Army Life in Virginia: The Civil War Letters of George C. Benedict

George G. Benedict was one of thousands of young men who enlisted for the Union cause in the late summer of 1862 when the outcome of the Civil War was yet to be decided. But in addition to his duties as a soldier, Benedict also worked as a correspondent for his hometown newspaper, the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press. Benedict's thirty-one letters gave the folks back home a firsthand account of army life in the Civil War. Now, by supplementing these letters with official documents, newspaper accounts, and comrade's letters, editor Eric Ward expands on this account, providing a fuller and more accurate picture of army life in Virginia.

Eric Ward has spent the past nine years researching Benedict's unit and his home state of Vermont's contribution to the Civil War and has published several articles on the subject. This is his first book.