John D. Hardtack and Coffee, or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life, 1887

Cooper, Lieut. A., In and Our of Rebel Prisons, 1888

DeLeon, T. C., Four Years in Rebel Capitals..., 1890

An English Combatant, Battle-Fields of the South, From Bull Run to Fredericksburgh..., 1864

Fremantle, Lieut.-Col. Three Months in the Southern States April-June 1863, 1863

Gordon, Gen. John B. of the Confederate Army, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 1903

Goss, Warren Lee, Recollections of a Private, A Story of the Army of the Potomac, 1890

Headly, John W., Confederate Operations In Canada and New York, 1906

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Army Life in a Black Regiment, 1870

Hitchcock, Frederick L., War From the Inside, The Story of the 132nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry... 1904

Kidd, J. H., Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War, 1908

Jones., J.B., A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, 2 Vols., 1866

McCarthy, Carlton, Detailed Minutiae or Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1882;

McKim, Randolph H., A Soldier's Recollections, Leaves From the Diary of a Young Confederate, 1910

Moore, Edward A., The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson, 1907

Pittenger, Lieut. William, Daring and Suffering: A History of the Great Railroad Adventure," 1863

Porter, Gen. Horace, Campaigning With Grant, 1897

A Richmond Lady, Richmond During the War..., 1867

Stevens, George T., Three years in the Sixth Corps..., 1866

Stillwell, Leander, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865, 1920

Taylor, Richard, Destruction and Reconstruction:..., 1879

Townsend, Geo. Alfred, Campaigns of a Non-combatant...,1866

Watson, William, Life in the Confederate Army, 1888

Wilkinson, J., "The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner," 1877

Williamson, James J., Mosby's Rangers: A Record of the Operations of the Forty-third Battalion Virginia Cavalry, 1896

Worsham, John H., One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry..., 1912

I look forward to sharing more details about our U.S. Civil War book collection.

Love,

Mom and Dad