Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans
Edited with John Horn and John Selby
University of Virginia Press
ISBN 9780813931838
"... one of the best Civil War histories I have read in the last few years." - John Michael Priest, Civil War News
"The result is a rich collection of primary sources on the military history of the Civil War that, at times, also speaks to issues of historical memory . . . . The editors do an excellent job of clearly but unobtrusively guiding the reader through the documents . . . . The working historian will certainly appreciate the richness of the collection . . . . Military historians will find the collection particularly useful." - Andre M. Fleche, The Journal of Southern History
"Students of the Petersburg Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia, and first person accounts of the Civil War will want to own this book. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this is one of the most important new books on the war to come out in the past decade. Items long forgotten by most, and some which may never have seen the light of day in any form, are now available thanks to some luck, some great editing, and the publishers at the University of Virginia Press." - TOCWOC, A Civil War Blog
" . . . this thoroughly documented and superbly edited volume belongs on every serious Civil War student's shelf. Bernard's collections of primary sources about Petersburg, the Weldon Railroad and Burgess' Mill are proverbial gold mines of personal accounts of those battles from both sides. ... one of the best Civil War histories I have read in the last few years." John Michael Priest, Civil War News
Description
George S. Bernard was a Petersburg lawyer and member of the 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Over the course of his life, Bernard wrote extensively about his wartime experiences and collected accounts from other veterans. In 1892, he published War Talks of Confederate Veterans, a collection of firsthand accounts focusing on the battles and campaigns of the 12th Virginia that is widely read to this day. Bernard prepared a second volume but was never able to publish it. After his death in 1912, his papers became scattered or simply lost. But a series of finds, culminating with the discovery of a cache of papers in Roanoke in 2004, have made it possible to reconstruct a complete manuscript of the unpublished second volume.
The resulting book, Civil War Talks, contains speeches, letters, Bernard’s wartime diary, and other firsthand accounts of the war not only by veterans of the Confederacy, such as General William Mahone, but by Union veterans as well. Their personal stories cover the major military campaigns in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, and Appomattox. For the general reader, this volume offers evocative testimonies focusing on the experiences of individual soldiers. For scholars, it provides convenient access to many accounts that, until now, have not been widely available or have been simply unknown.
