Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson [Hardcover]

J. Gregory Acken (Author), Edwin C. Bearss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998

". . . one of the finest solder accounts of the Army of the Potomac that I have ever read." --Brian Pohanka.

Foreword by Edwin C. Bearss

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

J. Gregory Acken in a member of the board of governors of the Civil War Library and Museum and a noted historian of the American Civil War period.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; 1st edition (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811709019
• ISBN-13: 978-0811709019
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,738,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best collections of soldier letters, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson (Hardcover)

This is an outstanding set of letters by a perceptive officer in the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry. It certainly ranks in the top five of Army of the Potomac letter collections published in the last decade. Donaldson was opinionated, but also intent on description, not chat. He provides excellent narratives of most of the major campaigns, but more importantly he offers insights into ordeals and events often overlooked--everyday struggles lost to history. Gregory Acken has done an outstanding job of introducing, annotating, and editing the missives, offering the reader cues to the important themes that course through the correspondence. For the serious researcher of the Army of the Potomac, this book will become an oft-cited source. For the more casual student, these letters are a vivid, first-rate look at the experience of America's Civil War.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The second best Civil War narrative I have ever read, February 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson (Hardcover)

After E.P.Alexander's Fighting for the Confederacy (edited by Gary Gallagher) this is the best Civil War officer's narrative in existence. Want a real treat? Read it. You Confederates will love it too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The standard for Civil War memoirs., August 26, 2001

By 

bilagaana (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson (Hardcover)

In letters to his brother and aunt, Francis Adams Donaldson chronicled his daily experiences during three years in the infantry of the Army of the Potomac. Not intending that his words would find their way into publication, he used his letters home to express his hopes, ventilate his frustrations, and convey to his family some sense of the tedium, grandeur and horror he was experiencing. Presented almost as written, this collection of correspondence brings an honesty and immediacy not found in the often sanitized volumes of other Civil War memoirs. Donaldson was a very young man when he began his service as a volunteer in a Pennsylvania regiment. Enduring the intensity of combat, called upon to lead but not trained as a professional soldier, craving recognition and promotion, his often bitter criticisms of the abilities and personal qualities of his peers and superiors reflect his own inevitable stress and insecurity. There are other collections of such letters from Civil War combatants. What sets this book apart is J. Gregory Acken's remarkable editing and research. Almost every individual and place name mentioned by Donaldson, even if only in passing, is referenced by a footnote. Where available, photographs of the soldiers are provided. You won't be left wondering what happened to these men, whether they survived the wounds which result in their passing from the pages of the memoir, or the course of their careers as they leave the unit; their fate is there in the footnotes. Each chapter is headed by a brief section placing the subsequent letters in historical context. My only criticism of the book comes in these sections, which introduce some jarring redundancies by quoting passages later contained within the letters, themselves. The book comes most alive in the letters describing the battles of Gettysburg and Mills Run. Though it can be a long read at times, you will finish it with the feeling of having shared, in the words of the subtitle, the Civil War experience of Captain Francis Adams Donaldson.