Biography and Memoir

The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War (Illustrated Edition)

A Union Infantryman's Memoir of Daily Camp Life and Civil War HardshipBy Leander Stillwell

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Leander Stillwell's The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War presents the conflict from the revealing vantage of an enlisted Union soldier rather than a celebrated commander. Combining personal reminiscence, anecdotal observation, and retrospective historical reflection, Stillwell depicts camp routines, marches, military discipline, comradeship, fear, exhaustion, and the moral ambiguities of combat. Its plain, direct prose—occasionally lifted by vivid description and wry humor—belongs to the nineteenth-century tradition of the soldier memoir, while its attention to ordinary experience anticipates modern social and bottom-up military history. This illustrated edition further enriches the narrative by placing its testimony within the visual culture through which the Civil War has been remembered. Stillwell wrote as a participant who sought to preserve the lived reality of service for readers inclined to encounter the war chiefly through generals, battles, and political leaders. His experience as an enlisted man in the Union army shaped a perspective attentive to the practical burdens and emotional consequences of military life. The memoir consequently reflects both immediate memory and the interpretive distance of a veteran looking back upon a defining national crisis, giving it value as personal testimony and cultural history. This volume is recommended to readers of Civil War history, military memoir, and American social history. It offers an unusually intimate account of how national conflict was endured by common soldiers and provides an accessible, humane complement to official records and battlefield narratives.

War & Battle Survival Memory Coming of Age Journey Found Family Identity Adventure Psychological Grief

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GenreBiography and Memoir

Length10 hrs 46 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateNov 21, 2023

LanguageEnglish

1The 20 Most Influential Slave Narratives

2The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War (Illustrated Edition)

3PREFACE.

4CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR. LIFE AT CAMP CARROLLTON, JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1862.

5CHAPTER II. BENTON BARRACKS. ST. LOUIS, MARCH, 1862.

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6CHAPTER III. OFF FOR THE SEAT OF WAR. THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. MARCH AND APRIL, 1862.

7CHAPTER IV. SOME INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.

8CHAPTER V. THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. IN CAMP AT OWL CREEK. APRIL AND MAY, 1862.

9CHAPTER VI. BETHEL. JACKSON. JUNE AND JULY, 1862.

10CHAPTER VII. BOLIVAR. JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER, 1862.

11CHAPTER VIII. BOLIVAR. THE MOVEMENT TO THE VICINITY OF IUKA, MISSISSIPPI. SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, 1862.

12CHAPTER IX. THE AFFAIR AT SALEM CEMETERY. JACKSON, CARROLL STATION. DECEMBER, 1862, JANUARY, 1863. BOLIVAR. FEBRUARY-MAY, 1863.

13CHAPTER X. THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. JUNE AND JULY, 1863.

14CHAPTER XI. HELENA, ARKANSAS. LIFE IN A HOSPITAL. AUGUST, 1863.

15CHAPTER XII. DEVALL'S BLUFF. LITTLE ROCK. AUGUST-OCTOBER, 1863.

16CHAPTER XIII. LITTLE ROCK, OCTOBER, 1863. GRANTED A FURLOUGH. CHAPLAIN B. B. HAMILTON. THE JOURNEY ON FURLOUGH FROM LITTLE ROCK TO JERSEY COUNTY, ILLINOIS. RETURN TO REGIMENT, NOVEMBER, 1863.

17CHAPTER XIV. LITTLE ROCK. WINTER OF 1863-4. RE-ENLIST FOR THREE YEARS MORE.

18CHAPTER XV. LITTLE ROCK. EXPEDITIONS TO AUGUSTA AND SPRINGFIELD. MARCH, APRIL AND MAY, 1864.

19CHAPTER XVI. DEVALL'S BLUFF; THE CLARENDON EXPEDITION. JUNE AND JULY, 1864.

20CHAPTER XVII. DEVALL'S BLUFF. GRAND REVIEWS AND INSPECTIONS. SURGEON J. P. ANTHONY. PRIVATE PRESS ALLENDER. JUNE AND JULY, 1864.

21CHAPTER XVIII. THE REGIMENT GOES HOME ON VETERAN FURLOUGH. INTERVIEW WITH GEN. W. T. SHERMAN AFTER THE WAR. A SHORT TOUR OF SOLDIERING AT CHESTER, ILLINOIS. AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, 1864.

22CHAPTER XIX. EXPEDITION TO NORTH MISSOURI. BACK IN TENNESSEE ONCE MORE. MURFREESBORO. OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 1864.

23CHAPTER XX. THE AFFAIR AT OVERALL'S CREEK. MURFREESBORO. DECEMBER, 1864.

24CHAPTER XXI. THE BATTLE OF WILKINSON'S PIKE. DECEMBER 7, 1864.

25CHAPTER XXII. THE FIGHT ON THE RAILROAD NEAR MURFREESBORO, DECEMBER 15, 1864.

26CHAPTER XXIII. MURFREESBORO. WINTER OF 1864-1865. FRANKLIN. SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1865.

27CHAPTER XXIV. THE SOLDIER'S PAY. RATIONS; ALLUSIONS TO SOME OF THE USEFUL LESSONS LEARNED BY SERVICE IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR. COURAGE IN BATTLE.

28CHAPTER XXV. FRANKLIN, SUMMER OF 1865. MUSTERED OUT, SEPTEMBER 8, 1865. RECEIVE FINAL PAYMENT AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, SEPTEMBER 27, 1865. THE REGIMENT "BREAKS RANKS" FOREVER.