The Civil War Correspondence of Colonel William P. Lyon (Expanded, Annotated) PDF Download

Author: Adelia Lyon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781520131443
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
What makes this collection of Civil War letters and diary excerpts unique and valuable is that they were compiled and edited by Colonel Lyon's wife. Adelia Lyon spent a considerable amount of time during the war in camp with her husband so the collection not only includes his letters to her and his diary entries but he letters to friends and family from camp and her diary entries.William P. Lyon would after the war serve as Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.His wife was present during the fighting near Fort Donelson just before Grant's forces took it, making it one of the first important Union victories in the west:"There is a house over in Dover with 650 bullet holes in it, and one corner of the cornice, or corner of the house roof, was taken off entirely by a shell at the time of the fight."Colonel Lyon was educated and articulate, and his letters to his wife were cherished:"I still feel that I shall come home to you safely. I felt so when the storm of death beat around me on the battle field. I knew that from the lips and hearts I love so dearly in my far-off home earnest prayers went up for my safety, and it nerved me to do my duty fearlessly in the hour of peril and death; and the greater the peril that surrounds me, the more clear are my convictions that I am where I ought to be."His descriptions of battles and his understanding of strategy make his observations especially interesting to read.Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever.