Well at This Time: The Civil War Diaries & Army Convalescence Saga of Farmboy Ephraim Miner of the 142nd Pennsylvania Infantry and the 22nd Veterans Reserve Corps
Ephraim Miner was a 25-year-old farm lad from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, when he enlisted in the Union army in August 1862 and was subsequently assigned to the newly-authorized 142nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Following the new regiment’s arrival in Washington, it was quickly sent, as part of Gen. John Reynolds’ First Corps, to Frederick, Md., where it assisted in caring for wounded from the Battle of Antietam. Southward marches that fall brought the regiment to Fredericksburg, Va., for its first real action on Dec. 13. After briefly piercing the Rebel lines near the Slaughter Pen Farm at the southern end of the field, the 142nd and its comrades were ultimately forced to retreat. During that withdrawal, an unexpected Union artillery blast near Miner left him dazed and deaf. Worse yet, the freezing cold of the following nights left Miner’s poorly protected feet frozen and severely frostbitten. He could neither hear nor walk. One month later Miner was sent to the first of several Union hospitals in which he would spend the next 18 months trying to regain some hearing and a measure of feeling in his purplish, frostbitten feet. By July 1864 Miner had recovered to the point that he was assigned the Veterans Reserve Corps, a branch of the army that was comprised of men too ill or disabled for front-line service but healthy enough for less stressful tasks, such as guard duty at POW camps or service at Northern garrisons. Miner continued to serve in various Northern camps as a member of the corps through the end of the war. From page one onward, it is evident that author Mark A. Miner has presented his ancestor’s story as a self-published labor of love. Potential buyers may choose from not one, but three, versions of this work: a hardcover, softcover or CD version. From the author’s youthful discovery of his ancestor to Ephraim’s life story before and after the war, the reader is regaled with all manner of family minutiae. Mark Miner provides context for the diaries by telling where the 142nd was on various days during Miner’s hospital stays as well as what else of note was happening in the war. There is hardly a page where there are not one or more illustrations, such as photographs, period woodcuts or reproductions of Ephraim Miner’s diaries. The 1864-65 diaries that Ephraim Miner kept throughout his convalescence and Reserve Corps service form the core of this book and from which everything else must flow. Sadly, they are the weakest link in this work, and the reader will quickly realize why so much effort went into creating the rest of the book. As the author candidly admits, Miner had only a basic understanding of reading and writing, and therefore the diaries lack depth as to Miner’s experiences and thoughts. Miner also lacked consistent spelling skills and could only form short basic sentences. Indeed, the title of this book is well chosen because nearly every diary entry begins with the phrase, “I am well at presant (sic) time” or some slight variation thereof. That comment is usually followed by a second, and perhaps third, very brief declarative sentence describing the weather or what Miner did that day. Readers who are hoping that Ephraim Miner provided some insightful commentary as to the people, places or events that transpired around him will be disappointed. Despite this slender book’s lovely design and the author’s truly admirable telling of his family’s history, there is precious little within these diaries that will be of value to Civil War students. Reviewer: Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor is an award-winning author of five books pertaining to the Civil War era. His website is www.paulrtaylor.com.
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Illustrated, photos, notes, bibliography, index, 180 pp., 2011, minerd.com,