The Life Of Johnny Reb

[Pipe Creek Line]

Not sure if this is the correct section for this post or not, so Mods please move if necessary.

I am new to the hobby, and I am trying to get a real good feel for the day to day life of the common soldier in the CSA. To do so, I have started to read the book The Life Of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy by Bell Irvin Wiley. Is anyone familiar with this book, and is it a good starting point? Is there another book that would better acquaint myself with the trials and tribulations of the common soldier?

thanks in advance for the help!

Matt Hyson

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Three quick ones:

Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 by Carlton McCarthy.

Hardtack And Coffee: Or The Unwritten Story Of Army Life, by John Davis Billings and Charles W. Reed

and although more comical, still chuck full of realties:

Corporal Si Klegg and His "Pard.": How They Lived and Talked, and What They Did and Suffered, While Fighting for the Flag by Wilbur F. Hinman

Curt

[indguard]

Now, I thought I remembered someone saying the "Johnny Reb" handle was not used during the war. It is a post war invention.

Can anyone clarify that for me?

WTH
The IfThey'dHadItThey'dUseIt mess

[civwarhistory]

Not sure if this is the correct section for this post or not, so Mods please move if necessary.

I am new to the hobby, and I am trying to get a real good feel for the day to day life of the common soldier in the CSA. To do so, I have started to read the book The Life Of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy by Bell Irvin Wiley. Is anyone familiar with this book, and is it a good starting point? Is there another book that would better acquaint myself with the trials and tribulations of the common soldier?

thanks in advance for the help!

Matt Hyson

Matt,

[puts on professional historian hat] Bell Wiley is a great resource. In the scholarship on soldiers, he is the godfather and is regarded by many professional historians (James McPherson among them) as the person who began the study on them. Johnny Reb came out first, being followed about ten years later by The Life of Billy Yank, which covers Union soldiers. As the years continued, the discipline began to appreciate common soldiers more as historical actors, beginning to write lengthy studies on them, as part of a larger trend towards social history.

Now, in terms of this hobby, I second Curt's recommendation of Billing's Hard Tack and Coffee, as well as Leander Stillwell's Story of a Common Soldier, as they are memoirs. For daily life type information, nothing is better than a diary or memoir from a soldier and there are hundreds out there.

However, Wiley is good for you to keep studying, as it will separate you in the hobby as you can become an expert not on just the daily life of soldiers, but how they have been studied and understood for the last fifty years or so.[/takes off professional historian hat]

Sorry gang, I couldn't resist, as I only spent four years researching soldiers as part of my MA thesis, which included having to know what the existing literature said about soldiers.

[toptimlrd]

Those are all good. Another good one is "Rebel Private Front and Rear" by William Fletcher. You may also want to check out "Company Aytch" by Sam Watkins

[Rob Weaver]

Bell Wiley is one of the foundational scholarly historians a Civil War reenactor should read. He is top shelf. I had the honor of meeting him 30 years ago when I was a student at Gettysburg and he was there for a lecture. Look at Wiley's bibliography. That will give you more ideas where to go. I would also recommend "Co Atch" by Sam Watkins. He has an irrepressible sense of humor.

[SMOKEHOUSE]

Now, I thought I remembered someone saying the "Johnny Reb" handle was not used during the war. It is a post war invention.

Can anyone clarify that for me?

WTH
The IfThey'dHadItThey'dUseIt mess

It is found in soldiers' letters and period literature written during the war. A quick search on Google books (narrow the search within 61-65) will provide some published examples.

[Silas]

I believe "Billy Yank" is a postbellum phrase or one infrequently used during the war. For example, "Johnnies" was a common word to describe Confederates. Cannot say I've noticed "Billies" or "Billy Yanks" other than in the movies.

[Pipe Creek Line]

I have heard of hardtack and coffee before as well and have it on my amazon wish list. So far Johnny Reb is a great read and is giving me what I consider to be a solid overall view of the common soldier.

[indguard]

Thanks, Silas. I thought it was one or the other that was either not period or not common. I just couldn't remember which.

WTH