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All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes

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Men of a simpiler time were made of much harder and enduring stuff than our contemporaries.

From age nineteen to twenty three, Elisha Hunt Rhodes endured almost all of the worst that a full tour of duty with the Army of the Potomac entailed. Frequently cold, wet, tired and unfed, preiodically the witness to death, destruction incompetence and poor generalship, he endured knowing that it was "All for the Union."

This book gives a great soldier's eye view of the Civil War experience. Knowing more of the fear and boredom that were Rhode's life (and that of all line troops) while generals contemplated their moves rounds, out one's understanding of the Civil War.

Easy to read, Rhodes is a good writer who convey's scenes and experiences with an economy of words.

This is the type of book one would be tempted to read by pulling an "all-nighter."

This is the best war diary I have read, and for many reasons. Elisha Rhodes has an excellent, straightforward writing style with very good grammatical structure. This makes the diary easy to follow. He was involved in virtually the entire war fought by the Army of the Potomac, and so it is pretty much a complete history in that sense.
At the same time, this private who ultimately became a colonel (in his early 20s!) remains about as unaffected as a man could be. Nothing good or bad really changes his simple and honest view of the war's ultimate justice, and many times he refers to the sacrifices as being easily justified by the gain of saving the union and of freeing the slaves.
He is religious but not judgmental, and never does he develop any real hatred of the enemy. He does his duty with a minimum of fuss. He enjoys his army life, but is quite happy to return to civilian life at the end.
Maybe most interesting to me was his innocent myopia. He never really knew the "big picture" of how the overall war was being fought, or even what the importance of many of the battles he was involved in might have been. He was content to leave that to the generals, and especially to Grant, in whom he had a great deal of trust.
This is a great weekend read for any civil war buff.

I've read and re-read Elisha Hunt Rhodes' memoirs of the Civil War many times now, and always find additional nuances and new perspectives on every visit.

The drama and horror of the Civil War become even more vivid and personal as you read Rhodes' simple, yet expressive prose. But even more than a story of this war, "All for the Union" is a story of a young man's coming of age. Elisha joined the Union Army in 1861 with utterly no military experience whatsoever. Yet, he fought in every major campaign of the Army of the Potomac, rose to command his regiment--and somehow survived. Almost incredibly, Elisha was always around to report on the historic events of this tragic conflict as the Union Army of the Potomac engaged in its four-year death struggle with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. There is humor, hardship, politics, adventure, and great courage detailed in these pages, which makes this a compulsive page-turner even for non-Civil War buffs.

The book includes some fine photographs, although some detailed maps of the Army of the Potomac's theater of operations would have been nice.

Highly recommended.

It isn't easy to find quality diaries written so well from the Civil War sometimes; although this book will rank with in the top 10. Popularized and quoted often in Ken Burn's Civil War series on PBS, Rhodes' book about his life as a soldier come to life. Rhodes brings the excitement and patriotic fervor of being a new recruit in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry early in the war. This patriotic spirit never dies through out his writing. Many times he writes about the daily hardships such as bad weather, sickness and death while always falling back on the duty to ones country and the saving of the union. Rhodes' duty carries him many engagements where death lingers around every corner. Battles such as Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg are just a few that this man witnessed and wrote about firsthand. Rhodes' was really an ideal soldier and loved the life. He started the war as a private and by the end of it was a colonel. Many people would benefit from reading this book be it a historian or beginner looking to further understand soldier life in the Civil War.

This is a very well written diary of a Civil War Soldier that enlisted as a private and ended the war as a Col. He does not go into great detail about battles but, he does go into detail about the daily life of a soldier. E.H. Rhodes writes a very easy to follow text. I highly recommend this book!!!!

I have an extensive Civil War Library,and, once in a while, read a book that stands out alone. I postponed things I needed to do in order to finish this as close to one setting as possible.
Elisha Hunt Rhodes was a 'soldier's soldier, and a patriot's patriot. His diary will take you through the hum drum of camp life and the heat of battle. It takes you through the good times as well as the bad times. Your emotions will swing with his. Through all, Rhodes was "All for the Union."
As I finished this book, I realized this must be the best eye witness account ever written.

I purchased this book more than a decade ago after Ken Burns' series on the Civil War "discovered" Elisha Hunt Rhodes. I find the his words so compelling that I re-read this book at least once a year. As a self-professed Civil War buff, it continually amazes me that Elisha survived the carnage of four years of an absolutely brutal conflict with his optimism and values intact. Some angel was definitely looking out for him. Today, as America finds itself embroiled in another war, I take more than a little comfort in Elisha Hunt Rhodes' spirit and resilience.

"All for the Union" is an outstanding story of a young soldier at work. Elisha Hunt Rhodes enlisted in the Army of the Potomac and fought in almost every major eastern Civil War engagement. This book is a compilation of his private diary and papers written at the time of these events. The book is one of the most insightful and honest glimpses into the life, hardships, motivations, and opinions of a young soldier that the reader is ever likely to find. Rhodes writes with clarity and candor; if you want to know what it was like to be a Union Civil War soldier, there is perhaps no better book.

The PBS Documentary "The Civil War" drew heavily on Rhodes' book. By the way, one of the things I really liked about the book is that it included some contemporary photographs of people that served with Rhodes in his regiment. Being able to match faces with his narrative was delightful.

What amazing times Rhodes lived through! As soon as he enlisted, he was sent to the Capitol to help guard it. On the way his regiment was booed and reviled by pro-Rebel citizens in parts of Maryland. Rhodes lived through battlefield defeats and victories--the reader can fully appreciate the signficance to a young soldier like Rhodes when the great Union victory at Gettysburg takes place. After all, there had been many Union defeats preceding it.

Rhodes comes through as a good and honest man, very intelligent, but in the beginning somewhat naive as twenty year olds are apt to be. This is an outstanding glimpse into the mind of one of the soldiers who helped to save and preserve the Union. After reading it, one can see that America was fortunate to possess thousands of Elisha Hunt Rhodes because that is what it took to win the war. As the South had many equally good men, equally motivated, the reader can understand why it was a hard and long war.

An interesting, informative book.

This is an account of one man's participation in the American Civil War (1861-1865). Elisha Hunt Rhodes joined the Rhode Island Volunteers in 1861 as a private and left as a colonel in 1865; having earned the respect of not only his peers but his superiors as well. The book is a diary (plus a few letters) he kept during his army life: it includes daily to weekly accounts of the people and places he got to know and see, plus the battles with which he was involved.

The diary is well written (better than you'd expect from a 19-year-old in 1861). There are accounts of the marches that covered seemly unbelievable distances: wearing the men in to a state of complete exhaustion. (And often, after reaching their destination, would have to march back to where they started) There are tales of deprivation, hunger, prolonged stress, boredom and even some humorous moments as well. The descriptions of some of the carnage is told in a rather detached, matter of fact manner, (probably understandable, given the circumstances) even though he was in the midst of several of these bloody scenes and lost countless friends and colleagues.

The diary was recorded chronologically and with dates: also included, is an excellent map of the area. The map even outlines the marches that the 2nd R. I. Volunteers participated in during their 4 years at war. This is a wonderful addition to this book that not only makes following the events easy but also makes you appreciate the distance that these armies traveled, mostly on foot.

All in all, an interesting, personal account of the American Civil War: one that gives new insights into an era of history that has significantly shaped the United States into the country that we know today. Highly recommended!

Elisha Hunt Rhodes diary gives a very exquisite perspective of the Civil War not often found in historical works. Obviously moving, it provided much of the "color" commentary in Ken Burn's masterpiece documentary, as one of the few existing books that represented a soldier's view of the conflict from start to finish. Rhodes was with the Army or the Potomac for the whole ride, suffering the disasters in the first few years, then seeing the success of his comrades at Gettysburg, and determining to stay to "see it through". If you're really into learning about the Civil War, this is a book you shouldn't miss. An easy read, even for the occaisional history buff.