Nothing like a soldiers view

While looking thru the shelves of books on the Civil War in the library I came across 'Rebel Private: Front and Rear: Memoirs of a Confederate Soldier.' To merely say this was an interesting read would be close to an insult to the author, whose journal it is. Within a few pages it was more than apparent to even the most surface reader that this was a classic. There is an afterword by one of Bill Fletchers great granddaughter who writes that inspite of his business successes following the Civil War, Bill was a true philanthropist, giving to organizations that had helped in some way to his surviving the great war.
This was an exceptional read as we are given a view of the civil war from one who endured it, not as an officer or special agent, not from a historian commenting from research, but from one who actually lived it and had no deep personal axe to grind; he was simply dedicated to a cause, but when that cause failed, he didn't fail. His acceptance of being on the losing side has many lessons about character, forgiveness and grace that all of us need to be reminded of from time to time. And yet, it was not a characteristic born because he had gone through a war, but a characteristic of his very being that one suspects he would have even if he hadn't been in war. I truly admired the man, and I am sure I am a better person for having read his account.
FLETCHER,William A., Rebel Private: Front and Rear., New York, New York. Originally published in 1908, MERIDIAN, Penguin Books. ISBN:31348001091434
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