★★★★☆ A remarkable record

All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes

Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Robert Hunt Rhodes (editor)

In 1861 at the age of nineteen, Elisha Hunt Rhodes enlisted in the second Rhode Island volunteers (which he abbreviates 2nd RI Vols) as a private. He was barely able even to do that. He was the oldest son of a widow, and his mother was reluctant to see him go. Furthermore, when he tried to enlist, the doctor told him: “Young man, you cannot go. You are not fit to be a soldier.” When the Colonel said to sign him up, anyway, the doctor responded, “Why Colonel, he will be in the hospital in a week, and we shall have to send him home.” Four years later, at the age of 23, Rhodes was himself the colonel in command of the 2nd RI Vols, until the regiment was mustered out of service after the end of the Civil War. In those four years Rhodes and the 2nd RI Vols fought in every major battle of the Army of the Potomac. This includes many of the battles that every US schoolkid learns about, for instance the first battle of the war at Bull Run, the battle of Gettysburg, and the battle at Appomattox that compelled the surrender of Robert E. Lee.

This diary is unlike most of the writings of Civil War soldiers I have read -- the language is simple and straightforward, quite unlike the flowery and ostentatiously literary language that schoolchildren of the time were apparently taught was good writing. Rhodes was writing for himself, but even in the letters included here he writes simply.

It's a pleasure to watch Rhodes progress. His account of the first Battle of Bull Run is a confused mess. He, like most of the soldiers involved, hadn't a clue what was going on. As the diary proceeds, Rhodes's accounts of the battles and movements of the armies become clearer, for, I think, two reasons. First, he is observant and intelligent and learns from what he sees. Second (and partly as a consequence of the first), Rhodes becomes an officer involved in the planning and direction of the battles.

If you want to know what the experience of a real Civil War soldier was like, you cannot do better than this. I will not say "typical Civil War soldier", because I'm not sure there was such a thing, and if there was, Rhodes clearly was not it. "Soldier of exceptional ability" would fit.

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