Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War
Portland, Maine: Hoyt, Fogg & Donham, 1882. THE CIVIL WAR FROM THE RANKS.
A first-person Civil War memoir by Theodore Gerrish, a veteran of the 20th Maine Volunteers, presenting army life from the perspective of an enlisted soldier rather than a commanding officer. Gerrish follows the regiment and Army of the Potomac through Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, Five Forks, Appomattox, and the Grand Review, while also describing camp and hospital life and the everyday experiences of the soldiers.
The association with the 20th Maine, one of the most recognized Union regiments of the war, gives the memoir particular interest. Army Life remains the only full-length account deliberately published by a veteran of the regiment.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: 1882 FIRST EDITION.
Original reddish-brown publisher's cloth, decorated and lettered in black and gilt on the front board, gilt lettering and military device to spine. Octavo, approximately 7.5 inches tall. 372 pages. Illustrated with frontispiece, portraits and other illustrations, together with eight maps. With an Introduction by Hon. Josiah H. Drummond. First Edition, First Printing.
CONDITION: GOOD. Bindings are tight and square. Text is clean with light, even age-toning. Moderate shelf and handling wear to the original cloth, with rubbing at the corners and spine ends and small areas of cloth loss at the extremities. Gilt remains readily legible. Decorative front board remains attractive.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: A PRIVATE OF THE 20TH MAINE—THE SOLDIER RATHER THAN THE GENERAL.
When the book appeared in 1882, introductory writer Josiah H. Drummond specifically emphasized the unusual perspective Gerrish brought to Civil War literature: the experiences of the ordinary private had received far less attention than those of officers and commanders. That enlisted-man viewpoint remains one of the book's principal strengths as a primary account.
THE 20TH MAINE CONNECTION.
Gerrish's regiment gives the book additional significance. The 20th Maine is inseparably associated with Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg, but Gerrish himself was hospitalized and therefore did not witness that engagement. His Gettysburg account should consequently be understood as a regimental narrative rather than personal eyewitness testimony. The surviving historical record makes this especially interesting: Chamberlain corresponded with Gerrish around the time of publication specifically to correct Gerrish's understanding of the famous order to fix bayonets at Little Round Top.
SUBJECTS: American Civil War, 20th Maine Volunteers, Theodore Gerrish, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Union Army, Army of the Potomac, Gettysburg, Little Round Top, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness Campaign, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, Appomattox, Maine History, Civil War Memoir, Military History, Regimental History, Americana.
Item #22431
Price: $85.00
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