Customer Reviews

Bound To Be A Soldier: Letters Of Private James T. Miller (Voices of the Civil War Series)

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This amazing book puts you right into the thick of the Civil War from the standpoint of real letters written by a 31-year old Pennsylvania Union Army soldier named James T. Miller. His thoughts and strong feelings come alive as you read these letters, and you get the feeling that you are with him, listening to him tell you personally what he is experiencing and thinking.

He not only tells of his personal war experiences but also of how he felt about being away from his family and how other young men from his home town found ways to avoid serving in the Union cause.

Do keep your fingers located at the footnote explanations for each chapter, for the footnotes are almost a book in themselves. They add tremendously to the information in each letter and give the reader a complete picture of what was going on in the context of the letter.

Other Civil War books discuss strategies, tactics, weaponry, etc., but this book is about how one Union soldier gets through each day and what he is thinking about.

This is a must-read for anyone who is looking for the personal side of the Civil War. I suggest that you read this book slowly as you would read a personal letter out loud to members of your family. You won't be able to put it down.

In this era of media hype and historical revisionism for political correctness it is a relief to review orginal sources for an insight to history. Our understanding of events like the Civil War is sharpened by the observations of participants. Though lacking in formal education James T. Miller of Pennsylvania joined the Union Army and through his letters the reader is thrust into the Civil War from the vantage point not of generals but the ordinary soldier caught up in the events of his time offering honest reflections of his fellow soldiers, officers, and the members of his own family. His opinions expressed in the rough hewn and stilted language of the period gives the reader an authentic taste of a time in our history often blurred in romanticism. Those who seek to understand the why and significance of events should begin with the words of its participants and there is no better place to begin this civil war journey than with the words of Private James Miller augmented by the excellent footnoting of the editors.