Beyond the Battlefield
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REVIEW BY LYNN GREEN
While thousands of books have examined the battles of the Civil War, far fewer have examined the lives of the soldiers who fought it. Beyond the Battlefield provides a fascinating glimpse into the everyday existence of the men (and some women) who participated in the nation's deadliest, most horrific conflict. Edited by David Madden, founding director of the U.S. Civil War Center, Beyond the Battlefield uses first-person accounts from letters and diaries to illuminate the mostly wretched conditions faced by both sides. Soldiers came from all walks of life: aristocrats, the poor, immigrants, farmers, carpenters, teachers and students. After their initial excitement and enthusiasm for the war had faded, they faced homesickness, fear, boredom and extreme privation. The lucky ones had "pup" tents, barely five feet long, to protect them from the elements, while many slept on the ground. Although the winter cold was debilitating, the summer heat was even worse. "Parched and covered in dust, the men rarely had reliable access to pure water supplies, shade, or rest. Heatstroke, sunburn, dehydration, intestinal diseases, madness, collapse, and death could follow," Madden writes. The conditions prompted one Confederate to write home, "I should prefer six winters in camp to one summer on the march." The soldiers actually passed a small percentage of their time in combat; far more hours were spent in camp, where the men passed the time by whittling, singing, playing games (including a variant of modern-day baseball), even staging theatrical productions. The long stays in camp were also accompanied by hunger, disease and violence. The voices of these men -- brave, defiant, lonely and at times desperate -- echo through this illuminating volume and give us a unique perspective on the horrors of war.
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