The Civil War in Apacheland: Sergeant George Hand's Diary, California, Arizona, West Texas, New Mexico, 1861-1864 (Paperback)

~ George Hand (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The California Column created Civil War history as it marched across Arizona and into New Mexico, conquering both. Still, it never really had its spokesman until High-Lonesome Books decided to publish Sergeant George Hand's Diary. In graphic, soldier terms it records the day-to-day brutal, disgusting, often humorous and always riveting, saga of the life, times, dreams and nightmares of a Union man and a toiling, misfit army. -- Leon C. Metz

The California Volunteers played a pivotal role in New Mexico and Arizona during the Civil War. George Hand's observations are both sprightly and historically valuable. This is an important contribution to both the history and the literature of the American Southwest. -- Robert M. Utley

Product Description

The publication of Whiskey, Six-Guns and Red-Light Ladies in 1994 introduced readers to the ribald 1870s diary of frontier saloon keeper, George Hand. More than a decade earlier, George Hand kept another spirited journal, this one recording his service with the Union Army. Marching from California through Arizona, West Texas and southern New Mexico, Sergeant Hand and the other volunteers of the California Column protected the southwest from further invasions by the Texas Rebels. Their hardships and adventures are recorded in Hand's salty journal; heat, dust, thirst and cold; ethnic tensions, frontier whiskey, and Apache depredations; bad food and disease; and imperious officers whom enlisted man Hand does not hesitate to cuss.

George Hand also hunted ducks and quail in a pristine Southwest, pulled huge catfish from the Rio Grande, and rescued a damsel in distress. The Civil War in Apacheland provides an intimate view of a little-known theater of the Civil War, and is the first-hand chronicle of an army that contributed mightily to the American settlement of the Southwest.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: High Lonesome Books; First Edition edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 094438336X
• ISBN-13: 978-0944383360
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #994,187 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Primary historical source of Civil War, El Paso and Mesilla, September 21, 1996

By A Customer

This is the edited journal of a Yankee soldier in El Paso, Texas and Mesilla, New Mexico during the Civil War. George Hand was literate and this gives the perspective of an enlisted man. This talks of southern sympathizers living in El Paso (Franklin) and across the Rio Grande in Mexico. Good read if you like Primary Source material on the Civil War in the West. Same author as "Whiskey, Six-Guns, and Red Light Ladies." The latter book is Hand's life in Tucson, AZ 1875-1878