Civil War Letters and Diary of Joshua Winters

by Elizabeth Swiger (editor)

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[M. Sprouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd have to say this book is not for most mainstream Civil War readers. Joshua Winters diary and his letters written during the war are valuable in the historic sense, but not so much in the interesting or entertaining arena. The majority deal with rather routine and mundane parts fo the war. His regiment the 1st Virginia Infantry (Later the 1st West Virginia Infantry) was mostly assigned to mostly backwater areas during the conflict. He rarely, due to perhaps security concerns or otherwise, mentions any combat by his unit or relating to himself. Even his wounding may have been accidentally self-inflicted.

I was interested more for the local history aspect, as Joshua and his regiment were assigned to the area of West Virginia where I live. I imagine someone not from a locale dealt with in this book as struggling to keep up interest. Added to that is his poor spelling and grammar copied exactly as in the letters and diary. This increases the difficulty of getting through what he had written and is time consuming.

Elizabeth Swiger the editor does a good job of researching people and places mentioned in the letters and diary and cannot be blamed for less than fascinating contents of what was written over 150 years ago. In actuality neither can Joshua Winters as he was just sending letters home and writing in a diary, with no clue that it would be published for anyone across the country to read. If you think, after reading this, that it might be your cup of tea, then by all means give it a go.