Three decades after the end of the Civil War, Dewitt Clinton Beckwith, who served as a private in both the 91st and 121st New York Infantry during the final three years of the conflict, succumbed to persistent pressure from family, friends, and former comrades who urged him to record his wartime experiences. Over the course of one year, from July 1893 to July 1894, Beckwith’s reminiscences appeared in installments in the Herkimer Democrat. His reflections on the war, soldiering, and military service undoubtedly captivated readers in central New York. However, like other postwar reminiscences published in local newspapers, both North and South, Beckwith’s writings fell into obscurity. Fortunately, historian Salvatore Cillella, Jr., has rescued Beckwith’s work and brought it to a broader audience in this outstanding and smartly annotated volume.
For anyone interested in the operations of the Army of the Potomac or the Army of the Shenandoah, this volume is indispensable. Beckwith’s recollections offer tremendous insight into numerous engagements, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, the Third Battle of Winchester, Cedar Creek, Petersburg, and Sailor’s Creek. Particularly valuable, aside from Beckwith’s vivid descriptions of various engagements, are his thoughts about how battle impacted him emotionally. For example, in his account of the Battle of Spotsylvania, Beckwith recalled his futile efforts to locate one of his comrades, Dorr Devendorf, in the battle’s aftermath. Beckwith admitted that the experience left him feeling so “heart sick” that he “sat down in the woods and… cried like a little child” (103).
As valuable as this volume is in deepening perspectives about some of the Civil War’s most significant engagements in Virginia, Beckwith’s reminiscence also offers a case study of how the conflict impacted soldiers and shaped their perspectives about war. At the conflict’s outset, Beckwith, like other young men throughout the Union and Confederacy, was “burning up with… ‘war fever’” (24). While he entered the Union’s service with romantic notions of war as a glorious and exciting adventure, he quickly realized after seeing the grisly aftermath of battle how foolish he was to possess such a perspective. Proud of the role he played in Union victory, Beckwith freely confessed, in the final installment of his reminiscences, published on July 4, 1894, that he did not “miss the time thus passed.” (164)
Additionally, Beckwith’s reminiscences provide important insight into how soldiers engaged in what historian Kathryn Shively termed “self-care.” Sometimes, this involved defying orders. For example, during the Gettysburg Campaign, Beckwith recalled that despite “stringent orders against foraging,” he and three other comrades believed it was necessary to take “chances” to adequately “supply” their “mess” with foodstuffs that would lessen the campaign’s physical toll (77).
While the richness of Beckwith’s writings marks it a valuable source for anyone interested in soldier life or campaigns from Antietam through Appomattox, Beckwith’s recollections of encounters with civilians broaden the book’s appeal. The accounts, such as one with a Confederate civilian near Snickersville, Virginia, in the autumn of 1862 or another near Harrisonburg, Virginia, two years later, offer valuable perspectives about the strength of Confederate loyalty and how civilians coped with the destruction wrought by soldiers from both armies.
As did other veterans, Beckwith utilized his recollections to elevate the legacies of generals he believed had been treated unfairly or did not receive the attention they deserved. Chief among those whose reputations Beckwith tried to elevate was Major General Horatio G. Wright, the commander of the Sixth Corps, whose reputation and performance at the Battle of Cedar Creek he believed was overshadowed by Major General Philip H. Sheridan, the Army of the Shenandoah’s commander. Beckwith, a staunch Democrat after the war, also highlighted Major General George McClellan’s attributes and combated anyone who disparaged the generalship of Major General George Meade.
This splendid and valuable volume will appeal to anyone interested in understanding the complexities of life for Union soldiers, the conflict in Virginia, and how veterans sought to shape the memory of the war.
Jonathan A. Noyalas is a history professor at Shenandoah University and director of its McCormick Civil War Institute. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era (University Press of Florida) and The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah (Savas Beatie).
