Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays, Co. B., 27th N.C. Regiment

Sloan, John A. (John Alexander), 1839-1886Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2

Word count: 217K words
Chapters: 22

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays, Co. B., 27th N.C. Regiment by John A. SloanAuthor: Sloan, John A. (John Alexander), 1839-1886,Language: English, Class: E456: History: America: Civil War period (1861-1865), Release Date: Nov 7, 2013

Editor's review

This is a personal memoir of the American Civil War, written by a member of Company B, 27th North Carolina Regiment (known as the "Guilford Grays"), in which he records the formation, marches, and combat experiences of his company. Its value lies not in grand military history but in the view from the ranks: how ordinary soldiers were mustered in, what daily supply and marching were like, and how the confusion and casualties of battle were remembered by those who lived through them. The narrative carries clear personal feeling and the outlook of its era; readers gain first-hand detail while also recognizing the memory bias and partisanship inherent in memoir. It is short and suits readers interested in the social and military-life history of the Civil War as supplementary reading, and can also serve as a textual sample for studying soldiers' writing. It is best read alongside standard campaign histories, placing personal memory within the context of the battles.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the experiences of ordinary Civil War soldiers
History enthusiasts studying military life and the memoir genre
Self-learners seeking first-hand accounts as supplements to campaign history
Readers who enjoy short personal narratives and are comfortable with original English texts

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic general history or battle analysis of the Civil War
Readers expecting a neutral, objective account revised by modern scholarship
Readers unaccustomed to nineteenth-century English and personal bias

Reading tips

First learn the general combat background of the 27th North Carolina Regiment, then read the memoir's details.
While reading, distinguish eyewitness observation from later judgment, and keep a critical distance from emotionally charged passages.
Cross-reference battle maps and standard campaign histories to place the personal narrative on a timeline.
Note down details of soldiers' daily life; such material often has more value for social history than descriptions of fighting.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Which side's experience does this memoir mainly describe?

The author was a member of Company B, 27th North Carolina Regiment, so the book unfolds from the perspective of a Confederate common soldier, recounting the company's formation, marches, and combat. Readers should recognize this as one-sided personal memory, not a comprehensive campaign history.

Can I read it without a background in the American Civil War?

Yes, but it is advisable to first acquire some overview of the war and basic background on the 27th North Carolina Regiment; otherwise names, places, and battle references may lose their bearings. Treating the memoir as supplementary material rather than an introductory text will make for a better reading experience.

How reliable is the memoir as historical source material?

Memoirs offer first-hand detail and soldiers' psychology, but are affected by memory bias, retrospective positions, and the assumptions of their era; specific dates, numbers, and judgments may be inaccurate. The safer approach is to compare them with standard campaign histories, contemporary letters, and other sources, distinguishing factual description from personal judgment.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Sloan, John A. (John Alexander), 1839-1886 Author · 1839–1886

John A. Sloan (full name John Alexander Sloan, 1839–1886) is known to later readers chiefly through a single memoir, as public information about his life is limited. He wrote Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays, Co. B., 27th N.C. Regiment, an account of Company B of the 27th North Carolina Regiment, known as the Guilford Grays, during the American Civil War. Written from the perspective of a participant, the book has the documentary quality of a memoir, focusing on the company's daily life, wartime observations and comradeship. It serves as a primary source for the history of that unit and its local wartime experience. Sloan's plain, restrained prose avoids grand narrative and seeks instead to preserve the memories of ordinary soldiers, giving the work some value for local military history. One of his works is held in this collection.