Title: The Wild Life of the Army
Subtitle: Civil War Letters of James A. Garfield
First published: 1964
Description: The 20th President's wartime thoughts and activities while serving in the western Union Armies from 1861-63.  The military record of James A. Garfield had much to do with winning him a congressional nomination in Ohio, and thus was a first step on the road to the presidency.  For this reason, it is appropriate that attention be paid to his military career.  This volume of letters shows how he advanced from campaigning with the Army of Ohio in Tennessee and Kentucky in 1861 to a nomination to Congress in 1862 and to being chief of staff in the Army of Cumberland in Tennessee in 1863.

Garfield was a complex man, and his letters reveal that he sometimes placed his own interests above all else.  With Rosecrans he gambled on victory in Tennessee, but at the same time he criticized his superior to S.P. Chase in a letter, thus apparently trying to protect himself in case of defeat or victory.  Praise of Garfield in this military campaign at the expense of Rosecrans was an issue in the presidential election of 1880, and the controversial letter itself was published in 1883 after Garfield’s death.

These letters are interesting and informative about day-to-day life in the army, battles and campaigns, Garfield’s personality and political and military gossip of the time, but they are not literary masterpieces.  Colorful observations on personalities or problems of the day are interposed with accounts of routine activities.  Obviously, the letters were never written for publication.  They are well edited with an informative introduction for each part and are footnoted enough to enable the reader to identify persons and events of which he had nt previously heard.
Subjects: Correspondence, History, Personal narratives, United States Civil War, 1861-1865
Places: United States
People: James A. Garfield (1831-1881)
Time periods: Civil War, 1861-1865
LC classification: E470 .G2