Customer Reviews

Soldiering: Diary Rice C. Bull: The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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After reading three diaries (Diary of Daniel Chisholm, Three Years in Co. K, and this book) I place this one at the top (for now.) The description of Bull's experience following Chancellorsville, wounded in the hip and face, lying in the mud, while men are dying all around him, is particularly moving. I'm a novice Civil War buff, and would recommend this title to someone who has more than a passing interest in the daily life of a Northern soldier.

This is an excellent book to get an understanding in the daily life of a Northern soldier. The R.C. Bull's journal is an "easy" read and allows the reader to grasp what it was like to be in the infantry during the Civil War. R.C. Bull writes about the types of rations they were issued, their living conditions, and the marches they had to endure. He writes about trading goods with the Confederate "rebs" and his treatment as wounded prisoner. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the life of an enlist man during the Civil War.

This books provides us with the knowledge of day to day survival in the union army. He, Rice C. Bull, was severely wounded and captured by the Confederate Army. He describes the conditions surrounding him while he lay unable to move. It's not a pretty picture and many died that could have been saved. He seems to have been a gentleman of high moral standing. There didn't seem to be any bitterness or hate in him. He was simply doing what he felt to be his duty to the best of his ability.
It's in reading these diaries that contain little parts of the war that we can piece together a more accurate complete picture. Read it and find out what was thought of the food and how marching became a way of like.
The privates tale gives a valuable insight to life during the Civil War.

For those readers who are interested in a good first account of life as a Yankee soldier during the American Civil War, this is the book. I found the account written by Elijah Hunt Rhodes to be quite bland. Full of patriotic sentiment that sheds little light on his vulnerability. Rhodes' may have been a great soldier but he is an amateur storyteller. Rice Bull on the other hand, is a natural born writer. I found this book hard to put down. The pictures Bull paints are startling, amazing, hilarious and terrifying. This book's depiction of war lives in an entirely different universe than, John Wayne, Turner Classics, or any of the tedious accounts written by the Civil War Generals attempting to clear their name. Full of fantastic insight and ironies this book is right up there with "Catch 22" and "Journey to the End of the Night".