"Carrying the Flag" By Gordon C. Rhea. I found the book a pretty easy read. Not bogged down in details but detailed where it needed to be. About Charles Whilden, who was a sickly epileptic in South Carolina, was 41 years old, and tried several times to join the Confederate army. They turned him down because of his health. He tried again in 1864 and this time they snapped him right up, and put him with the 1st South Carolina.
He was with that regiment through the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House, and the Bloody Angle.
That's all I'll tell of the story. I won't say how Mr. Whilden died. The flag he carried still has not been found by Mr. Rhea or any other researcher and is suspected to be in someone's attic somewhere.
Great writing, excellent description of the trials and tragedies of both sides in the conflict. The story follows Whilden through the horrors of battle in the thickness of the Wilderness, and the brutality and killing at the Bloody Angle.
For you voracious, quick info processing readers this book will take you no time to read. If I can finish it in a few days, then most of you will be able to put it away in an afternoon. It's worth reading for everybody, whether Yankee or Reb at heart.
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment |