All for the Union

I have an extensive Civil War Library,and, once in a while, read a book that stands out alone. I postponed things I needed to do in order to finish this as close to one setting as possible.Elisha Hunt Rhodes was a 'soldier's soldier, and a patriot's patriot. His diary will take you through the hum drum of camp life and the heat of battle. It takes you through the good times as well as the bad times. Your emotions will swing with his. Through all, Rhodes was "All for the Union." As I finished this book, I realized this must be the best eye witness account ever written.

I purchased this book more than a decade ago after Ken Burns' series on the Civil War "discovered" Elisha Hunt Rhodes. I find the his words so compelling that I re-read this book at least once a year. As a self-professed Civil War buff, it continually amazes me that Elisha survived the carnage of four years of an absolutely brutal conflict with his optimism and values intact. Some angel was definitely looking out for him. Today, as America finds itself embroiled in another war, I take more than a little comfort in Elisha Hunt Rhodes' spirit and resilience.

This is the best war diary I have read, and for many reasons. Elisha Rhodes has an excellent, straightforward writing style with very good grammatical structure. This makes the diary easy to follow. He was involved in virtually the entire war fought by the Army of the Potomac, and so it is pretty much a complete history in that sense. At the same time, this private who ultimately became a colonel (in his early 20s!) remains about as unaffected as a man could be. Nothing good or bad really changes his simple and honest view of the war's ultimate justice, and many times he refers to the sacrifices as being easily justified by the gain of saving the union and of freeing the slaves.He is religious but not judgmental, and never does he develop any real hatred of the enemy. He does his duty with a minimum of fuss. He enjoys his army life, but is quite happy to return to civilian life at the end.Maybe most interesting to me was his innocent myopia. He never really knew the "big picture" of how the overall war was being fought, or even what the importance of many of the battles he was involved in might have been. He was content to leave that to the generals, and especially to Grant, in whom he had a great deal of trust. This is a great weekend read for any civil war buff.

Men of a simpiler time were made of much harder and enduring stuff than our contemporaries.From age nineteen to twenty three, Elisha Hunt Rhodes endured almost all of the worst that a full tour of duty with the Army of the Potomac entailed. Frequently cold, wet, tired and unfed, preiodically the witness to death, destruction incompetence and poor generalship, he endured knowing that it was "All for the Union."This book gives a great soldier's eye view of the Civil War experience. Knowing more of the fear and boredom that were Rhode's life (and that of all line troops) while generals contemplated their moves rounds, out one's understanding of the Civil War.Easy to read, Rhodes is a good writer who convey's scenes and experiences with an economy of words. This is the type of book one would be tempted to read by pulling an "all-nighter."

I've read and re-read Elisha Hunt Rhodes' memoirs of the Civil War many times now, and always find additional nuances and new perspectives on every visit.The drama and horror of the Civil War become even more vivid and personal as you read Rhodes' simple, yet expressive prose. But even more than a story of this war, "All for the Union" is a story of a young man's coming of age. Elisha joined the Union Army in 1861 with utterly no military experience whatsoever. Yet, he fought in every major campaign of the Army of the Potomac, rose to command his regiment--and somehow survived. Almost incredibly, Elisha was always around to report on the historic events of this tragic conflict as the Union Army of the Potomac engaged in its four-year death struggle with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. There is humor, hardship, politics, adventure, and great courage detailed in these pages, which makes this a compulsive page-turner even for non-Civil War buffs.The book includes some fine photographs, although some detailed maps of the Army of the Potomac's theater of operations would have been nice.Highly recommended.