Soldiering: The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull, 123rd New York Volunteer Infantry, and: Ten Years in the Saddle: The Memoir of William Woods Averell (review)

270CIVIL WAR HISTORY On the whole the presentation is fresh and vivid, though at times sloppy. For most of the sloppiness the copyeditor rather than the author should doubtless be blamed—as, for example, in allowing the nonword fastly to get by. The book can be expected to appeal to many Civil War buffs, especially those who are relatively new to the field. They probably will not mind the stylistic lapses, the superficiality of some of the economic and social analysis, or the occasional errors or oversights. Clement L. Vallandigham and most of his fellow Copperheads did not say "let the South go," as Davis relates. Instead, they advocated peace with union. The "widely repeated story" was not that prostitutes came to be called "hookers" because of General Hooker's "frequent liaisons with them." It was, rather, that they got the name because of his toleration of brothels for his soldiers. Either way, the story is fictitious. In fact, the slang term hooker for prostitute was in circulation before the war, and it derived from the Hook, a notorious whorehouse district of New York City. Richard N. Current University of North Carolina at Greensboro Soldiering: The CivilWarDiary of Rice C. Bull, 123rd New York VolunteerInfantry . Edited by K. Jack Bauer. (San Rafael, California: Presidio Press, 1977. Pp. x, 259. $12.95.) Ten Years in the Saddle: The Memoirof William Woods Averell. Edited by Edward K. Eckert and Nicholas J. Amato. (San Rafael, California: Presidio Press, 1978. Pp. xiv, 443. $16.95.) Beginning even before the end of the Civil War, countless soldiers' diaries , letters, and recollections have found their way into print. Such is the continuing fascination with the sectional conflict, that a century and a quarter later a significant number of new titles are published each year. The Presidio Press offers the accounts of two New Yorkers—one an enlisted man, and the other a West Point-trained general officer. Soldiering is the reminiscence of Corporal Rice C. Bull. In late August of 1862, Bull left his father's farm to enlist in the 123rd New York Volunteer Infantry. He participated in General Ambrose Burnside's "Mud March" and was twice wounded at Chancellorsville. In the fall of 1863, he rejoined his regiment in northern Georgia, where he took part in the Atlanta campaign and marched with Sherman to the sea. In 1913, the seventy-one-year-old veteran dusted off his wartime diaries , assembled his letters home, and composed a narrative of his military service. As much as historians might prefer the original diaries and letters , there is much to recommend in Bull's highly literate account. His focus is narrow and personal, he obviously pondered long and hard the BOOK REVIEWS271 meaning of his experience, and he possessed the literary skills necessary to recreate vividly the sensations of combat and the hardships of the long march. Looking back, he honestly assesses the cost of war in terms of broken health and lost opportunity. Bull's images and impressions linger long after the covers of his book have been closed. William Woods Averell has suffered at the hands ofhistorians, primarily because of his removal from command of cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley by General Phil Sheridan in 1864. In 1891, Averell began work on his memoirs, which would presumably present his side of the controversy between himself and Sheridan. Unfortunately, at the time of his death in 1900 he had only completed the manuscript to August 3, 1862. Editors Eckert and Amato have done a masterful job in piecing together the fragments of Averell's recollections and in filling in gaps. After sketchinghis family background, Averell reflects nostalgically on his cadet years at West Point (class of 1855) and duty at Jefferson and Carlislebarracksin 1855-57. The largestsection ofthe memoir (twelvechapters ) describes his service with the Mounted Rifles in New Mexico and the Navajo wars. Here, as elsewhere, he paints engaging pictures of social life, campaigning, and his fellow officers. Averell's account of the Civil War is tinged with bitterness over his own treatment and over the dissolution of the proud and professional "Old Army." He recalls the sorrowful parting of Southern officers, defends West Point against...