Memoirs of the Civil War: Between the Northern and Southern Sections of the United States of America 1861 to 1865

Editor’s Preface

Editor’s Preface “Seeing the Elephant: Southern Eyewitnesses to the Civil War” presents a range of firsthand testimony to modern readers. Primarily focused on reprinting accounts by Confederates or other Southerners who experienced the conflict, the series will occasionally offer works by foreign or Northern observers. Collectively, the volumes will carry readers across an expansive landscape of war, illuminating battles and campaigns as well as how the conflict shaped lives in cities and the countryside.Witnesses will include men and women, some prominent others less so, whose letters, diaries, and reminiscences convey immediate and retrospective attitudes and opinions. New introductions will enhance the value of each account, providing details about the authors and placing the books within the broader literature on the war. Indexes prepared for these editions will enable scholars and lay readers to make the most of the texts. William Wilson Chamberlaine’s Memoirs of the Civil War, though relatively little known because of its scarcity in the original edition, contains a great deal of valuable information and engaging narrative passages.AVirginian whose Confederate career included time in an infantry regiment early in the war,Chamberlaine saw his greatest service as a staff officer attached to Brigadier General Reuben LindsayWalker, who commanded the Third Corps artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia. His book includes excellent material regarding, among other things, the duties carried out by staff officers, the operation of Confederate conscription, and the role of artillery in Robert E. Lee’s campaigns .The text is especially lively and revealing about a number of famous battles—including the Seven Days, Antietam, where Chamberlaine distinguished himself and was wounded, and the Wilderness, viii Editor’s Preface where he had a memorable encounter with Lee. Memoirs of the Civil War benefits in this edition from a perceptive introduction by Robert E. L. Krick. Its intrinsic merits should earn widespread and welldeserved attention from readers interested in the storied operations of the Army of NorthernVirginia. Gary W. Gallagher Charlottesville,Virginia July 31, 2009 ...