Gone for a Soldier: The Civil War Memoirs of Private Alfred Bellard

by Alfred Bellard, David Herbert Donald (Editor)

Recounts, in words and drawings, the experiences of a private in a Civil War regiment that saw action in Virginia

Genres: Civil War, Memoir, History, American Civil War

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Becky Loader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original manuscripts make this a must-read for Civil War buffs. Not only the diary, but also the soldier's sketches.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Gone for a Soldier" is an interesting memoir written by Alfred Bellard, who served as a private and corporal in the 5th New Jersey Infantry and the Veteran Reserve Corps during the Civil War. He seems to have written it for himself; the handwritten manuscript, filled with Bellard's own color illustrations, was only rediscovered in the 1960s and published in 1975.

Bellard seems to have written the manuscript in the 1880s by consulting the diaries he kept while serving as a soldier, and then coloring and elaborating the details from his memories. David Herbert Donald, the editor of the published version, notes in commentaries that accompany each chapter where Bellard's memoir departs from the facts. Usually this involves anachronistic references (e.g. saying Grant was in charge of the Army of the Potomac in late 1863 when he took command only in the spring of 1864) or errors of geography. What is unique, at least as far as I have seen, is that Bellard does not make himself out to be a hero or a saint. He writes frankly, even proudly, of how he and his comrades tricked and stole from sutlers (mobile merchants accompanying the army) and civilians. His treatment of Blacks—soldiers, freedmen, and slaves—is abhorrent. Later in the war, Bellard served in the Veteran Reserve Corps due to a wound he received at the Battle of Chancellorsville. One of his duties was to patrol the streets of Washington looking for wayward soldiers. He describes the speakeasies and whorehouses in the sketchy part of town with fascinating detail. He even begins to write about his personal experience in the latter venue when he seems to have succumbed to a pang of doubt and ripped out the offending page. Too bad!

For an unfiltered look at the experience of an ordinary Union grunt in the Civil War, "Gone for a Soldier" is an extraordinary read.

[Straw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly less romanticized memoir. The author isn't afraid to talk about the questionable morals of being a soldier. Peppered through with his drawings from that period, which are amazing. Finally, my ggggrandfather was a member of the VRC so it was great to read about service in the Invalid Corps post-Chancellorsville injury.

[Gordon Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting addition to any Civil War reading list, unusual in that it is from the perspective of a private soldier, serving first in the 5th New Jersey, from Yorktown, Fredericksburg, Second Manassas, and after being wounded at Chancellorsville, serving with the Veteran Reserve Corps. Illustrated with the author's own capable illustrations. Not as bloody as one might expect.