Testament: A Soldier's Story of the Civil WarThe story of the author's great-grandfather's Civil War experience, based on a remarkable set of newly discoverd letters—a powerful, moving addition to the firsthand soldiers' accounts of the Civil War. Dear Mother, I was very glad to hear from home this morning. It is the first time since I left Otterville. We marched from Sedalia 120 miles....I almost feel anxious to be in a battle & yet I am almost afraid. I feel very brave sometimes & think if I should be in an engagement, I never would leave the field alive unless the stars & stripes floated triumphant. I do not know how it may be. If there is a battle & I should fall, tell with pride & not with grief that I fell in defense of liberty. Pray that I may be a true soldier. Not since Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage have the trials and tribulations of a private soldier of the Civil War been told with such beguiling force. The Red Badge of Courage, however, was fiction. This story is true. In Testament, Benson Bobrick draws upon an extraordinarily rich but hitherto untapped archive of material to create a continuous narrative of how that war was fought and lived. Here is virtually the whole theater of conflict in the West, from its beginnings in Missouri, through Kentucky and Tennessee, to the siege of Atlanta under Sherman, as experienced by Bobrick's great-grandfather, Benjamin W. ("Webb") Baker, an articulate young Illinois recruit. Born and raised not far from the Lincoln homestead in Coles County, Webb had stood in the audience of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, become a staunch Unionist, and answered one of Abraham Lincoln's first calls for volunteers. The ninety-odd letters on which his story is based are fully equal to the best letters the war produced, especially by a common soldier; but their wry intelligence, fortitude, and patriotic fervor also set them apart with a singular and still-undying voice. In the end, that voice blends with the author's own, as the book becomes a poignant tribute to his great-grandfather's life -- and to all the common soldiers of the nation's bloodiest war. |
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... lived . Here is virtually the whole theater of conflict in the West , from its beginnings in Missouri , through Kentucky and Tennessee , to the siege of Atlanta under Sherman , as experienced by Bobrick's great - grandfather , Benjamin ...
... lived . Here is virtually the whole theater of conflict in the West , from its beginnings in Missouri , through Kentucky and Tennessee , to the siege of Atlanta under Sherman , as experienced by Bobrick's great - grandfather , Benjamin ...
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... lived to be eighty - nine and died on December 12 , 1844 , when Webb was three . By then , the family had bought a forty - acre spread in Hutton Township , Coles County , and tried to make a living off the land . In those days , forty ...
... lived to be eighty - nine and died on December 12 , 1844 , when Webb was three . By then , the family had bought a forty - acre spread in Hutton Township , Coles County , and tried to make a living off the land . In those days , forty ...
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... lived the life of the ordinary farm boy of the period , attend- ing school briefly during the winter months , where he learned to " read , rite and cipher to the rule of three . " He learned to spell out of Noah Webster's American ...
... lived the life of the ordinary farm boy of the period , attend- ing school briefly during the winter months , where he learned to " read , rite and cipher to the rule of three . " He learned to spell out of Noah Webster's American ...
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... lived in various towns in Kentucky , Indiana , and Illinois ; eventually , he settled in Springfield . Meanwhile , his father , Thomas , and his stepmother , Sarah ( Abe's own mother having died when he was nine ) , moved to BENSON ...
... lived in various towns in Kentucky , Indiana , and Illinois ; eventually , he settled in Springfield . Meanwhile , his father , Thomas , and his stepmother , Sarah ( Abe's own mother having died when he was nine ) , moved to BENSON ...
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advance affectionate army artillery Atlanta B. W. Baker battle began boys Bragg brigade brother Buell camp Capt cavalry Charleston Chattanooga Coles County command Confederate corps Creek Cumberland Cumberland Gap Curtis Dave Adams Davis division Douglas expect Federals field fight fire flank force Frémont front Grant ground guns hear hope Hutton Township Illinois infantry Joe Neal John Kansas-Nebraska Act Kentucky killed letter Lincoln Lookout Mountain Louisville McCook Meanwhile miles Missionary Ridge Missouri morning Mountain Murfreesboro Nashville night North Pea Ridge Perryville quoted in ibid railroad rain Rebels rebs regiment regt retreat River road Rolla Rosecrans seemed sent Shelbyville Sherman shot Sigel skirmishing slave slavery soldier South Springfield tell Tenn Tennessee tents Thomas thousand told took town troops Truly Union Union army victory wagons Webb Dear Mother Webb's unit week West wounded wrote his mother
Popular passages
Page 13 - When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood.
Page 13 - While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant, that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise.