An example is his “sighting” of a Yankee soldier: Watkins writes a funny, self-deprecating volume. Watkins’ memoirs were begun in 1881 in response to the urgings of family and friends, as opposed to Rhodes’ work, which was created from notes and letters written during the war.

It is every bit as delightful and informative as Rhodes’ work. “Aytch”: The First Tennessee Regiment or a Side Show to the Big Show, in his mini-series. H of the First Tennessee Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia. I wonder if it will be my last.” All through the book, Rhodes commented, especially when an order didn’t make sense or times were especially trying, “Ah well! All for the Union!” Sam WatkinsĪs much as I liked this diarist, I was pleased to meet his brother in arms, Sam Watkins. He wrote about training camp, the city of Washington, the 1864 election, the reaction of the men with whom he served to the Emancipation Proclamation, and in the winter of 1864, he rode his horse around the siege works in Petersburg and later wrote: “This is the birth of the Saviour, but we have paid very little attention to it in a religious way.This is my fourth Christmas in the Army. I more fully realized what he had given up to serve the Union, and I came to understand his daily life as a Yankee foot soldier. I had not thought very much about becoming a historian at that point in my life, but I was certainly a fangirl of Rhodes.Īs my own life changed and writing serious Civil War history became more important to me, my relationship with Rhodes changed.

I purchased it soon after I became aware of it, and immediately was beguiled by the young Rhode Island man who served in the Army of the Potomac from the beginning of the war to its conclusion, went home, and became a productive citizen of the North, active in many veteran’s groups and being the same nice, smart, responsible person he seems to have been in his writings. When asked about ideas concerning primary sources that might be recommended to ECW readers, it did not take me more than a second to exclaim, “ All for the Union!” This book-the Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes-was made famous in Ken Burns’ The Civil War mini-series for television.

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