A damned Iowa greyhound
Subtitle: the Civil War letters of William Henry Harrison Clayton
By: edited by Donald C. Elder III.
Contributors: Elder, Donald C., 1952-
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Iowa City
Language: eng
Number of pages: 231
Subjects: Clayton, William Henry Harrison -- Correspondence.; United States. Army. Iowa Infantry Regiment, 19th (1862-1865); Soldiers -- Iowa -- Van Buren County -- Correspondence.; Iowa -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.; West (U.S.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns.; Van Buren County (Iowa) -- Biography.
Genres: Personal narratives.
Description: William Henry Harrison Clayton was one of nearly 75,000 soldiers from Iowa to join the Union ranks during the Civil War. Possessing a high school education and superior penmanship, Clayton served as a company clerk in the 19th Infantry, witnessing battles in the Trans-Mississippi theater. His diary and his correspondence with his family in Van Buren County form a unique narrative of the day-to-day soldier life as well as an eyewitness account of critical battles and a prisoner-of-war camp.

Clayton's writing reveals the complicated sympathies and prejudices prevalent among Union soldiers and civilians of that period in the country's history. He observes with great sadness the brutal effects of war on the South, sympathizing with the plight of refugees and lamenting the destruction of property. He excoriates draft evaders and Copperheads back home, conveying the intrasectional acrimony wrought by civil war.

Finally, his racist views toward blacks demonstrate a common but ironic attitude among Union soldiers whose efforts helped lead to the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-219) and index.