A Yankee at Arms: The Diary of Lieutenant Augustus D. Ayling, 29th Massachusetts Volunteers.A Yankee at Arms: The Diary of Lieutenant Augustus D. Ayling, 29th Massachusetts Volunteers. Edited by Charles F. Herberger. Voices of the Civil War. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press The University of Tennessee Press (or UT Press), founded in 1940, is a university press that is part of the University of Tennessee. External link
abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 1-57233-034-1.) Civil War enthusiasts will find A Yankee at Arms enlightening because it offers a perspective on the war rarely seen in a single volume. Augustus Ayling enlisted shortly after Lincoln's call for volunteers in April 1861 and remained in the service of the U.S. army until January 1866. Lieutenant Ayling was a meticulous record keeper who served in three different theaters of action. His diary presents a personal view of the war through its entire duration and chronicles in elaborate detail some of the most significant events of the conflict, including the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack, McClellan's peninsular campaign Peninsular campaign, in the American Civil War, the unsuccessful Union attempt (Apr.–July, 1862) to capture Richmond, Va., by way of the peninsula between the York and James rivers. The Plan Early in 1862, Gen. George B. , the battle of Fredericksburg and Burnside's infamous retreat, and the fall of Vicksburg. In many respects, Ayling was a typical Civil War soldier. Although reared in Boston, Ayling was not a radical abolitionist who enlisted to destroy slavery. Nowhere does he mention the Emancipation Proclamation Emancipation Proclamation, in U.S. history, the executive order abolishing slavery in the Confederate States of America. Desire for Such a Proclamation , and his only reference to African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. troops is a brief mention of Fort Pillow Fort Pillow, fortification on the Mississippi River, N of Memphis, Tenn.; built by Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow in 1862. Evacuated by the Confederates after the fall of Island No. 10 to the north, the fort was occupied by Union troops on June 6, 1862. . Ayling's racist ideology, as shown when he refers to black contraband of war, whom he intermittently employs as cooks or foragers, as "my boy," "the boy" or by other diminutives, was typical of the times. A Yankee at Arms provides a valuable perspective on both the battlefield and home front. Ayling vividly describes the difficult conditions under which Civil War soldiers served, including candid glimpses of both the pleasures and problems of officers. Following Ayling's heart from the heights of new love to the depths of rejection permits readers a rare look at the intimate side of the war. Many readers may be surprised at the amount of social activity engaged in by Ayling and his brother officers during war. Those enthralled en·thrall tr.v. en·thralled, en·thrall·ing, en·thralls 1. To hold spellbound; captivate: The magic show enthralled the audience. 2. To enslave. with the bloody side of the Civil War will generally be disappointed. While Ayling does describe the frightening yet exhilarating experience of battle, his diary as a whole details more of the monotony and boredom of camp life. The frequency and severity of the illnesses that afflicted af·flict tr.v. af·flict·ed, af·flict·ing, af·flicts To inflict grievous physical or mental suffering on. [Middle English afflighten, from afflight, Ayling nevertheless bring home the reality of war, as does the endless difficulty of receiving pay and the hardships thus imposed. A Yankee at Arms is a welcome addition to accessible Civil War accounts. Editor Charles Herberger presents Augustus Ayling's diary without alteration, so readers see the war through his eyes without distortions or distraction. The use of footnotes rather than endnotes, however, would have made it more convenient to follow the editorial notations that identify persons and places that may be unfamiliar to nonspecialist readers. SHARON A. ROGER HEPBURN Radford University Radford University is a medium-size public, state-funded university in the City of Radford, in Southwestern Virginia, founded in 1910 as a women's college and coeducational since 1972. It was granted university status by the Virginia legislature in 1979. |
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