He was much more important than our ignorance of him justifies. Memoirs, correspondence, diaries, and journals from 19 th century Americans are a very popular form of literature these days. I must have gone through over a hundred published memoirs and journals in the last five years. Diaries and journals tend to be written on the spot, of course, and they become boring. Civil War records dwell on sicknesses, weather, boredom, homesickness, religious revivals, lost comrades, and poor food.
Memoirs are more reflective, and occasionally surprisingly brilliantly written.
Like Union General Lew Wallace, better known for being the author of Ben Hur than for having gotten lost at Shiloh, Orlando Willcox was a published author of novels, none of which were acclaimed and all of which have long been out of print. But he did have writing skills, and his memoirs are a rare and entrancing first-hand record of his times. In one of the first military engagements, he led soldiers across the Potomac into Alexandria, where Col. E. E. Ellsworth, a friend of Lincoln s, became the first Union martyr in the War. At First Manassas, Willcox led a brigade in an attack of rebel-held Henry Hill, and was wounded and captured. He received a Medal of Honor in 1895 for that achievement.