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Foreword Since the publication of Bell I. Wiley’s two signal works on the common soldier, The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of BillyYank, readers and military historians have been interested in allowing soldiers to tell their story. Bruce Catton followed Wiley’s lead in using firsthand observations of soldiers gleaned from regimental histories in his well-regardedArmyofthePotomactrilogy:Mr.Lincoln’sArmy,GloryRoad,andAStillness at Appomattox. Ken Burns’s revered PBS Civil War series made Major Sullivan Ballou’s letter to Sarah a classic and Elisha Hunt Rhodes of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry a virtual voice of Union soldiers. In writing For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the CivilWar, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian James M. McPherson read twenty-five thousand letters and more than a hundred diaries from soldiers. In the introduction to his highly regarded book Citizen Soldiers, an account of the Normandy invasion, Stephen Ambrose states: “Long ago my mentors, William B. Heseltine and T. Harry Williams, taught me to let my characters speak for themselves by quoting them liberally.They were there. I wasn’t.They saw with their own eyes, they put their own lives on the line. I didn’t. They speak with an authenticity no one else can match. Their phrases, their word choices, their slang are unique—naturally enough, as their experiences were unique.” Civil War letters and diaries are more alike than unique, yet those written by 19th Michigan Infantry surgeon John Bennitt have some distinguishing features.The limited education of many soldiers is evidenced through their unpolished writing, but Bennitt was both literate and formally educated. A graduate of the Cleveland Medical College, Bennitt had practiced medicine in Centreville, Michigan, for several years and had gone back to college in 1861 to acquire additional education in chemistry at the University of Michigan. He gratified his innate interest in learning throughout his military service. Concerned, for example, that he wasn’t getting enough time to study, he asked his wife to send his German grammar and reader and related to her that he and the assistant surgeon were “reading a new work of science.” Bennitt’slettersprovideanexcellentrunningaccountof thedutiesandchallenges of a Civil War physician. We read about prevalent diseases, the causes and treatment of sickness, preventative medical care, and surgery. Bennitt describes the difficulty of xi moving a field hospital, explains how he vaccinated black patients for smallpox, and recounts his role in examining and certifying the disability of soldiers. His correspondence depicts the demands on Civil War doctors: he shifted assignments according to themilitary’sneeds,andhisfrequentrequestsforaleavetovisithisfamilyweredenied. Bennitt was a religious man. His faith in God exercised a strong influence in his life, and he believed that God’s will determined the course of events, including the war. He attended worship services, Bible classes, and prayer meetings whenever possible and helped organize a church, a Christian association, and a Sunday school for black children. He frequently summarized the content of sermons he had heard for hiswife.Noteasytoplease,herelatedhiscriticalassessmentof areligiousserviceheld in McMinnville, Tennessee: “Yesterday, Sabbath, attended Church (Baptist); shall not go again where such farcical performances are held if I know it.” Bennitt expressed strong opinions about equality and the preservation of the Union, and given his education and religious beliefs it is not surprising to read wellarticulatedphilosophicalstatements .TwomonthsintothebloodyAtlantacampaign, Bennitt wrote: “There are around me men of good minds and generous impulses, yet army service does not tend to refine the sensibilities, and there is a disposition to steel our hearts to anything like sympathy.The argument for this is; that there is so much suffering around us that if we sympathize with all we suffer with all, and we be thus worn out by pure sympathy. Hence each one in a measure lives within himself here, and look Northward for warm hearts, kind words.” Aside from revealing details about his absorbing assignment as a medical officer, Bennitt’s letters provide glimpses into military activities. Bennitt’s candor and the personal nature of correspondence to a spouse allow readers to enter the heart and mind of John Bennitt. He is a valuable observer of others and evaluates the motivation , behavior, and performance of his colleagues. He is not reticent in giving his opinion about officers and enlisted men he had met or with whom he had soldiered. Bennitt, for example, clearly expressed his dislike for the commander of the 19th Michigan, Colonel Henry Gilbert: “I can only say that he treats me with consideration and...

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