In this Book
- Yankee Dutchmen under Fire: Civil War Letters from the 82nd Illinois Infantry
- Book
- 2013
- Published by: The Kent State University Press
The letters span nearly three years of war and include firsthand accounts of major battles: Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in the East and Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, and Kolb’s Farm in the West. The soldiers of the 82nd Illinois also describe campaigning in East Tennessee, Sherman’s Atlanta campaign and his March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign (including the Battle of Bentonville).
The majority of the letters originally appeared in wartime issues of German American newspapers and kept the German community informed of the regiment’s marches, camps, battles, and casualties. Lt. (later Capt.) Rudolph Müller, an idealistic and highly critical commentator, wrote twenty-one of the twenty-nine private letters to his close friend and confidant Col. Friedrich Hecker. Müller cautioned the colonel not to make his letters public because they often contained highly critical comments about commanders, fellow officers, public figures, Anglo-Americans, and American society.
Besides providing details of military life and combat, the documents reveal how the German-born writers viewed the war, American officers and enlisted men, other immigrant soldiers, and the enemy. They shed light on the ethnic dimensions of the war, including ethnic identity, ethnic pride and prejudice, and ethnic solidarity, and they reflect the overarching political climate in which the war was fought. Yankee Dutchmen under Fire is a valuable addition to Civil War studies and will also be welcomed by those interested in ethnicity and immigration.
Table of Contents
- Maps and Illustrations
- pp. ix-x
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xii
- A Note about Translation and Editing
- pp. xiii-xiv
- Introduction
- pp. 1-17
- 1. Organization of the Regiment
- pp. 18-26
- 2. Camp Butler
- pp. 27-49
- 3. Off to the Seat of War
- pp. 50-60
- 4. A New Year Begins
- pp. 61-66
- 5. The Battle of Chancellorsville
- pp. 67-83
- 6. The Battle of Gettysburg
- pp. 84-98
- 7. After Gettysburg to Chattanooga
- pp. 99-108
- 8. Whiteside, Tennessee
- pp. 109-114
- 9. The Beginning of the Atlanta Campaign
- pp. 115-132
- 10. Kolb’s Farm to Atlanta
- pp. 133-151
- 11. Atlanta Is Ours
- pp. 152-165
- 12. The March to the Sea
- pp. 166-173
- 14. The Final Battles
- pp. 180-193
- Bibliographic Essay
- pp. 247-250
- Back Cover
- p. 278