7/28/2019 "rebel private" book review

1/3

Michael Vergati

American History

Dr. Ross Historical Book Review for 02/15/06

Summary

The book Rebel Private: Front and Rearis a autobiographic story written by a

former private in the Confederate Army, William Fletcher, about 40 years after

the war ended. Fletcher was a member of Hoods Texas Brigade, 5 th Texas

Infantry Regiment, in Company F. When the war started, Fletcher was so eager

to enlist that he went as far as to take a pump-car 40 miles to Houston just to join

the Army.

As a soldier, William (Bill) seemed to be the kind of guy who liked to encourage

and uplift his fellow soldiers in dreary situations, and sometime taking command

in the absence of (in fact, later on in his career he was offered a commission as

an officer but turned it down because he felt that being enlisted was more noble).

He writes about the different battles he fought in, and the conditions of living,

which were horrible by todays standards even for a war zone. Reading the book

is almost like watching history come alive, as I am amazed at how many famous

historical figures we learned about in school he actually met in real life, among

them Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and General Lee (whom at one point

asked him to personally scout out a position for him).

7/28/2019 "rebel private" book review

2/3

Many of the battles that he participated in are famous ones, including Second

Manassas, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Chickamauga. Later on in the war,

he was captured and while on a union prison train, he jumped off and escaped

before the war ended, and shortly afterward surrendered. After the war, he

became a successful business man in the logging industry in East Texas. He

died of Pneumonia on January 15, 1915 and was attended by several black

people.

Accuracy/Bias

This book is surprisingly unbiased. Even though his father owned slaves, after

the war he never had any hard feelings to neither the Yankees nor the black

people, and he states he was able to slip back into the Union Rather easily.

Audience

I believe the audience for this story is the general public, as it is really nothing

more than a memoir of his exploits.

Opinions

As much as I liked the book, I have to admit it can be difficult to interpret the

writing at times. The author kind of lumps all the scenes together and doesnt

make a clear separation of one scene from the others. But despite its short

comings, its still a great book.

7/28/2019 "rebel private" book review

3/3

Significance

This book is extremely historically valuable because it is one of the only surviving

war stories of an ENLISTED confederate soldier, let alone a private. Usually the

men that wrote the stories about the war were high-ranking officers, but it is rare

that such a story written by an enlisted man this complete and well-rounded is

found. The original copy is in the Library of Congress.

Bibliography

Fletcher, William A.Rebel Private: Front and Rear

. Meridian Books, New York,

1997