On Many a Bloody Field
Subtitle: Four Years in the Iron Brigade
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: January 1997
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 499
ISBN-13: 9780253330635
Subjects: American history; Warfare & Defence; Military History - U.S. Civil War; History - Military / War; History: World; USA; United States - Civil War; Military - Other; Army; Army.; Civil War, 1861-1865; Company B; History; Indiana; Indiana Infantry Regiment, 19t; Indiana Infantry Regiment, 19th (1861-1864).; Regimental histories; United States; United States.
First sentence: At the age of nineteen, John M. Snider had left the comfort of his parents' home in Centreville, Indiana, to begin life on his own.
Description: On Many a Bloody Field follows one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations - Company B, 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade, in a vivid account of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Alan D. Gaff follows the men from recruitment through mustering out, from the tedium of camp to the excitement of battle. Marches and battles are described in detail, but Gaff also devotes close attention to how the war affected individuals, both physically and emotionally.

Formed into a brigade with the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin, these Indiana soldiers fought their first real battle at Brawner Farm. Over four difficult years they fought on many a bloody field : Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Fitzhugh Crossing, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Weldon Railroad. With meticulous care, Alan Gaff recounts the experience of war from the soldier's perspective, often in the words of the men themselves.

This intimate portrait of men at war is an important contribution to the literature of the Civil War.