As the Civil War veterans aged into the twentieth century, there seemed a lull in historical interest. Fewer regimental histories were published. Johnnie Wickersham’s memoirs were published in 1918, shortly after his death. The Robert Hendershot controversy came to a close, the first collection of biographical information about boys from the war was published, and the last veteran of the Civil War retired from active duty. Robert Hendershot was confirmed to be the drummer boy of the…

Introduction



During the years of the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, the historians of the time were the participants – soldier or civilian. Today we call them primary resources. Back then they were the letters and journals kept by soldiers and civilians alike, the orders and reports written by the officers, literature by the writers of the day, photographs by the many photographers who followed the events of the war, newspaper articles, battlefield and camp sketches, and…

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Beginning today…

The folks at LitFire Publishing and I will be bringing to you a series of articles about a part of the American Civil War that most people know little about, its youngest participants, the boys of the Civil War. Today’s article, “In Their Own Words”, introduces you to some of the real boys who were in the war and some aspects of the war as they wrote about it in…