Why read The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War?

Book cover of The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War

Book description

Reimagining one of the oldest genres of Civil War history, this book engagingly presents the story of the war and its aftermath through the lens of a single regiment, the Sixth Wisconsin. One of the core units of the famed Iron Brigade, the Sixth was organized in July 1861 and…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Ronald Paul Larson

Author

Published in 2025 (hot off the presses), Marten’s book, as he says in his Introduction, is not a regimental history but a regimental “biography.”

As a “biography,” Martin looks at the regiment as a “living organism.” Using a construct that I have often thought about, Martin notes that there were “multiple ‘Sixth Wisconsins.’” As illness, wounds, and transfers took their toll on the initial 1,000 men, another 1,000 joined during the course of the war. This turnover of men; the replacement of veterans by enlistees, substitutes, and draftees, “created an instability,” Martin notes, that must be appreciated in order to…

From Ronald's list on the Union Army’s Iron Brigade.