"Your Affectionate Husband, J. F. Culver": Letters Written During the Civil War (review)

BOOK REVIEWS189 Wilkes' eyes a unique view of the United States during its formative years. Patiently and expertly they transcribed a manuscript of 2,800 pages, much of it barely legible, much of it with a casual disregard for spelling and grammar, where foreign words and phrases are plentifully supplied but seldom pertinent. With all its faults and they are many, the Autobiography deserves the care the editors have bestowed upon it. There is a wealth of history here, for those with a discerning eye and the ability to skim out the pure metal from the dross. John Niven Claremont Graduate School "Your Affectionate Husband, J. F. Culver": Letters Written During the Civil War. Edited by Leslie W. Dunlap. (Iowa City, Iowa: Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries, 1978. Pp. xxii, 467. $15.00.) Historians of Livingston County, Illinois or of the 129th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers will find Your Affectionate Husband, J. F. Culver indispensable. Civil War historians will find the volume interesting and useful although it contains no new information about the military operations that are recounted. The volume contains 233 letters that Joseph L. Culver wrote to his wife Mary between August 14, 1862 and June 5, 1865. Culver's letters, written in a style that is almost conversational in nature, provide a clear picture of the young soldier and husband from Illinois. Culver was a careful observer of men and events, and his letters are filled with details about the daily life of the Civil War soldier, the activities of the other men from Livingston County, opinions about the War and themen who directed it, and the concerns of a new husband for the health and safety of his wife and family. Through all the trials of active campaigning, Culver never seems to have doubted the correctness of his decision to leave his wife and home for the life of a soldier. He told his wife that he had enlisted because "I thought that God & my Country was calling upon me, & I tried, as I ever shall by God's grace to walk in the path of duty" (p. 3). On April 23, 1865, after marching across Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia with Generals Rosecrans and Sherman, he was able to write that "we have spent three years in honorable warfare ... (p. 440)." Leslie W. Dunlap, the editor, and Edwin C. Bearss, who compiled the notes, have done an excellentjob. Culver's letters standon their own and elaborate notes identify unfamiliar people, places, and events for the reader. This volume is an excellent example of how an editor can perform his job without projecting himself into the work. Researchers would be well served if other editors tried to achieve what Dunlap and Bearss have achieved in the preparation of this volume. Senator John C. Culver of Iowa, Joseph Culver's great-grandson, and 190CIVIL WAR HISTORY the Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries are to be commended for the publication of this collection of letters. Tommy R. Young Media Support Center Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Paths to the American Past. ByJ. R. Pole. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. Pp. 330. $13.95.) In these essays, Professor Pole explains why he chose to study democracy and equality in American society. These previously published articles, book reviews, and unpublished pieces also display the breadth and depth of his historical interests. In addition, he has brought these articles and reviews together to attract a large general audience to the study of the past. The first section centers on the Revolutionary generation, particularly the relationship between revolution and the growth of representative government. In a biting review essay on recent books about slavery and the American Revolution, Pole shows how he came to separate the study of majority rule from the egalitarian principle. The second section, which he devotes to the American Civil War and its results, displays little more than a cursory knowledge of the historical work on the period. His essay on Lincoln and the British working class is repetitive and without focus. "Lincoln and the American Commitment," obviously an afterdinner talk, confuses Lincoln's nationalism with his idea of the federal government's powers. Thebook review...