Customer Reviews

When The Peaches Get Ripe

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The diary entries and letters of Lt. Robert Gaines Haile show a side of the Civil War that is not normally seen. Each document reveals many of the human details of life that are usually forgotten or overlooked by most Civil War historians. The editor, Robert M. Tombes, does a brilliant job of seamlessly combining the original documents with maps and explanations that allow the reader to follow Haile's progress through the War. I recommend this book for the reader who wants to gain an understanding of what life was really like for those who served during the War. The length of the book makes it manageable and the contents makes it priceless.

I picked this book up from a popular restaurant on the middle penisula of Virginia looking for something to read from the local area with historical flavor. What I ended up with was a bittersweet love story of a Civil War Soldier. Lt. Robert Gaines Haile, Jr. was a good looking man, and devoted to the cause. He joined the Esex Sharpshooters to do his duty, and was wounded in battle and died with his wife in attendance. While you hear of thousands of husbands, brothers, fathers and sons that died in the Civil War, this small book brings home the story poignently, while simultaneously describing in great historical detail the geographic area, the people around him, and the battles he encountered. The descendant who wrote the books with Mr. Haile's compiled letters did an excellent job of gathering many factual details, photos, and maps of what his ancestor was describing.
Highly recommended for a tour through history from someone who actually was in the middle of the action and literate enough to write about it.

Mr. Tombes provides much background into the early Civil War history of the 55th VA Infantry. The letters and journal entrys from his ancestor, Lt. Robert G. Haile, Jr. reveal the thoughts and hopes of the early Confederate soldier. The book gave insight into the reasons that the south fought, a soliders feelings towards the slaves that his family kept and the dislike of war. I was interested in this work as background to the unit that my great great grandfather- Benjamin Warner Pritchett fought in. If you are interested in the 55th VA, this book is a must have.