Confederate Soldier of the American Civil War

Gr 4–8—These books use a pictorial format to show readers the similarities and differences in the ways Union and Confederate soldiers were outfitted and lived. They open with brief introductions that discuss the motives that drove enlistments in the respective armies, followed by short chapters that examine all aspects of the soldiers' existence. Each one also has a final chapter that discusses the lives of the soldiers' counterparts in the opposing army. Chapter organization is simple and effective, with large, color photos of most of the items a soldier wore or carried and paragraph-length captions that identify each object, explain its importance, and describe how it was used or modified. Occasional period photos and diagrams depict camp conditions or the operation of equipment, and step-by-step photo series illustrate how weapons were fired. Most of the photos are of Civil War artifacts, but some are of reenactors and their gear. Although James A. Corrick's Life Among the Soldiers and Cavalry (Lucent, 2000) offers more detail about how soldiers lived and fought and John M. Dunn's Union Soldiers and Confederate Soldiers (both Blackbirch, 2003) use primary sources to give them voice, these new books will give readers a very realistic idea of the hardships of Civil War service and help them understand how the vast differences between Union and Confederate resources affected those who fought in their armies and influenced the war's outcome, making them strong choices for middle-level collections.—Mary Mueller, formerly at Rolla Junior High School, MO