Booknotes: Campaigns of a Non-Combatant

New Arrival:

• Campaigns of a Non-Combatant: The Memoir of a Civil War Correspondent by George A. Townsend, ed. by Jeffrey R. Biggs (Hardtack Bks, 2024).

From the description: "George Alfred Townsend was a special war correspondent for the Philadelphia Press and New York Herald during the Civil War. He followed McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and Pope’s Army of Virginia in the spring and summer of 1862, filing dozens of dispatches to his editors. Finally, after suffering from the effects of ‘swamp fever,’ he took a two-year break in Europe, where he lectured about his experiences. Townsend returned to the war front in 1865 and - after taking the pen name of “GATH” - was the first correspondent to describe the war’s climax at Five Forks. He released his memoir in 1866, detailing his personal experiences and recollections of the Civil War and those dramatic days."

In this new edition, editor Jeffrey Biggs revises Townsend's 1866 memoir (excising the non-Civil War chapters), re-formats the text in a more attractive modern font, and reorganizes the original chapters into three parts as follows:

"Part One follows Townsend's journey from his assignment to the Pennsylvania Reserves on March 13, 1862 until he witnesses the Battle of Malvern Hill from Harrison's Landing and escapes aboard a hospital transport on July 1, 1862. Part Two begins with Townsend's assignment to the Army of Virginia, his arrival in Washington, D.C. on July 12, 1862, and takes us to the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 7, 1862. Finally, Part Three, written in a more contemporary hand than the other parts, concludes Townsend's war correspondence with a story of the Appomattox Campaign, focusing on Phil Sheridan's victory at Five Forks and a visit to the ruined Confederate capital of Richmond" (xiv).

Biggs's Editor's Introduction provides a brief synopsis of Townsend's life and writing career, some background on the 1866 memoir, and discussion of his editorial process. Newly added period illustrations and photographs are peppered throughout, and the editor also indexes the material. The text is not heavily annotated. Pages are sporadically footnoted, with one to three notes found on those pages that have them. Biggs's self-stated goal is "not to alter the text of the original or even improve it but rather to introduce twenty-first century readers to the engaging work of a young, ambitious correspondent living through the most important events of his lifetime" (xiii).