Red Clay to Richmond - Hardcover

Fox, John J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0971195021 ISBN 13: 9780971195028

Publisher: Angle Valley Press, 2005

Synopsis

In 1861, thousands of Georgians left their homes and plunged themselves into a fight with an unknown future. Unfortunately, many of their stories of valor and even dishonor are still hidden in attics and dusty archives and are waiting to be found and told. Fox’s discovery of many unpublished letters and diaries written by 35th Georgia veterans ensures that their never-before-told-story will finally have an audience. This unit numbered 1,330 soldiers during the four long years of war, and almost half of these men failed to return home.

They came to Virginia and fought at many bloody places under the command of famous men like Stonewall Jackson, A.P. Hill and Robert E. Lee. When the handful of 35th Georgia survivors surrendered in 1865, they could proudly say that no enemy hand ever touched their banner during combat. This comprehensive 496-page hardback brings their voices to life and follows them from their 1861 enlistment through four long years of illness, exhaustion, starvation and death. Now, present day Americans will be able to use this book as a resource for years to come thanks to the 22 maps, 74 photos and complete soldiers’ roster.

About this title

About the Author

John J. Fox grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He is a 1977 graduate of Collegiate School. He graduated from Washington & Lee University with a BA in U.S. History in 1981. After graduation he served on active duty in the U.S. Army for seven years as an armor officer and aviator. While living in the Atlanta, Georgia area for thirteen years he was a member of the Atlanta Civil War Roundtable. In 1999 he moved with his family back to Virginia and lives in the Shenandoah Valley. He is the author or editor of several Civil War books, magazine and newspaper articles.

From the Back Cover

2005 James I. Robertson Jr. Literary Prize for Confederate History given by R.E. Lee Civil War Round Table of Central New Jersey.

2006 Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board Award for Excellence in Research presented by Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox.

From the Inside Flap

Red Clay to Richmond is a thoroughly researched book dredged from Civil War trenches, family attics and dusty archives. John Fox has skillfully woven together the never-before-told-story of the 35th Georgia Infantry Regiment as these Southern patriots signed up for what most thought would be a short war. Using many previously unpublished primary accounts, Fox follows these men as they moved from their red clay homesteads in the Great State of Georgia to the Confederate capital at Richmond.

Come tramp with these brave men on bone-wearying dusty marches as part of Stonewall Jackson's "foot cavalry." Follow these green infantrymen into the sulphurous mouths of Federal cannon spewing canister at Seven Pines. Then follow the trail of the 35th Georgia over the once quiet but now sacred fields of Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and many more bloody places.

This story, unlocked after some 140 years, reveals a veteran stalwart regiment struggling to survive amidst growing obstacles. These men continued to perform their duty despite the odds. Learn how these men who belonged to A.P. Hill's famous Light Division dealt with illness, exhaustion, starvation and death. These pages bring the men and boys of the 35th Georgia alive and show average men doing above average things.

This saga not only reveals the thoughts of their Georgia born and educated commander, Edward Lloyd Thomas, but the truth is heard from the trenches of the lowliest mud-encrusted private. Find out the true meaning of honor and duty in the words of eighteen-year-old Private James Garrett as he struggles to survive at the war front while worrying about the survival of his widowed mother and four younger siblings on their Heard County farm. Hear the excitement of thirty-three-year-old farmer Benjamin Moody handpicked to be the new regimental color-corporal at the beginning of the 1862 Seven Days Battles. His body soon rested in an unmarked grave along Mechanicsville's Beaver Dam Creek - his wife, Martha, and four children would never receive another letter from this noble man.

Based on numerous letters, diaries and records, this book is much more than a mere battlefield account because it details the daily life and voice of the average Confederate soldier. It reveals the true American spirit of courage exhibited through deprivation and hardship, not only at the battlefront for the soldiers but also for the family members at the hearth. More than twenty maps and over seventy photographs grace the pages to further aid the reader in understanding the epochal struggle of these Georgians.

Red Clay To Richmond is a story that needed to be told - a very personal story of the horrors of war. Come follow the battle flag of the 35th Georgia as these men perform some of the hardest fighting in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Traverse with these Georgians the hills and canyons of exhilaration and despair - of life and death.

Edition details

• Publisher: Angle Valley Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0971195021
• ISBN 13: 9780971195028
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 472