Reconstructed Rebel
Captain
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2021
This was an unusual diary in many ways. It was written by a very young boy who was allowed to join the army as an alternative to reform school. Looking back he freely acknowledges he was a difficult child for his mother and step-father. But war can make you grow up. He enters service as a drummer, but is unable to learn to drum and so becomes a fifer.
The diary is full of gossip and camp rumors and personal biases. He doesn't like Meade, but admires Sickles, for example. The book was published many years after the war and he freely mentions other writers, North and South, some of whom I now want to look up for references. His views of battles are limited to his personal experiences. But he includes a lot of small details of camp life and individual officers I haven't read anywhere else.
EDIT: Thanks to @lupaglupa for pointing out this easier to read version!
The diary is full of gossip and camp rumors and personal biases. He doesn't like Meade, but admires Sickles, for example. The book was published many years after the war and he freely mentions other writers, North and South, some of whom I now want to look up for references. His views of battles are limited to his personal experiences. But he includes a lot of small details of camp life and individual officers I haven't read anywhere else.
A Little Fifer's War Diary: With 17 Maps, 60 Portraits, and 246 Other ... : Charles William Bardeen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Book digitized by Google from the library of the University of California and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.
archive.org
EDIT: Thanks to @lupaglupa for pointing out this easier to read version!
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