Booknotes: The National Tribune Remembers the Atlanta Campaign

New Arrival:

• The National Tribune Remembers the Atlanta Campaign: Battles, Skirmishes, Marches, and Camp Life as Recalled by the Union Veterans Themselves edited by Stephen Davis (Savas Beatie, 2025).

During its decades-long run, the National Tribune periodical evolved into one of the most significant archives of Civil War veteran writings. From the description: "From 1877 to 1943, the National Tribune served as a compendium for Union veteran reminiscences, war yarns, and postbellum reflections. The firsthand treasure-trove began as an eight-page monthly newspaper in 1881 and within a few years it became a weekly. The Washington-based paper was founded by George E. Lemon, a veteran of the 125th New York. Initially an advocate for Union veteran pensions, the National Tribune hit its stride when it began publishing articles about the war penned by the Northern soldiers themselves." The man primarily behind the Tribune hitting that stride was John McElroy.

More from the description:"Within three years, John McElroy, a Union veteran with editing experience and the author of a dramatic memoir about his confinement at Andersonville (1879), assumed the reins as managing editor. His keen eye for detail and deep connections elevated the quality and quantity of the content and resulted in the publication of thousands of exclusive firsthand accounts. The National Tribune’s final issue was on December 30, 1943. By that date, the Union veterans who had fought the war were nearly all gone."

Given its stature as one of the Civil War's largest and most significant campaigns, it's no surprise that the 1864 Atlanta Campaign was a popular topic of discussion among veteran writers. Indeed, "(m)ore than 1,000 items were published on the Atlanta Campaign alone: articles, memoirs, and letters on every topic imaginable sent in by Union soldiers who had followed General Sherman into Georgia in 1864. The first appeared in June 1879 on the battle of Kennesaw Mountain." A selection of these, seventy in number, are compiled by Atlanta Campaign historian Stephen Davis in The National Tribune Remembers the Atlanta Campaign: Battles, Skirmishes, Marches, and Camp Life as Recalled by the Union Veterans Themselves. 

Davis's introduction briefly summarizes the Tribune's history and explains the rationale behind how the volume was created (including the article selection process). Outside of the introduction, the text is not annotated in the traditional manner of numbered footnotes or endnotes. Instead, the editorial material is presented in a more informal style, a contextual conversation of sorts (set apart by italics) placed at either or both ends of each piece. In many cases, bracketed comments are also inserted within the transcribed passages. The notes provide additional background information and critically engage the veteran text through commentary of various types and author error discussion (all referenced).