Their Patriotic Duty: The Civil War Letters of the Evans Family of Brown County, Ohio (review)

Few letter collections reveal the complexities of life during the Civil War like the correspondence of the Evans family. This volume of 254 epistles relates the struggles, sorrows, and successes of one Ohio family who grew closer together despite the trials and separation of war. Nearly two hundred letters recount the sometimes strained yet always loving relationship between authoritarian Andrew Evans and his dutiful but independent-minded son Sam, whose military service enabled him to demonstrate his manhood and emerge from his father's shadow.

Brown County, directly north of the Ohio River, was Democratic territory. But as patriotic War Democrats, three of Andrew's sons joined the Federal army. Still unmarried at age twenty-eight, Sam, the eldest son, operated the family flour mill, worked as a blacksmith, and assisted with farm chores. Convinced that duty to country outweighed family responsibilities, Sam left home without telling his father and enlisted in February 1862. After learning that illness had confined him to a field hospital almost immediately after leaving, Andrew rebuked his son for his rashness. Sam shortly vindicated himself by reporting his experiences during the Battle of Shiloh, including a detailed account of his killing several Rebels and being grazed by a ricocheted bullet. The father-son relationship progressed smoothly until May 1863, when Sam became an officer in an African American regiment. In no uncertain terms, Andrew reproached his son for taking "a degraded position" (143). Undeterred, Sam defended himself in several letters and related his satisfaction in commanding such disciplined and capable troops.

Over the course of the war, Sam's persistence, together with events at home, helped transform Andrew. His frustration with local Copperheads and opposition to the gubernatorial candidacy of Clement Vallandigham drew the attention of county unionists, who nominated the respected "Squire" for state representative. Winning office in 1863 and 1864, the longtime Democrat switched allegiance to the Union party. By February 1865, Andrew's political conversion was complete, and he informed Sam that he wholeheartedly supported the Thirteenth Amendment. After the war, Sam worked five months in the Freedmen's Bureau, and Andrew even espoused his willingness to support black suffrage, a position that most likely cost him reelection in 1865.

In addition to unfolding the stories of Andrew and Sam Evans, the letters contain much other fascinating material. While letter collections often relate the perspectives of soldiers in camp and on the battlefield, few published primary sources reveal life on the northern home front in such rich detail. Interesting topics include conflicts over local politics, anxieties over the draft, the disturbance caused by Rebel marauder John Hunt Morgan, and the importance of religious beliefs in coping with death (four of Andrew's eleven children died between May 1862 and January 1866). Both military and social historians of the Civil War will find this book essential reading. Indeed, anyone interested in the human drama of history will benefit from being reminded how personal experiences altered ideologies and shaped relationships for both soldier and citizen during the Civil War.