Review by Booklist Review
The soldier of this valuable book is Bobrick's great-grandfather, Benjamin (Webb ) Baker, of the 25th Illinois. Growing up in rural Charleston, Illinois, Webb enlisted in 1861 and served a full three years. He saw a great deal of action in the western theater, including Pea Ridge, Perryville, Stone's River, Chickamauga, and the Atlanta campaign, as well as a lot of hard marching, short rations, bureaucracy, delayed pay, and officers and comrades who were as menacing as the rebels. He also lost some use of his left arm to wounds, and a brother and a stepbrother to death, but somehow managed not to lose weight, even on army rations. Bobrick weaves excerpts from Baker's expressive letters, most of them addressed to his mother, into his own excellent narrative continuum that conveys Baker's milieu and the progress of the war so clearly that even readers new to the subjects should be engrossed. Complete texts of the letters constitute part two of this worthy, betimes heart-rending addition to the Civil War literature. --Roland Green Copyright 2003 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Civil War buffs will relish this extraordinary new history from Bobrick (Wide as the Waters), based on a collection of letters written by his great-grandfather, Benjamin "Webb" Baker. The letters date from 1861, when the 19-year-old enlisted in the Union army, to 1864, when he was honorably discharged a corporal. As a private of Company E of the 25th Regiment of Illinois Voluntary Infantry, Baker saw action at Pea Ridge, Ark.; Perryville, Ken.; Stones River, Tenn.; and Chickamauga, Ga.; and on Sherman's march to Atlanta. Repeatedly wounded, he was patched up and sent back to duty. That he survived the bad food, poor sanitary conditions and ghastly medical treatment (pus was considered a sign of health), let alone wounds sustained during battles that killed thousands, is remarkable. Webb's letters home are honest, affectionate and surprisingly good-natured considering what he endured. "We had a heavy skirmish in the evening....[A] ball struck John Hawkins square on the belt buckle. It made him grunt....He picked it up & is around every day now bragging that he is bullet proof," he wrote in 1862. Bobrick weaves excerpts of the correspondence throughout the narrative and includes his great-grandfather's letters in their entirety in an appendix to the book. This is a compelling story, rendered in vivid, graceful prose that should find an enthusiastic audience. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Review by Library Journal Review
Largely forgotten for nearly a century, the letters of Benjamin "Webb" Baker, great-grandfather of author Bobrick (Wide as the Waters), serve as the genesis and compass for the latter's latest book. The resulting work is both a thoroughly absorbing survey of the Civil War in the west and an intimate, firsthand account of a soldier's travels and hardships. The author's insightful analysis of the epochal events surrounding Baker and his regiment, the 25th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, accompany and contextualize the letters penned by the young private to his mother during the years 1861-64. Together, the beautifully interwoven narrative and letters form a seamless, compelling account of a soldier's and nation's experiences from Pea Ridge to Perryville, from Chickamauga to Atlanta. Baker's longings for home, tempered by a resolute sense of duty and his tales of the unremitting drudgery of camp life (occasionally punctuated by a skirmish or frenzied battle), are in many respects timeless and will certainly resonate with many readers. Highly recommended for all Civil War collections and public libraries.-Edward Metz, USACGSC Combined Arms Research Lib., Ft. Leavenworth, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The Civil War as seen by the author's great-grandfather, an Illinois infantryman on the Union side. Bobrick (Wide as the Waters, 2001, etc.) bases his account largely on 90 letters Benjamin "Webb" Baker (1841-1908) wrote home between August 1861, when he responded to Lincoln's call for volunteers, and June 1864, when he joined Sherman's march across Georgia. At the war's onset, Webb was a 19-year-old farmboy, used to hard work and outdoor living. His company was sent to Missouri, where southern sympathizers threatened Union control of the state. He first saw action in the Union victory at Pea Ridge, the largest battle of the war west of the Mississippi. He was twice wounded. Then, after a period of patrolling the Missouri-Arkansas border, his company crossed the river and served in Kentucky and Mississippi before settling in Tennessee. A long series of aimless marches and idle days in camp nearly drove Baker to distraction, until they went east to fight for Chattanooga in the battles of Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain. He suffered another major wound, and worse yet, the death of his younger brother, who had enlisted several months after he did. Bobrick alternates between descriptions of the conflict as Baker experienced it and as it was fought in the country as a whole. The letters give a detailed view of war as seen by an ordinary soldier; readers can sense how Baker was sobered by battle and by the extensive reading he did while recovering from his wounds. After the war, he earned a doctorate in history and became a teacher and a minister. The last section reprints the original letters, some summarized by the transcriber who prepared a typescript after Baker's death. A fitting memorial to the farmboy turned soldier and intellectual: a must for Civil War enthusiasts. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
