The Civil War Letters of Joshua K. Callaway

August 1, 1997
With gripping clarity and insight, Callaway's Civil War letters detail a soldier's life in camp and on campaign. Callaway, a 28-year-old lieutenant in Company K, 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment, was also a schoolteacher, husband, and father who could not resist his state's call to arms in 1862. These 74 letters, written to his loving wife from April 1862 to November 1863, chronicle a young man's transition from eager idealist to war-weary veteran. Callaway and his regiment participated in major and minor actions in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and north Georgia. He initially thought war to be fun, but the harsh realities of battle soon changed that attitude. His observations are strikingly bold and painfully accurate. Sadly, he was mortally wounded at Missionary Ridge in 1863. A wonderful treasury of Civil War lore; highly recommended for libraries, historians, and Civil War buffs.--William D. Bushnell, USMC (ret.), Brunswick, Me.