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IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED that more
Regardless of the exact figures, the most grotesque statistic to come out of the Civil War was its enormous casualty rates. At least 618,000 Americans died during the conflict, and some experts say the toll reached as high as 700,000. (The number that is most often quoted is 620,000.) At any rate, these fatalities exceeded the nation's losses in all its other wars, from the American Revolution through Vietnam.
Throughout the conflict, many groups of soldiers, in both the blue and the gray, rose above seemingly unsurmountable odds to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Their gallantry on the battlefield has become legendary, and the memory of their courage and convictions is still heralded today. Topping this list of heroes are several groups, including the Irish Brigade, the Iron Brigade, the Orphan Brigade and perhaps the most famous of them all, the Stonewall Brigade.
Answering Virginia Gov. John Letcher's call for militia companies, 2,611 men gathered at Harpers Ferry in April 1861 and were organized into five regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery that was designated as the 1st Brigade, Virginia Volunteers. The regiments were made up of 49 companies, each with a letter designation and a nickname.
These "Valley men" were placed under the command of then-Col. Thomas J. Jackson, who had been picked to lead the 1st Virginia Brigade by Robert E. Lee, then an adviser to Jefferson Davis. At the time, Jackson was a professor at the Virginia Military Institute. After being commissioned in the Confederate army, he was immediately tasked with transforming this ragtag band of volunteers, veterans and VMI cadets into a formidable fighting force.
Despite being very unpopular with the troops at first, Jackson continued to drill his men incessantly and to passionately preach of the swift and total destruction of the enemy. His reputation for having a somber demeanor quickly gave way to his being known as a fierce warrior, which became infectious throughout the ranks.
Jackson's intensity and fortitude earned the affection of his men in the Battle of First Manassas, where the commander's courage and his brigade's steadfast action at the Henry House earned them both the nickname of "Stonewall."
Following Jackson through the Romney campaign in the first winter of the war, which solidified the relationship between men and commander, the Stonewall Brigade continued to earn the respect of both Confederate and Federal forces.
The year of 1862 saw the Valley men defeating three separate Union armies and keeping reinforcements from marching on the Confederate capitol of Richmond during Gen. George McClellan's failed Peninsula Campaign. The brigade then followed Lee into Maryland, and on to Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. It was there that the brigade, and ultimately the Army of Northern Virginia, suffered one of its greatest casualties in the death of Lt. Gen. Jackson. It was a loss from which they would never recover.
Minus its beloved commander, the brigade went on and took part in the second day of
Sadly, by April 1865 only 210 men from the original Stonewall Brigade were left when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Because of its noble reputation in the North and the South, the Stonewall Brigade was the first group of Confederate soldiers to march through the Federal lines at the surrender.
Over the years, entire shelves of literature have been published on the history of the Stonewall Brigade. Many of these books present the same legendary stories over and over, recalling the unit's resilience at First Bull Run and its magnificent attack during Chancellorsville. Unfortunately, few of them have captured the essence of what these men really experienced in their day-to-day lives.
To truly understand what it meant to be a member of the Stonewall Brigade, one must go directly to the source.
Thankfully, we have the memoirs of John O. Casler, who presented an account of his service to the Confederacy, titled "Four Years In The Stonewall Brigade."
First published in 1893, and significantly revised and expanded in 1906, Casler's book recounts the truths of camp life, marches and combat. More importantly, the work contains the intimate and unapologetic stories that are consistently lacking in third-party accounts.
According to the author's biography, he was a native of Gainesboro with an "inherent wanderlust and thirst for adventure." Enlisting in June 1861 in what became Company A, 33rd Virginia Infantry, Casler participated in major campaigns throughout the conflict, including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Captured in February 1865, he spent the final months of the war as a prisoner at Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
This latest edition features a new introduction by Civil War expert Robert K. Krick, a Fredericksburg resident, who chronicles Casler's origins and his careers after the war as a writer and organizer of Confederate veterans groups.
Krick was chief historian of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park for 30 years before his retirement. A native of Northern California, he began his National Park Service career at Fort McHenry, then supervised Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania before coming to Fredericksburg. Since then, he has authored 14 books and more than 100 published articles. Krick's insight provides a fresh perspective on the author's pre- and postwar experiences.
For me, the most enjoyable parts of this read are the "undocumented" adventures that took place off the battlefield.
Recalling many of his unsanctioned escapades, the author describes sneaking in and out of the ranks in order to visit friends and family and participating in unofficial raids that resulted in the acquisition of food, horses and liquor. As the book continues, Casler openly confesses to the moral ambiguities of thievery and survival at the front. He describes the deliberate cruelties of capture and chastises his Union captors for their irreverent treatment of prisoners of war.
The level of Casler's literary skill is very impressive. His honesty and straightforward candor shine through in this very enjoyable read.
It is not an easy task to write a nonfiction piece that flows like a novel from start to finish, but Casler managed to do just that. His accounts are must reading for anyone who wishes to experience the feel of everyday life in the Stonewall Brigade, and to appreciate the sacrifice and devotion of the average Confederate soldier.
MICHAEL AUBRECHT of Spotsylvania County is author of "Onward Christian Soldier: The Spiritual Journey
