Vermont General: The Unusual War Experiences of Edward Hastings Ripley (1862-1865) (review)

Book Reviews327 Dr. Silver is to be commended for his superior job of editing this primary source. A Life For The Confederacy is a welcome addition to the published literature of the Civil War. Martin Hardwick Hall Louisiana State UniversityinNewOrleans. Vermont General: The Unusual War Experiences of Edward Hastings Ripley (1862-1865). Edited by Otto Eisenschiml. (New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1960. Pp. xii, 340. $6.00.) every ciVTL war historian probably hopes that he will one day encounter , and be asked to edit, such a set of letters as Dr. Eisenschiml here arrays for his readers. These letters are, as Eisenschiml says, "quite out of the ordinary. They will not only become rare source material for students of the Civil War, but will be enjoyed by all readers who appreciate highgrade literary entertainment." Edward Hastings Ripley, a general at the age of twenty-five, is best known for having led Union forces into Richmond on April 3, 1865, while Confederate officialdom (and hopes) slipped away in full retreat to the west. Fires raged in the city and looters roamed the streets as Ripley, who privately called himself the "Duke of Richmond," assumed command of the situation. The fires were extinguished, looting arrested, and the city saved from complete destruction. Ripley's story of these events, and that of three years of service preceding , is effectively told in nearly 500 letters to and from him and his parents , brothers, and sisters. The Rutland, Vermont, Ripleys, possessed of banking and marble-quarry means, reflect, as the reader will expect, a fine cultural background. The reviewer especially appreciates Edward Ripley's first-hand accounts of the surrender of Harpers Ferry in 1862 to Stonewall Jackson, the capture of Fort Harrison (Richmond defenses), September 29, 1864, the repulse at Fort Gilmer shortly after, and the triumphant entry into Richmond at the end. On the Vermont home front several letters bear significant commentary on behind-the-lines affairs. For example, on June 18, 1863, William Y. W. Ripley, Edward's brother, reported the local organization of "6 or 7 hundred men" to resist the draft and to stone recruiting officers. Other letters deal with the faltering wartime marble business and contests for control of the enterprise. While Edward's headquarters were in North Carolina, he and his brother speculated without success in turpentine patents and production. Like most people, Edward reveals his prejudices in his familiar letters. Some readers may wonder at the Vermonter's distaste, bordering on contempt , for Federal Negro troops which he refers to as "niggers" (pp. 153, 154, 245, 253, 309). Of all "Secesh" troops Ripley thought most highly of the Texans who, though unreasonably unwashed and lousy, were "a fine 328civil war history looking set of men." He particularly liked a Texas surgeon who accompanied him in a convoy of rebel prisoners from Camp Douglas, 111., to City Point, Va., for exchange. North Carolina troops and natives, however, catch his sharpest criticism: They were too cowardly to fight for their principles, and he had learned "to thoroughly despise them, while for the Virginia Rebels, [he had] the respect their bravery and fortitude demands" (pp. 169-170). In later years Ripley wrote brief accounts of several of the actions in which he participated. At appropriate places among the letters, the editor inserts extracts from these accounts. Included are "The Tragedy of Harpers Ferry," "The Battle of Fort Harrison," and "Final Scenes." This last account , "Final Scenes," a paper presented before the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of New York, is the story of Ripley's capture and occupation of Richmond. In able style the paper casts new light on what was indeed a "highly dramatic historical event." Confronted with rumor of a plot by Confederate agents to kill the President, Ripley personally warned Mr. Lincoln on his visit to Richmond. Although Lincoln heard him out, he shook off the danger, Ripley recalled, with the statement: "I deeply appreciate the feeling which has led you to urge [precautions] on me, but I must go on as I have begun in the course marked out for me, for I cannot bring myself to believe that any human being lives who...