Southern Sons, Northern Soldiers: The Civil War Letters of the Remley Brothers, 22nd Iowa Infantry (review)

The publication of diaries and collections of letters from the Civil War era has increased markedly during the past decade due to at least two prevailing factors. Chief among them is that the reading public, whether professional historians or history buffs, never tires of reading anything on the Civil War period. The so-called "new" military history has influenced changes in historiographical approaches from strict tactical and strategical analyses to the incorporation of evaluations of soldiers' personal experiences and the impact of war on armies, civilians, and landscapes. Thus Civil War historians are more interested in published primary sources, and buffs perhaps have always been interested in the human side of conflict.

The collection of letters under review here is a worthy addition to this trend and even more so to the history of the long-neglected Western Theater of the war. George and Lycurgus Remley were well read and educated young men, natives of what is now West Virginia, who fought for the Union under the banner of the 22nd Iowa. Their letters are articulate and indicate strong powers of observation. The volume is well-edited and contains an excellent introduction by Steven E. Woodworth, who places the letters in historical perspective and context and summarizes the campaign and battle experiences of the Iowans.

The Remleys and their fellow soldiers served in Missouri early in the war, but in March, 1863, traveled downriver to participate in the grueling Vicksburg campaign. The 22nd was attached to Michael Lawler's brigade of Eugene Carr's division of John McClernand's XIII Corps and thus saw action at the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hill, the Big Black, the May 19 and 22 assaults on Vicksburg and during the forty-seven-day siege that followed. The Iowans also joined in the special force sent by U. S. Grant, under the command of William T. Sherman, to Jackson, Mississippi, after the surrender of Vicksburg, to chase away Joseph Johnston's army. Later the 22nd served in the Trans-Mississippi area and in the Army of the Shenandoah in Virginia. Lycurgus Remley died from fever during the Vicksburg siege; George was killed in action on 19 September 1864 at Winchester, Virginia.

Though the brothers failed to survive the war, they left a rich legacy through their writings. They related their struggles in Mississippi "through briars and tangled canes," (p. 63) at Port Gibson, seeing the negative impact of war on the town of Raymond, and the horrors of a field hospital at Vicksburg. George wrote vivid descriptions of the unique landscape in southern Louisiana, especially noting the impact of the war on the area, and of bad weather along the Texas Gulf coast, and finally of campaigning in the Shenandoah Valley before his death there.

Historians who understand the value of seeing the war through the eyes of the participants will find no better opportunity to do so than in this wonderful collection of correspondence.