The Civil War Letters of Joshua K. Callaway
Author | : Joshua K. Callaway |
Publisher | : University of Georgia Press |
Total Pages | : 245 |
Release | : 2014-09-15 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780820347660 |
ISBN-13 | : 0820347663 |
Rating | : 4/5 (663 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Civil War Letters of Joshua K. Callaway written by Joshua K. Callaway and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Kentucky Campaign to Tullahoma, Chickamauga to Missionary Ridge, junior officer Joshua K. Callaway took part in some of the most critical campaigns of the Civil War. His twice-weekly letters home, written between April 1862 and November 1863, chronicle his gradual change from an ardent Confederate soldier to a weary veteran who longs to be at home. Callaway was a schoolteacher, husband, and father of two when he enlisted in the 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment at the age of twenty-seven. Serving with the Army of the Tennessee, he campaigned in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and north Georgia. Along the way this perceptive observer and gifted writer wrote a continuous narrative detailing the activities, concerns, hopes, fears, discomforts, and pleasures of a Confederate soldier in the field. Whether writing about combat, illness, encampments, or homesickness, Callaway makes even the everyday aspects of soldiering interesting. This large collection, seventy-four letters in all, is a valuable historical reference that provides new insights into life behind the front lines of the Civil War.