They Who Fought Here

New York: The Macmillan Comapny, 1959. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good in fair dust jacket. Signed by author. Inscription signed by WIley on fep. DJ is quiet worn, soilied with substantial edge tears and chips.. Milhollen, Hirst Dillon (Selector of illustrations. vii, [3], 273, [5] p. : 29 cm. Includes: Illustrations, Portraits. Picture credits. From the dj: What was it like to enlist, to march, to fight and perhaps to die? Bell Wiley has written the text out of his unique familiarity and letters. Hirst Milhollen has searched for and found in public and private collections, in libraries, museums and historical societies, both North and South, the pictures to embellish the text. Here the reader will find the immediate details of life during the Civil War-the size of a Minie ball, the original color of Confederate trousers, the prescribed ration on both sides, the weight and length of a Springfield rifled musket, the consistency of hardtack, the importance of the paymaster, the feeling of going into action, what it meant to be wounded. From WIkipedia: "Bell Irvin Wiley (1906-80) was an American historian who specialized on the American Civil War, and was an authority on military history and the social history of common people. Born in rural Tennessee, Wiley took a BA at Asbury College in 1928, and a PhD from Yale University in 1933, where he worked with Ulrich B. Phillips. In 1934, Wiley became a professor of history at State Teachers College (now the University of Southern Mississippi). He married Mary Frances Harrison in 1938; they had two children. He served as professor of history the University of Mississippi (1938-1943), Louisiana State University (1946-1959), and Emory University (1960-1974). Wiley was a pioneer in the social history of the Civil War, with important books on soldiers, women and blacks. His dissertation, published as Southern Negroes, 1861-1865 (1938), dispels many of the myths about blacks during the American Civil War. Wiley showed it was false that most slaves remained loyal to their former masters following emancipation. Some slaves did choose to stay with their former owners but most willingly left their masters behind in order to take control of their own lives. His intensive research included reading 30, 000 letters written by Civil War soldiers. He published numerous books of popular history, as well as scholarly editions of letters and correspondence. He also wrote studies of the Army in World War II, and served on many commissions and committees. Wiley was honored as the President of the Southern Historians Association in 1955 and Chairman of the National Civil War Centennial Commission in 1961. The New York Civil War Round Table awards the "Bell I. Wiley Award" to deserving authors who write about Civil War themes. Hirst D. Milhollen was for may years the Curator of the Photographic Collection of the Library of Congress.