Customer Reviews

The Citizen-Soldier: The Memoirs of a Civil War Volunteer

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John Beatty intended to speak from the grave to future generations and did so with clarity, humility and with a poignant reminder of the failings of politics and those in power. The magnetic pull of the romance of war and adventure for young men soon morphed into campside remembrances of home and hearth. The diary format made it an easy read quickly drawing you into the life of that period.You can almost smell the adrenalin of the young untried soldiers chomping at the bit to get into a skirmish. Later to sense their fear,hurt,shock and ultimately their inexperience with the harshness of war...after seeing friends disembowled and crying for help...The political passions of that period were at a fever pitch which makes it all the more remarkable given the abscence of CNN and other 24/7 news channels beating the political drums...150 years later and we seemingly have devolved..."Civil War"? the ultimate oxymoron...how can any war be "Civil"...John Beatty scrapes it close to the bone in his revelations about the inefficieny of war...a worthy and very interesting visit to the past!

This soldier's journal from the American Civil War is a delight to read, beautifully written and insightful throughout. John Beatty was sensitive to the horror of war, but also to the humor of it. History has been kind to an author who, in writing this book, was very kind to history.