Booknotes: The Civil War Sacrifice of Somerset County, Pennsylvania

New Arrival:

• The Civil War Sacrifice of Somerset County, Pennsylvania by Gerald H. Ankeny (McFarland, 2025).

From the description: "Somerset County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, lost more than 400 of its men in the American Civil War. This book tells the county's wartime story through the experiences of its fallen soldiers and their comrades who served with them, those people who supported them in life and mourned them in death."

The publication of Civil War county histories has really fallen off of late (trends come and go), which is unfortunate given that such studies have served as great vehicles for examining some of the dustier corners of the home and fighting fronts across both sections. Among its other features, Gerald Ankeny's The Civil War Sacrifice of Somerset County, Pennsylvania is noteworthy for its uncommon approach to county history. More from the description: "Built on information gained from researching the date, place, and cause of death for each Union soldier from the county who died during the war, and whose name is memorialized in stone, the narrative describes the physical, emotional, and societal toll that those deaths inflicted on the citizens of the county whether they served in uniform or not."

For his roster, Ankeny gathered a list of 412 names from the Somerset County Civil War Soldiers' Monument and embarked on a research journey (centered upon "(m)ilitary service records, pension files, muster rolls, and medical reports") that was ultimately, and impressively, able to "accurately document the deaths of more than 93% of the men named on the monument" (pg. 4).

More than ten regiments had Somerset County men in their ranks. In addition to housing the monument roster of slain, the appendix section includes fatality information in chart form, which reveals that the 54th, 142nd, 85th, 10th Reserves, 133rd, 148th, 171st, 93rd, and 5th Heavy Artillery were the regiments (in descending order) with the heaviest losses in Somerset County men. Fredericksburg, New Market, and Gettysburg were the three battles that produced the highest number of the county's combat deaths.

In addition to providing a chronological narrative of events from 1861 to 1865, the text explores the intimate connections between individual soldiers and their families, the "shared experience of the community," and more general connections between home and fighting fronts (pg. 6). More: "First-person accounts from Somerset's men in the ranks provide unique perspectives of famous battles like Gettysburg, lesser-known actions like Piedmont, and incidents in camp and on the march. Ultimately, the story emphasizes the exorbitant price paid by these soldiers, their families, and their community because of the war." Ankeny's narrative also extends beyond the war's conclusion and includes a chapter discussing the history behind the Soldiers' Monument and its 1888 dedication.