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Toward a More Perfect Union is an extraordinary book of
husband-and-wife letters written during the Civil War, selected
from the Frederic E. Lockley Collection at the Huntington Library
in San Marino, California. Appearing here are 162 letters exchanged
between Frederic Lockley and his wife Elizabeth, chosen from 405
letters preserved in the collection. The survival of such two-way
exchanges is rare. Few soldiers in the field had the opportunity to
save letters from home. The Lockleys' selected letters narrate a
chronological three-year story, from 1862 to 1865. When Frederic
enlisted at thirty-seven, he and Elizabeth promised each other they
would write twice a week and, for the most part, they did. These
are not average letters. A published author, Frederic was
remarkably insightful and articulate and Elizabeth was literate and
expressive as well. Although primarily a love story set during the
Civil War, Toward a More Perfect Union also offers ample military
material, some not well represented elsewhere in Civil War
literature. Frederic wrote of life in garrison duty in defense of
Washington, manning the siege lines at Petersburg, and guarding
Union parolees and Confederate prisoners of war. But his letters
also show strong ties to home and his need for those ties in order
to maintain his own mental and emotional equilibrium in the face of
the horrors of war. Elizabeth's letters reflect an urban setting
and the perspective of a young, recently married woman who spent
much of her time parenting three young children from Frederic's
first marriage. In fact, children and parenting assume a theme in
Fred and Lizzie's correspondence almost as constant and
consequential as the war itself. Providing background and framework
for these exceptional letters, editor Charles E. Rankin's
introduction and contextualization create a continuous narrative
that allows readers to follow these correspondents through a time
critical to their marriage and to our nation's history.
Early in 1863 General Grant was under a cloud, blamed for heavy
Union losses at Shiloh, called an undependable drunkard by his
detractors. As Grant moved toward Vicksburg, the Lincoln
administration needed to know more about what was happening in the
remote western theater. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton dispatched a
respected newspaperman. Charles A. Dana, ostensibly to straighten
out payroll matters but actually to observe Grant and the situation
in the army and report back daily. Dana became "the government's
eyes at the front". Recollections of the Civil War, drawing largely
on his reports and originally published in 1898, is a classic to
rank with Grant's Personal Memoirs (also available in a Bison Books
edition). Dana's candid assessment of Grant, other officers, and
campaign operations carried weight with Lincoln and Stanton and
undoubtedly influenced the course of the war. In these pages, Dana
is with Grant and General Sherman throughout the siege of
Vicksburg, riding into the city "at the side of the conqueror".
Later he is with Grant at Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and
Petersburg. He is with General Roseerans at Chickamauga; he watches
General Sheridan's troops scale Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga; he
walks through the ruins of Richmond; he attends Lincoln on his
deathbed. Finally, he sees Jefferson Davis in chains at Fortress
Monroe.
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