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In 1861, James B. Griffin left Edgefield, South Carolina and rode off to Virginia to take up duty with the Confederate Army in a style that befitted a Southern gentleman: on a fine-blooded horse, with two slaves to wait on him, two trunks, and his favorite hunting dog. He was thirty-five years old, a wealthy planter, and the owner of sixty-one slaves when he joined Wade Hampton's elite Legion as a major of cavalry.
He left behind seven children, the eldest only twelve, and a wife who was eight and a half months pregnant. As a field officer in a prestigious unit, the opportunities for fame and glory seemed limitless.
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In A Gentleman and an Officer, Judith N. McArthur and Orville Vernon Burton have collected eighty of Griffin's letters written to his wife Leila at the Virginia front, and during later postings on the South Carolina coast. Extraordinary in their breadth and volume, the letters encompass Griffin's entire Civil War service.
Unlike the reminiscences and biographies of high-ranking, well-known Confederate officers or studies and edited collections of letters of members of the rank and file, this collection sheds light on the life of a middle officer - a life turned upside down by extreme military hardship and complicated further by the continuing need for reassurance about personal valor and status common to men of the southern gentry.
With a fascinating combination of military and social history, A Gentleman and an Officer moves from the beginning of the Civil War at Fort Sumter through the end of the war and Reconstruction, vividly illustrating how the issues of the Civil War were at once devastatingly national and revealingly local.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Biography, Cavalry operations, Confederate Personal narratives, Confederate States of America, Confederate States of America. Army, Confederate States of America. Army. Hampton Legion, Corresondence, Correspondence, History, Officers, Personal narratives, Confederate, Social conditions, Soldiers, United States Civil War, 1861-1865, Confederate states of america, army, Confederate states of america, biography, United states, history, civil war, 1861-1865, personal narratives, confederate, Confederate states of america, social conditions, Armed Forces, Cavalry Military operationsPeople
James B. Griffin (b. 1825)Times
Civil War, 1861-1865Showing 6 featured editions. View all 6 editions?
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1
A gentleman and an officer: a military and social history of James B. Griffin's civil war
1997, Oxford University Press
in English
0195093119 9780195093117
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2
Gentleman and an Officer: Military and Social History of James B. Griffin's Civil War
1996, Oxford University Press
in English
1280441909 9781280441905
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3
A Gentleman and an Officer: A Social and Military History of James B. Griffin's Civil War
October 31, 1996, Oxford University Press, USA
in English
0195093119 9780195093117
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4
"A gentleman and an officer": a military and social history of James B. Griffin's Civil War
1996, Oxford University Press
in English
0195093119 9780195093117
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5
A Gentleman and an Officer: A Military and Social History of James B. Griffin's Civil War
October 28, 1996, Oxford University Press, USA
in English
0195093127 9780195093124
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6
Gentleman and an Officer: A Military and Social History of James B. Griffin's Civil War
1996, Oxford University Press, Incorporated
in English
0195357663 9780195357660
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes a collection of letters from James B. Griffin to his wife during his tenure in the Confederate Army.
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Feedback?August 4, 2024 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
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July 30, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | associate edition with work OL2678481W |
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