Love and War: The Civil War Letters and Medicinal Book of Augustus V. Ball (review)

This volume showcases a collection of Civil War letters, primarily from Augustus (Gus) Ball to his wife Argent West Ball. The letters begin in late February 1863 and continue through early May 1865, shortly before Gus returned home.

Born and raised in Georgia, son of a Methodist minister, Gus attended the Reform Medical College of Georgia. Here he trained in the use of botanical remedies, building upon the theories of Samuel Thomson of New England, whose emphasis on gentler, more natural treatments had struck a chord with an American populace wary of the harsh methods of “allopathic” doctors.

With a temporary physician’s license from the Botanical-Medical Board of Georgia, Gus began practicing in Randolph County, Georgia, and met and married Argent, whom he referred to in letters as “Loving.” The next career step was “to study for two years with a ‘respectable practitioner’” (21), and Gus chose to migrate to Bowie County in northeast Texas to apprentice with his brother Ed, a botanical doctor licensed in Texas.

In February 1862, about the time of his second wedding anniversary, Gus had “apparently [been] conscripted” (22) and was serving in frontier defense in the 23rd Texas Cavalry from Bowie and surrounding counties. By December 1862, he and his companions had been ordered to the Texas coast, which commanders recognized as vulnerable to Union incursions. Argent moved across the state border to Cotton Valley, Louisiana, to stay with friends and remained there through the war’s duration as Gus’s units shifted about in Texas and Louisiana, eventually participating in the Red River Campaign. With war’s end, the reunited couple returned to Bowie County, where they had a son, farmed, and raised livestock until Gus died of a sudden illness in April 1868.

Anne Ball Ryals, a descendant of Gus and Argent, transcribed the letters, while Civil War scholar Donald Frazier provided extensive annotations and useful chapter introductions, providing much contextual information about the war, wartime conditions, and family affairs. In addition, Andrew Hillhouse, a specialist in microbiology and immunology, transcribed and annotated the appended medicinal book which Gus had “compiled in the course of his [botanical] education” (422).

The letters themselves reveal a man deeply missing and solicitous of his young wife and resolute in his duty and religious and moral values, no doubt reflecting his training as a son of a Methodist preacher. While with the 23rd, Gus was able to escape some of the more monotonous routines of camp life by providing nursing and doctoring care; later, he would adapt to artillery work as a member of McMahan’s Battery, 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment, and would acquit himself well at the battle of Yellow Bayou, May 18, 1864. At war’s end, he was serving as a quartermaster sergeant.

Gus reported on camp life and on the conduct of the war with level-headed responses to command decisions and to the constant camp rumors; in a typical comment on March 29, 1864, he stated, “I heard that Shreveport was surrendered, then I heard that the feds had fallen to Alexandria, so I cannot tell what to believe so I believe nothing that I hear” (253).

Readers may find themselves wishing for an index of the letters included, especially since some correspondence to Ball is inserted, at first without introduction. However, with its extensive, authoritative annotations and chapter introductions, this volume is a fine addition to studies of Civil War Texas, one that anyone examining the war in the Trans-Mississippi West will want to peruse. In addition, the appended medicinal book provides an intriguing tour of botanical remedies of the era.