Customer Reviews

No More Gallant a Deed: A Civil War Memoir of the First Minnesota Volunteers (Great Lakes Connections: The Civil War)

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I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and content of this book. The author is Sergeant Wright of Co. F, First Minnesota Regiment. His writing is excellent. The editor has chosen to primarily include first person accounts while excluding most of the post war years analysis that often creep into such accounts.

This book so effectively complements "The Last Full Measure - The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers" by Richard Moe. The Moe book uses first person accounts though it focuses on the broader picture. This book, written by a soldier, effectively details the life of the soldier - including day to day activities from finding food, water, and shelter to the incredible hardships of the march and battle.

The First Minnesota Regiment fought in most of the civil war eastern battles from 1861-1863. It is noted for the highest union casualties at First Bull Run, as well as the highest casualties of any union regiment in the war (80%) at Gettysburg. The regiment has a brief appearance in the 2002 motion picture "Gods and Generals" - I was there for the filming although waiting to see the final production - fall 2002.

The book also contains interesting events not in the Moe book including a great chapter detailing the time in New York city during the draft riots and the eventful winter trip back to Minnesota.

This memoir of service with the First Minnesota recounts the sojourn of James Wright, from Red Wing, Minnesota through the battle of Gettysburg. Wright wrote the book long after his service, and his over-long monograph sat in the Minnesota Historical Society until edited and published in this book. The book starts as a slow read, but picks up and eventually begins to mesmerize the reader.

Think of any major event of the day -- September 11th in New York, for example. How valuable will first person accounts be? A first person account of a major past event is very interesting for the details, the feel, the point of view.

Company F was Wright's home. He missed the famous charge of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg, as his Company was off to the side suffering severe casualties of their own during the battle. The story is as grand, even with this "missed" moment.

The editing is good, and preserves the author's tone. The book could have been even shorter, but with some effort during the opening chapters, the reader is well rewarded.

War accounts are usually written from the top down. Here the account is from the ground-up, literally. Sgt Wright tells the story of his volunteer company, Co.F of the 1st Minnesota exactly like it is seen by the average groundpounder. Being a former Viet Nam era "grunt" and also coming from Wright's hometown of Red Wing, Mn, I was able to viscerally feel the physical discomforts of the men as they walked, froze,sweated and stumbled though the boredoms, confusions, terrors and thrills of their experiences. Wright (and the editor) did a masterful job of focusing the story from the perspective of the average participant in the war with just enough background to keep it all in context with the overall events. If you are interested in the Civil War from this sort of perspective, this is the book to read.

Thanks to the movie, Gettysburg, more than likely you're familiar with the 20th Maine and their heroic fight for Little Round Top. But perhaps, less known, and yet another of the turning points at the battle was the forlorn bayonet charge made by the 1st Minnesota Regiment at Plum Run.
Then, roughly 262 soldiers charged into a thousand or so rebel soldiers to buy the critical time for the Union Army to secure their line on Cemetery Ridge. In doing so, the Regiment paid a horrendous cost.
There was, of course, more to the story and Wright offered up some great insight to the day with his memoir. In addition, he offers up a first hand look at many of the major battles the Regiment took part in from an enlisted man's point of view. By that, I mean, the Infantry soldier, who ate poorly, slept poorly, experience dysentary, malaria, and marched for miles on end with blistered feet, and then fought bravely, time and time again until their once 1,000 man roster was reduced to less than hundred. Wright was there.
Sergeant James A. Wright served with F Company, 'The Goodhue Volunteers' of the 1st Minnesota Regiment of Volunteers from 1861 to 1864 and fought with the Regiment at Bull Run, Savage's Station, Antietam, and Gettysburg. So when he penned his memoir he served up a remarkable look at the formation of the Regiment, it's day in and day out happenings, and the trials and effects of the combat he witnessed first hand.
Edited at the talented hands of Steven J. Keillor the book, No More Gallant a Deed, to me ranks up there among the best, along with Richard Moe's, The Last Full Measure.
Wright was a modest man and a hero in the finest sense of the word and Keillor deftly brings that to light.
For anyone interested in the Civil War this is a wonderful book. For any Infantryman in the field today, it will still ring a familiar bell. Five stars and if Amazon had six, this book would get them from me.