Voices From the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War

by Carleton Young

Imagine clearing out your family attic and discovering hundreds of letters written during the Civil War. Faced with that situation, and not knowing why his family had the letters, the author uses the resources of Ancestry.com and other sources to discover how two Vermont soldiers fit into his family heritage. Using excerpts from their letters, which are filled with in-depth accounts of battles and army life, he weaves together their dramatic war-time narrative into the context of the war and adds in additional information about the friends and relatives who fought by their side. Voices From the Attic is the story of two brothers who witnessed and helped to make history by fighting in the Peninsula Campaign, then at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Cedar Creek. They preserved that history through their surprisingly detailed and insightful letters. Now rediscovered after one and a half centuries, their letters offer a valuable source of information as seen through the eyes of two soldiers as they fought in America’s great Civil War.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

372 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Nancy]

I heard the author speak some time ago on a panel of local authors. His story fascinated me: a box of letters written by two brothers who fought in the civil war and the authors journey to uncover the brother's story.

The author has done extensive research and ties the letters to actual facts and battles in the war. In addition, he researched the Vermont town where the brothers grew up and their family. However, I found myself not very interested in the war and the letters and I quit a couple of chapters into the book. I skipped to the final chapter, Afterward: Family Connections. This I found riveting, how the author connected the letter-writing soldiers in the attic to his own family.

It is not fair for me to rate the book, since I skipped over so much of it. I liked the story of finding the letters and the research more than the story the letters told. Perhaps I did not give the book a chance; perhaps I should have stuck with it longer, but there are too many other books to read.

I am going to pass the book onto someone who will appreciate it more than I did.

"I had always believed that I was part of a very small family: now I recognized myself as part of an enormous one with many memorable people, both living and deceased. The Chester Martin line may have come to an end with the death of his four children, but the much larger family of those related to them has influenced the world far beyond tiny Williamstown." (362)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of Vermont bred brothers serving in the Vermont Brigade in the Army of the Potomoc. Letters are well written, interesting and readable.

[Jeanne Manton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard of this book through the alumni magazine from Westminster College. I have a great interest in the American Civil War and I love diaries & letters. What I did not expect was a treasure: the content, the research & the editorial comments! This is land mark reading & I hope the Battlefield Parks Service would have it in their gift shops. Excellent, excellent, excellent.