Isabel Bracy, 1991. Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing
Civil War Volunteers from Upstate New York
Author Bracy’s careful compilation of detailed information from Civil War records provides rich detail on the daily lives of Civil War soldiers and officers, as well as their movements, battles, and sufferings.
I have a deep connection to Civil War stories that began early when, as a twelve year old (yes, too young), I read “Andersonville” by MacKinlay Kantor. I was stunned by the inhumanity of one person to another. Haunted by the melodies of Civil War music, I grew thoughtful about the human condition as demonstrated in civil war. My elders remembered old Civil War veterans and an older cousin complied letters from one of the soldiers in our family.
Bracy, a lifelong resident of New York State, showed me one new perspective and provided two new insights. Her perspective that the war was needed “to clear the way for better things” caused me despair. The loss of 500,000 lives and untold misery might have had some positive outcomes but … the price was very high. Who can assess the relative costs of war to the perceived benefits? Could there not have been a more rational way to handle differences?! I lamented that reason, communication, and diplomacy failed and that hot war ensued.
A new insight was the pervasiveness of the human habit to criticize the actors and second guess an event or a battle after the actors have decided and acted, and the battle is over. I appreciate the value of assessing to learn and to improve. But those idlers who do not help or provide wisdom, and who merely criticize, do nothing but drain energy from those who are exerting themselves for what they perceived to be a good cause. I have seen this arrogance, indolence and cowardliness recently in a large complicated family in which one member did the bulk of the caregiving work while 4 others merely stood and threw darts of ridicule and criticism.
I appreciated Bracy’s inclusion of detail about the election of 1964 in which Lincoln/Johnson ran against McClellan/Pendleton. Absentee paper ballots for one of the political parties for Union army soldiers failed to reach their outpost in South Carolina promptly. The commanding officer, Colonel Brown, took the effort and time to personally travel to Hilton Head and procure the ballots. For security, ballots each had separate envelopes that were then wrapped in a form filled out with power-of-attorney and witness signatures. Both were placed in an outer wrapper labelled “Soldier’s Vote” and delivered to be counted. Although women, blacks, “foreigners,” and other disenfranchised people could not yet vote, this anecdote demonstrated the diligence required to preserve votes where possible.
For those who would like detail on daily lives of CW soldiers, this well-researched and written volume will prove interesting.
Music: “In The Hills of Shiloh” by New Christy Minstrels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmt4Mud4tOg)
Book of letters: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tuf_as_a_Boiled_Owl/3sW1AtFZZJMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Tuff+as+a+Boiled+Owl%22&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover
Susan Olmstead Wang 