Booknotes: My Dearest Lilla

New Arrival:

• My Dearest Lilla: Letters Home from Civil War General Jacob D. Cox edited by Gene Schmiel (U Tenn Press, 2023).

Of the Civil War's so-called 'political generals,' Ohio's Jacob Cox clearly forged one of the most impressive military resumes. He also made major contributions to the war's historiography.

From the description: "Jacob D. Cox experienced more facets of the Civil War than most officers: by land and sea, in both Western and Eastern Theaters, among the inner political circles of Ohio and Washington, DC, in territories hostile and friendly, amidst legal conflicts both civilian and military, and in the last campaigns in Tennessee and North Carolina. The Union general capitalized on his experience by penning his two-volume Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, one of the war’s finest memoirs and arguably the best by a nonprofessional soldier, as well as Atlanta and The Battle of Franklin, both definitive studies for nearly a century."

Readers might recall Gene Schmiel's Cox biography based on the author's dissertation and published by Ohio University Press back in 2014 [see my review]. In gathering source material, Schmiel "learned of a cache in the Oberlin College archives of 213 letters Cox wrote to his wife, Helen, during the war. Schmiel recognized these documents as a ready resource for Cox as he wrote his histories, and many stand as first drafts of Cox’s analyses of the military and sociopolitical events of the day." Fast forward to today, and those letters have now been published as part of University of Tennessee Press's Voices of the Civil War series under the title My Dearest Lilla: Letters Home from Civil War General Jacob D. Cox.

Glancing through the letters, their characterization as "first drafts" of Cox's important postwar writings seems quite apt. For letters between husband and wife, they are rather unusually detailed when it comes to describing and discussing military operations. In addition to providing a useful introduction that impresses upon readers the significance of the Cox correspondence and also a brief afterword, Schmiel organizes the letters into eight chapters, each chapter having introductory and, where appropriate, bridging narrative for added context.

More from the description: "Helen Finney Cox (her husband affectionately referred to her as “Lilla”) was a mother of six and the daughter of Oberlin College president Charles Finney. These intimate and insightful wartime letters show both the fondness Cox had for his spouse and his respect for her as an intellectual equal. To Helen, the stoic, introverted statesman revealed—as he did to no one else—his inner thoughts and concerns, presenting observant, lucid, and informative reports and analyses of the war, his changing life, and his ambitions. This collection illustrates the life of a Gilded Age Renaissance man as he made the transition from untested soldier to respected general and statesman."