Subdued by the Sword

A Line Officer in the 121st New York Volunteers

By James M. Greiner

Subjects: American History
Paperback : 9780791458686, 278 pages, October 2003
Hardcover : 9780791458679, 278 pages, October 2003

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

1. The New Americans (1830–1862)

2. "You must not fret about me" (November 1862–April 1863)

3. ". . . a most terrible battle" (May 1863–July 1863)

4. "I do not wish to boast, but . . ." (August 1863–April 1864)

5. "I rec'd a severe wound in the face" (May 1864)

6. U.S. General Hospital, Annapolis, Maryland (May 1864–June 1864)

7. Elmira Prison (July 1864–December 1864)

8. "Victory is ours" (January 1865–April 1865)

9. Laurens, the Port Warden and Retirement (1865–1905)

Appendix A

Appendix B

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Presents the life of Captain John S. Kidder during the Civil War, as told through letters to his wife, Harriet, at home in rural New York.

Description

Drawing on previously unpublished letters written by John S. Kidder to his wife, Harriet, during the Civil War, James M. Greiner recounts the triumphs and tragedies endured by one New York family. Kidder, a carriage maker living in the rural village of Laurens, responded to President Lincoln's call in the summer of 1862 for more troops by personally recruiting over seventy men living nearby. Serving under Emory Upton, considered one of the most talented soldiers produced by the Union, Kidder was captain of Company I of the 121st New York Volunteers. The regiment saw action at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. Kidder's letters home contain rich details of camp life, the difficulties of commanding men who had only recently been his neighbors, and the highs and lows associated with soldiering during the Civil War. They also reveal Harriet's struggle to maintain the family home and business due to the uncertainties of army pay.

James M. Greiner is an independent historian and researcher in Herkimer, New York, and the coeditor (with Janet L. Coryell and James R. Smither) of A Surgeon's Civil War: The Letters and Diary of Daniel M. Holt, M.D.