Customer Reviews

A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood's Texas Brigade (Army of Northern Virginia Series, Volume 2)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the spring of 1863, Lieutenant Thomas Selman returned to Texas with hopes of recruiting men to fill the depleted ranks of Co. E, 4th Texas Infantry. Only one man from the Waco area responded--John C. West. Soon after enlisting, West not only began his trip to Virginia but also began a diary. That diary and his letters home form the basis of this personal account in the ranks of one of the finest fighting outfits in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. West saw action at two of the bloodiest battles of the war--Gettysburg and Chickamauga.

"Although never a significant proportion of its soldiers, troops from Texas played important roles in many of the Army of Northern Virginia's battles. John C. West's A Texan In Search of a Fight is an excellent account by a man who fought with the Texas Brigade at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Knoxville. A combination of diary and letters, West's book includes valuable information about the battles in which he took part, attitudes and concerns of soldiers in the ranks, and the nature of travel between the trans-Mississippi and the eastern Confederacy at the mid-point of the war." Gary W. Gallagher

"Highly intelligent, unusually forthright, and blessed with remarkable descriptive powers, John West authored a personal account of his service with Hood's Texas Brigade that comprises one of the most credible and readable primary sources produced by any soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia." T. Michael Parrish