By James I. Robertson Jr.
Excess of an insignificant documentation of the horrors and banality of the Civil battle, John Preston Sheffey’s literate or even macabrely witty writings reveal his ardor for conflict, his love of his domestic nation of Virginia, and his ardour in waging a such a lot laborious and suspenseful crusade: to win Josephine Spiller of Wytheville, Virginia, as his spouse. fantastically edited by means of James I. Robertson, Jr., Sheffey’s letters are the 1st released correspondence by way of a member of the eighth Virginia Cavalry. They mirror the ever present hazards of conflict and a soldier’s poignant makes an attempt to soothe a woman’s fears of committing to a guy engaged faraway from domestic within the dire fight for the Confederacy.
A local of Marion, Virginia, Sheffey offers a useful photograph of socio-military affairs within the neglected western and southwestern areas of the country. Too mountainous to be neutralized by means of Union army efforts, southwest Virginia’s groups harbored assets of coal, lead, and salt in addition to the one rail line connecting Richmond and the Western theater of the war—all of that have been imperative to any risk of luck for the Confederacy. Sheffey’s mixture of intimate minute-to-minute, day by day recording and bigger perception into the dynamics of fellows, terrain, provides, and protocol make this assortment special.
Displaying a powerful diversity in his fascinating letters, Sheffey pointed out every thing from Greek monsters of mythology to English poets of the 16th century. He used to be in a position to pining to Josephine, "And nonetheless you won't write. . . . i'll hand over myself to the Yankees or incurable blues," and of describing a wounded Union soldier who "lived for greater than an afternoon together with his brains shot out, conclusive proof that they could get alongside nearly in addition with no [brains] as with them." Sheffey’s greater than 90 letters are a unique resource of curiosity for revealing the paradoxes and tragedies of remoted yet very important Civil battle skirmishes in southwest Virginia.
Read or Download Soldier of Southwestern Virginia: The Civil War Letters of Captain John Preston Sheffey PDF
Similar essays & correspondence books
Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother
In Eye of My center, twenty-seven clever, gutsy writers explode myths and stereotypes and inform the complete loopy, complex fact approximately being a grandmother in state-of-the-art international. one of the members: Anne Roiphe learns—the difficult way—to preserve her mouth close and her reviews to herself. Elizabeth Berg marvels at witnessing her baby provide delivery to her baby.
Schopenhauer, Philosophy and the Arts
This assortment brings jointly 13 new essays by means of one of the most revered modern students of Schopenhauer's aesthetics from a large spectrum of philosophical views. It examines the original idea Schopenhauer built to provide an explanation for the existence and paintings of the artist, and the impression his aesthetic philosophy has had on next creative traditions in such various components as song, portray, poetry, literature, and structure.
Medical pondering is a realistic advisor to inductive reasoning - this type of reasoning that's customary in clinical task, no matter if such job is played via a scientist, a political pollster, or anybody people informally on a day by day foundation. The e-book presents entire assurance in twenty-three chapters divided into 3 elements: "Induction, Proportions and Correlations," "Explanations," and "Cause.
About psychology : essays at the crossroads of history, theory, and philosophy
A severe and historic review of psychology on the crossroads
Additional info for Soldier of Southwestern Virginia: The Civil War Letters of Captain John Preston Sheffey
Example text
23 / WAR CLOUDS AND LOVE SHOWERS You know that I am your true friend under all circumstances. Whatever therefore be this, your second decision upon this subject, I shall bow to it with deference. If favorable, I should be in Wytheville, I assure you, as speedily as possible. If otherwise, I would avoid that delightful little place, as I would the abode of a pestilence. Trusting to Him Who doeth All things well, I commend this letter to you, and await your decision, feeling that upon the cast of this die depends my only chance for happiness in the years which are to come.
You may imagine my feelings as the hot sun came down and the wagons one after another stuck in the mud or balked on the steep hill sides. Twenty-three miles we marched that day, over the worst roads in the world. The infantry which were before us all day and camped two miles to our rear that night seemed to be much wearied, and I brought one or two of their men whom they seemed to have left upon the wayside into camp on horseback. The poor fellows have a hard time of it on these long marches, but they seem to enjoy themselves fully nevertheless.
I have received no letter from you for so long a time, that I sometimes fear you do not think of me very often, but such thoughts do not linger. They distress me so much if I indulge them for a moment that I drive them away speedily. I know that you love me, for you have told me so and in my own heart, you have so long been set up as the standard of all that is good and pure and beautiful, that I am happy in the faith and hope that your love will be as unwavering and abiding as my own. Without your love, life would be 50.
