No Freedom Shrieker: The Civil War Letters of Union Soldier Charles Biddlecom
edited by Katherine M. Aldridge
BTC’s Take: Chalres Biddlecom experienced some of the bloodiest fighting in the Civil War, suffering through the meat grinder from the Wilderness to Appomattox Court House. His hundreds of letters to his wife make for a compelling read, and include many first person accounts of Fifth Corps actions during the Siege of Petersburg.
Book Summary/Review:
BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:
BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Sources:
Among the piles of obsolete farm and household implements, haystacks, dust, and debris abandoned in her historic barn, Katie Aldridge discovered a box containing the Civil War letters of Charles Freeman Biddlecom. Painstakingly transcribing and lightly editing more than 100 letters written by the soldier to his wife during his service, Ms. Aldridge resurrected the voice of the Civil War combat soldier. The tone and character of “Charlie’s” detailed accounts of the war compelled Ms. Aldridge to find out more.
From letters written throughout Grant’s Overland Campaign and the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, the reader gains an insider’s view of the war: fear, hunger, sickness, longing, and concern for those left behind as well as detailed insights about the political climate. Writing from the perspective shaped in an Upstate New York community closely linked to the abolitionist cause, woman’s suffrage, and the Quaker philosophy, the reader will learn how Charlie’s background shaped his actions and view of the war.
(292 pp., paperback, ISBN 978-0-9830436-7-6; 2012)
Paperback Edition:
ISBN: 978-0-9830436-7-6
Publisher: Paramount Market Publishing, Inc.
Release Date: December 5, 2011
Pages: 292
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