A Gunner in Lee's Army: The Civil War Letters of Thomas Henry Carter (Civil War America) - Softcover

Dozier, Graham T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469618745 ISBN 13: 9781469618746

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014

Synopsis

In May 1861, Virginian Thomas Henry Carter (1831–1908) raised an artillery battery and joined the Confederate army. Over the next four years, he rose steadily in rank from captain to colonel, placing him among the senior artillerists in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. During the war, Carter wrote more than 100 revealing letters to his wife, Susan, about his service. His interactions with prominent officers--including Lee, Jubal A. Early, John B. Gordon, Robert E. Rodes, and others--come to life in Carter's astute comments about their conduct and personalities. Combining insightful observations on military operations, particularly of the Battles of Antietam and Spotsylvania Court House and the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, with revealing notes on the home front and the debate over the impressment and arming of slaves, Carter's letters are particularly interesting because his writing is not overly burdened by the rhetoric of the southern ruling class.

Here, Graham Dozier offers the definitive edition of Carter's letters, meticulously transcribed and carefully annotated. This impressive collection provides a wealth of Carter's unvarnished opinions of the people and events that shaped his wartime experience, shedding new light on Lee's army and Confederate life in Virginia.

About this title

Book Description:

"Col. Tom Carter belongs on any short list of the bright young artillerists who made Lee's "Long Arm" famous, in company with Pelham, Pegram, Alexander, and Huger. His smart and perceptive letters, skillfully edited by Graham Dozier, make one of the best primary sources on the Army of Northern Virginia to reach print in recent memory."--Robert K. Krick, author of The Smoothbore Volley that Doomed the Confederacy, and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain.

About the Author:

Graham T. Dozier is managing editor of publications at the Virginia Historical Society.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1469618745
• ISBN 13: 9781469618746
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368