First published seventeen years after the end of the Civil War,
Reminiscences of Confederate Service, 1861-1865, by Francis W. Dawson,
is the only memoir by a British citizen who saw active service in both
the Confederate navy and army.
Dawson utilizes his skill as a journalist to write vivid descriptions of
his experiences on the blockade runner Nashville, with the Army of
Northern Virginia, and as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware. He gives
an eyewitness account of the wounding of General James Longstreet and of
major battles, including those at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.
Included in this edition, edited by the renowned Civil War historian
Bell Wiley, are eighteen wartime letters from Dawson to family and
friends in England. These personal letters not only help illuminate the
relationship between England and the Confederacy from the common
Englishman's point of view but provide the reader with a portrait of a
young rebel searching for reason and passion in a time of great change.
After the war Dawson became an American citizen and, as editor of
Charleston's News and Courier, a leading spokesman for New South
industrialism. Married to Sarah Morgan, famed author of A Confederate
Girl's Diary, Dawson left her a widow when he was fatally wounded
during an argument involving the honor of his Swiss housekeeper.
This is a bold and imaginative contribution to Civil War and southern
history.