Fire Within: A Civil War Narrative from Wisconsin

Winner of the Council for Wisconsin Writers Leslie Cross Book-Length Nonfiction Award and the Wisconsin Library Association’s Outstanding Achievement Recognition “This remarkable book blends the experiences of several young Wisconsin men who fought in the Civil War with the course of events back home in Manitowoc. Using the letters and diaries of both soldiers and civilians, the author deftly handles the organizational problems of recounting military campaigns on several fronts as well as the travails of civilians on the home front. Written with verve, the narrative sweeps along the reader, who finds it hard to put down the book until the fate of the protagonists is finally revealed.”―James McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom “[A] compelling narrative of a place and a time and the lives engulfed in the storm of the Civil War. . . . [Trask] has done a seamless job of amalgamating the war itself and the course of life at home into an affecting human texture and history of theregion.”―Washington Times

Fire Within explores what Walt Whitman called the "interior history" of the Civil War - the war waged and witnessed by common people. Through diaries, letters, and newspaper articles, Kerry Trask weaves together personal viewpoints and wartime events to reflect the passions of the times and describes the conflicts encountered by the men who went to war and the people who remained at home. This colorful, often moving account reveals the experience of James Anderson, a young Scottish immigrant who enlisted in the 5th Wisconsin Volunteers soon after President Lincoln issued his first call. Leaving his home of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, he, like many other young men, set off with expectations of high adventure. Anderson's rendering of the war is further enriched by Rosa Kellner's splendid journal. From the Williams House Hotel, this teenage Bohemian innkeeper was a spectator and participant in the community. Her writings offer essential insights into wartime life on the homefront. For soldiers and civilians this "real war" was often difficult and painful. What they wrote in their letters and diaries offers a look at the conflict from a small-town perspective and reveals the true nature of war. An engaging work, Fire Within will appeal to the general reading public as well as to Civil War scholars and specialists.