A Stupendous Effort: The 87th Indiana in the War of the Rebellion [Hardcover]

Jack K. Overmyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

The 87th Indiana Infantry was one of the Civil Wars most versatile regiments. It was good fighting pitched battles at the front line, good at building roads, railroads, and bridges in campaigns from Kentucky to North Carolina, and good at living off the country while marching through Georgia and the Carolinas. This is the story of that regiment, of its significant role in the remarkable campaigns and battles in the Western theater, and of the young men who formed its ten companies.Volunteers all, they were substantial citizens from six rural northern Indiana counties who in mid-1862 left families, farms, and businesses when two Confederate armies threatened to invade their state. Through their contemporary diaries and letters, many previously unpublished, we follow their wartime experiences, the most overpowering of which was the ferocious battle of Chickamauga.In those killing woodlands, the 87th Indiana established its bravery forever by standing steadfast with its brigade on three separate occasions, each time saving a significant part of the Union army. Recollections written soon afterward by survivors transport us into the nightmarish fighting at Chickamauga. Missionary Ridge, the running battles through Georgia to Atlanta, Sherman's legendary March to the Sea, and the avenging Union army's rampage through South Carolina, all are recounted as the men of the 87th experienced them. This is a social as well as a military history. While we are told about the wider war as it affects the 87th, we also learn about northern Indiana society in the mid-19th century and get a feel for what it meant to go Civil War soldiering. There is an appreciation, too, of how these rural Hoosiers had the remaining years of their lives marked by the singular experiences of this war - the supreme test of their lives, when their hearts were touched with fire.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press; First Edition edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253333016
• ISBN-13: 978-0253333018
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,129,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Northern Indiana Men Fight in Civil War, April 16, 2006

By 

Rachel Wenschhof "I Lov Books 2" (Midwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Stupendous Effort: The 87th Indiana in the War of the Rebellion (Hardcover)

Incredible book . The story of 1,262 men who served in the Civil War. Complete roster, including home towns. This is most of all a personal book, the lives of over 1,000 men who almost all came from Northern Indiana, about Peru through South Bend. If you are in Indiana, you can visualize the towns they were from, many whom exist today. You'll see the units all recruited from the same town, dozens or even close to a hundred all from the same area. You can imgine when one third never came home and sometimes a whole town's men disappeared. A vicious war, fought by men of honor and belief on both sides.