An immense literature about the Civil War has nonetheless paid
surprisingly little attention to the common soldier, North and South.
Historians have shown even less concern for the long-term impact of this
military service on American society. Larry M. Logue's To Appomattox and
Beyond makes a major contribution in addressing this need. In a compact
synthesis that draws upon important new materials from his own research,
Logue provides the fullest account available of the Civil War soldier in
war and peace-who fought, what happened to them in battle, how the
public regarded them, how the war changed the rest of their lives, in
what ways they were like and different from their counterparts across
the Mason-Dixon line. To Appomattox and Beyond offers surprising
conclusions about the psychological impact of warfare on its
participants; about the North's generous pension system for veterans;
and about the role that veterans played in politics and social issues,
notably the Confederate racist reaction of the late nineteenth century.
In a final irony, Logue points out, by the twentieth century men who had
once been enemies now had more in common with each other than with the
new world around them.