Rice C. Bull

RC Bull writes about his experience as a soldier in the 123rd NY during the Civil War. I hesitate to say he describes the hardships of a soldier, because he understands that soldiering is hard. He accepts that. So this is a wonderful account of his experience dealing with being severely wounded, performing hard, dangerous duty with short rations and unspeakable living conditions, and marching....always marching. He doesn't complain, but it puts you right there with him in a leaky tent, huddling around a fire for warmth, seeing comrades die and being thankful to live and being knee deep in mud and cold water a lot of the time. If you want to understand what life was like for these young soldiers, this book will put you in the field. It also gives a good explanation of skirmishing, marching and the tactics used to push their enemy across the south. There is no political posturing here...just a very good description of the life of a soldier.… (meer)