The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat (Modern War Studies)
The fall of Fort Sumter caught the Union Army unaware. It was a small army whose officers, even the West Pointers, were ill prepared to mold a huge fighting force from a volunteer civilian population. Often, the soldiers didn't even see the rebel force they were fighting, firing into a bank of black smoke in the direction of the firing against them. Hess (history, Lincoln Memorial Univ.) paints a vivid picture here of a Union soldier's life before, during, and after the Civil War, detailing how soldiers coped with war, dealt with the losses of friends and family, and remembered the war in their memoirs. Though blessed with modern weapons such as the rifled musket, they were cursed with tactics and strategies better suited to the American Revolution. Also enduring medieval notions of medicine, Union soldiers suffered huge casualties. A riveting, well-documented history; recommended for academic libraries and most public libraries with Civil War collections.?Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., MetamoraCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.