Other editions of book Detailed minutiae of soldier life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865

Excerpt: We are familiar with the names and deeds of the "generals", from the commander-in-chief down to the almost innumerable brigadiers, and we are all more or less ignorant of the habits and characteristics of the individuals who composed the rank and file of the "grand armies" of 1861-65. As time rolls on, the historian, condensing matters, mentions "the men" by brigades, divisions, and corps. But here let us look at the individual soldier separated from the huge masses of men composing the armies, and doing his own work and duty. The fame of Lee and Jackson, world-wide, and as the years increase ever brighter, is but condensed and personified admiration of the Confederate soldier, wrung from an unwilling world by his matchless courage, endurance, and devotion. Their fame is an everlasting monument to the mighty deeds of the nameless host who followed them through so much toil and blood to glorious victories. Carlton McCarthy (1847-1936) was the mayor of Richmond (Virginia, United States) from 1904 to 1908. Prior to this, he served as a soldier in the Confederate Army.

This Civil War classic of soldiering in the ranks debunks all the romantic notions of war. Like his Northern counterpart, the Confederate soldier fought against bullets, starvation, miserable weather, disease, and mental strain. But the experience was perhaps even worse for Johnny Reb because of the odds against him. Never as well equipped and provisioned as the Yankee, he nevertheless performed heroically. Carlton McCarthy, a private in the Army of Northern Virginia, describes the not-always-regular rations, various improvisations in clothing and weaponry, campfire entertainments, the jaunty spirits and the endless maneuvering of the men in gray. Real but forgotten faces are glimpsed momentarily in famous battles, and the tramp of feet on the way to Appomattox is heard. Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life does for the Confederate side what John Billings€™s Hardtack and Coffee, also a Bison Book, does for the Northern. David Donald wrote in the

This Civil War classic of soldiering in the ranks debunks all the romantic notions of war. Like his Northern counterpart, the Confederate soldier fought against bullets, starvation, miserable weather, disease, and mental strain. But the experience was perhaps even worse for Johnny Reb because of the odds against him. Never as well equipped and provisioned as the Yankee, he nevertheless performed heroically. Carlton McCarthy, a private in the Army of Northern Virginia, describes the not-always-regular rations, various improvisations in clothing and weaponry, campfire entertainments, the jaunty spirits and the endless maneuvering of the men in gray. Real but forgotten faces are glimpsed momentarily in famous battles, and the tramp of feet on the way to Appomattox is heard. Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life does for the Confederate side what John Billings’s Hardtack and Coffee, also a Bison Book, does for the Northern. David Donald wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that McCarthy’s book, too, was "as fresh, as amusing, and as revealing" as the day it was first published in 1882. In a new introduction Brian S. Wills considers the book’s niche in Civil War literature.

We are familiar with the names and deeds of the "generals," from the commander-in-chief down to the almost innumerable brigadiers, and we are all more or less ignorant of the habits and characteristics of the individuals who composed the rank and file of the "grand armies" of 1861-65. As time rolls on, the historian, condensing matters, mentions "the men" by brigades, divisions, and corps. But here let us look at the individual soldier separated from the huge masses of men composing the armies, and doing his own work and duty. The fame of Lee and Jackson, world-wide, and as the years increase ever brighter, is but condensed and personified admiration of theConfederate soldier, wrung from an unwilling world by his matchless courage, endurance, and devotion. Their fame is an everlasting monument to the mighty deeds of the nameless host who followed them through so much toil and blood to glorious victories. The weak, as a rule, are borne down by the strong; but that does not prove that the strong are also the right. The weak suffer wrong, learn the bitterness of it, and finally, by resisting it, become the defenders of right and justice. When the mighty nations of the earth oppress the feeble, they nerve the arms and fire the hearts of God's instruments for the restoration of justice; and when one section of a country oppresses and insults another, the result is the pervasive malady,—war! which will work out the health of the nation, or leave it a bloody corpse.

This Civil War classic of soldiering in the ranks debunks all the romantic notions of war. Like his Northern counterpart, the Confederate soldier fought against bullets, starvation, miserable weather, disease, and mental strain. But the experience was perhaps even worse for Johnny Reb because of the odds against him. Never as well equipped and provisioned as the Yankee, he nevertheless performed heroically. Carlton McCarthy, a private in the Army of Northern Virginia, describes the not-always-regular rations, various improvisations in clothing and weaponry, campfire entertainments, the jaunty spirits and the endless maneuvering of the men in gray. Real but forgotten faces are glimpsed momentarily in famous battles, and the tramp of feet on the way to Appomattox is heard. Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life does for the Confederate side what John Billings’s Hardtack and Coffee, also a Bison Book, does for the Northern. David Donald wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that McCarthy’s book, too, was "as fresh, as amusing, and as revealing" as the day it was first published in 1882. In a new introduction Brian S. Wills considers the book’s niche in Civil War literature.

The author, who fought as a private in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, describes the Confederate soldier’s daily struggles with hunger, illness, fear, and the perils of combat; as well as his pride of service, love of comrades, and courage in the face of overwhelming oddsCarlton McCarthy (1847–1936) was the mayor of Richmond (Virginia, United States) from 1904 to 1908.

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Carlton McCarthy who wrote this book, Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865, was a soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War, discusses the Confederate army’s day to night tussles with hunger, sickness, worry, and the dangers of battle. He also exclaims how proud he was to be a soldier, his love for his fellow armies and his bravery in all the incidents he fronted during the war. This biographical account recalls the life of a soldier in these chapters: A Voice from the Ranks, The Outfit Modified, Romantic Ideas Dissipated, On the March, Cooking and Eating, Comforts, Conveniences, and Consolations, Fun and Fury on the Field, Improvised Infantry, "Brave Survivors" Homeward Bound, Soldiers Transformed, Camp Fires of the Boys in Gray, and The Battle Flag. Carlton McCarthy was the mayor of Richmond, Virginia in the United States between 1904 and 1908. Before that, he had a military career in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He wrote this book about his four years of service in the Civil War, it was first printed by Carlton McCarthy and Company in 1882 with a second edition released in 1888. A print of this text is presently displayed at the Museum of the Confederacy and at the Virginia Historical Society. His literary works have been detailed in other different publications, like the chapter 6 of The Civil War Soldier: A Historical Reader by Michael Barton, Larry M. Logue and a chapter in the book of Albert Bushnell Hart, The Romance of the Civil War, of 1896 and is presently in the public ownership. Aside from being a former mayor in Richmond, McCarthy also made a vital beneficence to Richmond, like being the chief author of an ordinance stating the implementation of a Richmond flag in 1914.