Rebel Private by William Andrew Fletcher

One of the men walking with Fletcher ended up with a blister on his foot so bad that it tore the meaty part of his heel completely off the bottom of his foot. It’s hard to imagine all the walking these men did as privates in the army but one instance in this book really stuck with me. This was also around the time of his first encounter with lice and I have to admit as horrible an issue as I know that was for the soldiers in this war on both sides, I couldn’t help but laugh at his telling about his experience. I figured that out from the beginning when he was getting up trouble with Wild Bill during his hospital stay for the measles. Fletcher wasn’t much different other than he had to be a little more disciplined due to actually being a private in the army. William Fletcher was from the Texas/Louisiana area and those boys were apparently a rowdy lot kind of like Quantrill’s boys. It always amazes me at the differences in the men of this time from the different regions in the south, from their mannerisms to their behavior and speech. All Fletcher was concerned with was his duty to protect and fight for his country after invasion. He wasn’t concerned with politics of the time so you won’t be reading any of that in this one. It is factual from this private’s eyes about what he lived, what he saw, and what he dealt with through the war. It is written as a story like an old relative is telling you about their past.

The style of William Fletcher’s memoir is one of my favorites to read. Fletcher to explain his reasoning, and we learn much about his thoughts and how he viewed his participation. If you like history or are a student of the Civil War, this is a worthwhile read. The stories are fascinating, offering readers a chance to see how soldiers foraged for food, found clothing and mounts, as well as other stories soldiers might pick up when part of a war. The author doesn’t say much about the overall battles and concentrates on his personal experiences instead, never mentioning overall strategy nor which side was victorious during each battle. Fletcher fought in many of the larger battles of the war, including Second Manassas (Bull Run), Chickamauga, and Gettysburg, as well as his time trying to slow down General Sherman on his march to Atlanta. Despite the efforts of his father, who had moved the family from Louisiana to Texas in an effort to avoid the conflict, the author left to fulfill what he felt was a duty to his country.

This is an interesting memoir of William Andrew Fletcher, detailing the four years he spent as a soldier of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Rebel Private by William Andrew Fletcher