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BOOK REVIEWS283 Franklin area. Mihtary inactivity for Reid and his compatriots ended in May, 1864, when WiUiam T. Sherman struck into Georgia on what became one of the war's most famous campaigns. From Resaca to Raleigh, Reid served as infantryman, commissary corporal, and brigade clerk. His pride, and his mihtary career, had their climax at the May, 1865, Grand Review in Washington. Reid's wartime letters are lengthy episdes to his parents. They form an almost unbroken chronicle of his three years' service as a Federal soldier. More importantly, however, the letters are unusuaUy literate and revealing. Like most BiUy Yanks, Reid observed many facets of the Civil War; but unlike the majority of his comrades, he had the keen perspective and sense of history to record his observations in interesting fashion. Professor Byrne, who skillfuUy edited this coUection, apdy summarized the letters by stating: "Besides describing the exterior of mihtary life, [Reid] revealed the inner effects of the Civil War upon a sensitive soldier: his increasing awareness of human weaknesses, his changing attitudes on politics and slavery, his growing caUousness toward war's horror and cruelty." Although Reid's letters are heavy with mihtary and personal trivia found in all soldiers' writings, they also contain penetrating, poignant commentaries on such subjects as contrabands, soldier voting, jealousies among officers , commissary problems, marches, battles, prisoners and prisons. Perhaps Harvey Reid's contribution to the preservation of the Union was, in the fuU sweep of that chaotic era, negligible. Yet his quiet patriotism and frank descriptions—as found in his letters—are commendably indicative of a generation that was both embattled and courageous. James I. Robertson, Jr. University of Montana The Zollie Tree. By Raymond E. Myers. (Louisville: Filson Club Press, 1964. Pp. xiii, 200. $6.00.) This is a good book with a bad tide. There is not even a subtide to indicate that it is a biography of Felix Kirk ZoUicoffer, prominent Tennessee editor and pohtical figure during the quarter century preceding the Civil War, and one of the first Confederate general officers to die in battle in that conflict. For this reason the bookstore browser, seeing The Zollie Tree on the shelves, might weU dismiss it as a novel without giving it the second glance it deserves. Yet it is a fine biography and contains considerable information on the early months of the Civil War in Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as the most thorough account to date of the little studied but important battle of MiU Springs. Felix K. ZoUicoffer, scion of a titled Swiss family, was bom in Maury County, Tennessee, in 1812. At fifteen he began his journalistic career under the tutelage of his cousin, A. O. P. Nicholson; at seventeen he was 284civil war history editor of his own weekly, which failed (necessitating five years' hard work as a journeyman printer to pay off his debts); and at twenty-three became editor and publisher of the Columbia (Tennessee) Observer in which he editoriaUy espoused the cause of the Whig party. In 1841 he was made editor of the most influential Whig newspaper in Tennessee, the NashviUe Republican Banner. Increasing involvement in Whig politics brought its rewards—the offices of state adjutant general and comptroller of the state treasury, and election to the state senate. In 1853 he won a seat in Congress in which he served with distinction until 1859 when he declined to seek a fourth consecutive term. Like many "old Une" southern Whigs, ZoUicoffer opposed secession as long as there was hope of protecting southern interests within the Union. In February, 1861, he served as a delegate to the abortive National Peace Conference, and after its failure continued to work for sectional reconciliation until early June when a majority of the Tennessee electorate voted for secession. He then offered his services to his state and was promptly given a brigadier's commission in Tennessee's provisional army. At the time his mihtary experience was limited to one year's active duty as a lieutenant m the Second Seminole War and his two-year tenure as state adjutant general. However, his exceUent work in recruiting and in preparing for the defense of the...

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