Overview

One young woman's correspondence with her community's servicemen, maintaining connection and boosting morale throughout the Civil War During the American Civil War, soldiers frequently wrote letters to friends and family members as a way of maintaining their connections to loved ones at home. However, most of the published collections of Civil War letters contain correspondence between just two individuals. Letters to Lizzie: The Story of Sixteen Men in the Civil War and the One Woman Who Connected Them All contains a collection of letters exchanged between 16 men—15 soldiers and a quartermaster at a military hospital—and one young woman, Lizzie Brick. Since Lizzie herself could not bear arms, she took up her pen and through ongoing correspondence helped these Union soldiers sustain their motivation for the cause. The men served in 11 different regiments in the Army of the Potomac, and their correspondence reveals unique insights into the connections between home front and battlefront during the Civil War and into the dynamics of male-female friendships in the 19th century. The letters span the entire war, and within them, the soldiers share their opinions about the people of the South, describe their experiences on the battlefield, and voice their frustrations with their commanders and the conduct of the war. Letters to Lizzie presents a complex portrait of a young woman during wartime as well as the concerns of soldiers, thus contributing to our understanding of the connections between servicemen and their communities and the role that women played during the Civil War in sustaining these relationships.

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9781606354520

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Reviews

"""The 124 letters contained within its covers and the impressive editorial work by Professor Scythes not only makes Letters to Lizzie well worth reading and adding to any Civil War enthusiast's library, this book also needs to be included in the discussion of the finest collections of Civil War soldiers' letters available."" —Emerging Civil War ""Lizzie Brick longed to carry a musket for the Union cause, but as a woman she could only wield a pen on behalf of her nation. She became a pen pal with sixteen men wearing the blue, instructing, and inspiring them to be pure in thought, moral in camp, and brave in battle. Scythes has put together a volume of soldier correspondence that is unlike any publication that we have seen in the field of Civil War history."" —Peter S. Carmichael, professor of Civil War studies at Gettysburg College and author of The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Fought, Thought, and Survived in Civil War Armies ""This unique collection of letters captures the Civil War's impact not just on one or two letter-writers but on a whole community of ordinary Americans. Most compellingly, it highlights the crucial wartime role played by many women, like Lizzie Brick, who anchored social networks stretched from home front to battlefield."" —Christopher Hager, author of I Remain Yours: Common Lives in Civil War Letters ""I absolutely love this unique collection of letters. Civil War soldiers especially valued female correspondents, and here we see how women like Lizzie connected men to each other. Through Lizzie and her friends, the social expectations of young people during the Civil War are made vivid for modern readers."" —Lorien Foote, professor of history at Texas A&M University ""This is an extraordinary collection of letters that captures the pathos and passion of the war years. These letters provide rich detail on the monotony of camp, dangers of battle, anguish of sickness, and the social milieu of these young men who went off to war. Lizzie kept them all anchored to the world they had left behind, and kept their letters so that we have a wonderful snapshot into that world."" —Judkin Browning, co-author of An Environmental History of the Civil War"

"""The 124 letters contained within its covers and the impressive editorial work by Professor Scythes not only makes Letters to Lizzie well worth reading and adding to any Civil War enthusiast's library, this book also needs to be included in the discussion of the finest collections of Civil War soldiers' letters available."" --Emerging Civil War ""Lizzie Brick longed to carry a musket for the Union cause, but as a woman she could only wield a pen on behalf of her nation. She became a pen pal with sixteen men wearing the blue, instructing, and inspiring them to be pure in thought, moral in camp, and brave in battle. Scythes has put together a volume of soldier correspondence that is unlike any publication that we have seen in the field of Civil War history."" --Peter S. Carmichael, professor of Civil War studies at Gettysburg College and author of The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Fought, Thought, and Survived in Civil War Armies ""This unique collection of letters captures the Civil War's impact not just on one or two letter-writers but on a whole community of ordinary Americans. Most compellingly, it highlights the crucial wartime role played by many women, like Lizzie Brick, who anchored social networks stretched from home front to battlefield."" --Christopher Hager, author of I Remain Yours: Common Lives in Civil War Letters ""I absolutely love this unique collection of letters. Civil War soldiers especially valued female correspondents, and here we see how women like Lizzie connected men to each other. Through Lizzie and her friends, the social expectations of young people during the Civil War are made vivid for modern readers."" --Lorien Foote, professor of history at Texas A&M University ""This is an extraordinary collection of letters that captures the pathos and passion of the war years. These letters provide rich detail on the monotony of camp, dangers of battle, anguish of sickness, and the social milieu of these young men who went off to war. Lizzie kept them all anchored to the world they had left behind, and kept their letters so that we have a wonderful snapshot into that world."" --Judkin Browning, co-author of An Environmental History of the Civil War"

Author Information

James M. Scythes is assistant professor of history at West Chester University. He received an MA in history from Villanova University. He has written extensively on topics related to the Civil War era and is the author of This Will Make a Man of Me: The Life and Letters of a Teenage Officer in the Civil War.

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