Fire Within

by Kerry A Trask

Fire Within explores what Walt Whitman called the "interior history" of the Civil War-the war waged and witnessed by common people. Through diaries, letters, and newspaper articles, Kerry Trask weaves together personal viewpoints and wartime events to reflect the passions of the times and describes the conflicts encountered by the men who went to war and the people who remained at home. This colorful, often moving account reveals the experience of James Anderson, a young Scottish immigrant who enlisted in the 5th Wisconsin Volunteers soon after President Lincoln issued his first call. Leaving his home of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, he, like many other young men, set off with expectations of high adventure. From the field, Anderson requested that his parents take good care of his diary and letters, writing, "I intend if I ever get out of this term of service to write an account of my three years campaign." Though he returned home, his story was never written. Anderson's rendering of the war is further enriched by Rosa Kellner's splendid journal. From the Williams House Hotel, this teenage Bohemian innkeeper was a spectator and participant in the community. Her writings offer essential ' insights into wartime life on the homefront. Remaining in Manitowoc, Rosa longed to take part in the "If I were only a boy tomorrow with other brave men I would enlist!" Along with the strong central core of James's and Rosa's stories, Trask uses the accounts of other Manitowoc soldiers and community members to complete this portrait of the Civil War. For soldiers and civilians this "real war" was often difficult and painful. What they wrote in their letters and diaries offers a look at the conflict from a small-town perspective and reveals the true nature of war. An engaging work, Fire Within will appeal to the general reading public as well as to Civil War scholars and specialists.

Genres: History

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I write quick impressions of the books I read and report on for Goodreads so that I can remember them later. This book deserves a more considered review. Anyone who wants to learn more about Fire Within should go to a review by Dr. Mark Van Ells on h-net.

I appreciated Fire Within for showcasing the experiences of my hometown during the U.S. Civil War. Told from the point of view of ordinary people, this history relies on the letters and journals of two Manitowoc residents, James Anderson, a soldier, and Rosa Kellner, a hotel worker. The interweaving of their lives through this history made the book a compelling read, one that provided not only the filth and the vermin of a transport ship but also the actions of a young woman speaking with an army veteran whose jaw had been blown away.

I found the descriptions of how James and Rosa began to respond to the deaths of friends and acquaintances particularly interesting. Trask explains that for James, "death . . . had become far too common to evoke much attention or emotion." (pp. 184-185) Rosa wrote after the funeral of a well-known young man, Mead Holmes, that he "was created and lived a few years and then sank in the prime of his manhood to feed the worms." (p. 184) This section helped me feel peace about an ancestor's battlefield death in a much later war. "It's just bad luck," a U.S. Army vet once told me, and I understand that better now.

P.S. Read the print book if you can find it. The maps on the Kindle version were unreadable.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really gives you a feeling for what it was like to be a soldier in the Civil War. Taken from letters written by soldier James Anderson you learn about the amazing amount of marching, hand to hand combat and weariness of actual participants. Additional letters from Rosa Kellner add to what the feeling at home was like. A small town in northeast Wisconsin that wasn't always on the side of the President. These are viewpoints of ordinary people (not glorified leaders) that give a snapshot of that time. Very interesting read.