Review excerpts

"These biographies provide insight into the grandparents of those considered today to be the 'greatest generation,' suggesting the patriotism motivating World War II soldiers was more than just a temporary belief. It was something painstakingly handed down from one generation to the next."

     — Diane Scharper, The Weekly Standard
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"You will find, even if you have no particular interest in military history, that looking into the faces of these men and trying to figure out the body language from across a broad cultural gulf, you are drawn into the book and into a long evening's reverie."

     — Daniel Caplice Lynch, The Berkshire Eagle
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"Coddington provides an exceptional insight into the Civil War battlefield experience, boiling down large, ranging engagements into the few dozen yards over which his soldiers fought."

     — C.D. Myers, The Indianapolis Star
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"Coddington had the ingenius idea of reconstructing the stories of those who usefully autographed their photos and, even better, listed their regiments."

     — Harold Holzer, North and South Magazine
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"This book helps to humanize the men who volunteered for 'Father Abraham's' army and illustrates that some of war's experiences have changed little over the last century and a half."

     — Heidi Campbell-Shoaf, Civil War Times Illustrated
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"There are many books of Civil War letters, and photographs are common. But this book is a first: a collection of identified portraits accompanied by brief narratives of the subjects' lives."

     — James E. Sefton, History: Reviews of New Books
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"If you like to look at soldier's photographs and like to read short biographies of those obscure individuals who played the major role in winning the war for the Union, this book is highly recommended."

     — Michael J. Winey, Civil War News
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"Coddington's histories are well-researched and engagingly written. Any teacher of the Civil War would do well to consult this volume and incorporate some of the captivating tales into lectures and readings."

     — Lisa M. Brady, The Journal of Military History
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"One can't help projecting their stories onto the bloody canvas of the war, The four-year maelstrom sucked them in, killing some and scarring others. Survivors had to cope with what a century later physicians would call post-traumatic stress disorder. That anyone could find normalcy after a war so terrible may be a feat of heroism more laudable than seizing enemy artillery. Yet some did. One wonders if they would have flocked to the colors had they known what we know today."

     — Gary Rawlins, Licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guide
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"This is not a book about the glory-glory-hallelujah of Liberty and Union. Strictly speaking, the men depicted here represent only .0003% of all those who wore the United State uniform in the Civil War, which makes the word represent seem an overreach. But in their own ordinary way, they have a story to tell about the ordinariness of the Civil War, of its destructiveness to the spirit as well as to the body. It was not a “good war,” and these faces tell that tale all too well."

     — Allen C. Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College
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