Edited by Stephen E. Towne
Illustrated, maps, notes, appendices, index, 296 pp., 2007. The University of Tennessee Press, 110 Conference Center, 600 Henley St., Knoxville, TN 37996-4108, $38 plus shipping.
Reviewer: Robert L. Durham
Robert L. Durham is a computer specialist. A longtime Civil War buff, he is also interested in Old West history and has written articles and book reviews for Alamo Journal, True West, Journal of the Alamo Battlefield Association, and Alamo de Parras web site at www.flash.net/~alamo3
Review:
“I can only say for myself that my feelings were indescribable — a fierce wild joy exhilarated & filled me.” This is how Edward Wood expressed his thoughts upon experiencing his first battle at Corinth, Miss., on Oct. 3 and 4, 1862.
Wood was good with words and his letters to his beloved wife Jeanie are exceptional, whether telling of battles or just of day-to-day life in the 48th Indiana. When he went off to war, he resolved to tell Jeanie, in as conversational a tone as possible, of the daily occurrences of his life away from her. And he succeeded.
His letters convey a sense of how much he missed Jeanie and their small daughter. Wood appears to have been far more “modern” in his thinking towards his daughter than was probably the fashion of the time. He talks of romping with her and was obviously not the dignified and forbidding father one finds in many period letters.
Since he wanted his wife to understand everything about his service away from her, he tells many stories of camp life, marching and other mundane facts of a soldier’s life.
Unfortunately, Wood’s letters do not provide an account of every battle he participated in; he provides very little description of the Battle of Corinth, for example. But he saw a lot of service: the Siege of Corinth, Battle of Corinth, Vicksburg Campaign, Chattanooga Campaign and Sherman’s March through Georgia.
His portrayal of fights during the Vicksburg Campaign more than makes up for a couple of engagements that he didn’t find time to write about in detail.
For anyone interested in the Western Theater or in letters from Civil War soldiers, this volume is a gold mine. I recommend it.