100 Books Like Service With the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers: Four Years with the Iron Brigade

This one isn’t fantasy at all. In fact, it’s probably the most accurate fictional retelling of the battle of Gettysburg out there. But I love it so much I had to list it here.

Furthermore, the characters involved—such as Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain—are deeply spiritual men, meaning that many pages meditate on the meaning of all this blood and loss. These meditations evoke a sense fantasy often can: that the visible world contains a mystery deeper than our limited minds can grasp. 

Yet the text remains deeply human. The Civil War pits brother against brother, friend against friend. In it, there is a great speech by Col. Chamberlain addressing his men which captures a theme of the book.

“This is a different kind of army,” he says. “If you look back through history you will see men fighting for pay, for women, for some other kind of loot. They fight… show more.

This book offers a monumental three-volume account of America’s defining conflict.

Combining meticulous research with a novelist’s flair, Foote vividly portrays battles, political struggles, and personal experiences on both sides. His narrative balances strategy, leadership, and human cost, giving readers a deep sense of the era’s complexity.

While Foote’s Southern sympathies can be seen, such as his portrayal of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, downplaying his subsequent leadership of the Ku Klux Klan, his prose remains compelling and accessible. Reading it provided invaluable context for understanding the Civil War and its enduring impact.

Crafted like a well-told story, Sears’ now classic volume was my first foray into the Battle of Antietam lo these many years ago. It offers readers an engaging, generally accurate overview of the background, events, and results of America’s costliest day, September 17, 1862. Although its three-phase, framing approach to the battle has been surpassed by new interpretations, it remains a useful starting point for those wishing to learn the basics and if readers seek only one work to read on Antietam, this is the book to choose. Every student of the battle—casual, serious, or scholarly--will want to have read and be familiar with Sears' work.     

“High Private” Sam Watkins wrote his memoir from memory eighteen years after the war. His account of life and death as a rebel soldier is gripping, shocking, and tragic, yet often humorous. He dutifully followed orders, was dedicated to his cause, saw many friends killed close by, and killed enemy soldiers close up – young men in a different uniform much like himself. His attitude and prejudices reflect those of the average Confederate enlisted man. The reader experiences in intimate detail the often-desperate life of the common soldier.

Named one of the “Top 100 Civil War Books” by the Centennial Commission, this records the history of the most famous Union unit of the war. Nolan uses many first-person accounts to ensure accuracy; Service with The Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers being predominant. This book first inspired my interest in studying the Civil War, and sparked my special admiration for Rufus Dawes, eventually leading to the creation of my own book, To My Best Girl – Courage, Honor and Love in the Civil War: The Inspiring Life Stories of Rufus Dawes and Mary Gates.

Murfin’s readable classic account of the battle takes readers deeper into the military movements and fighting action. His detailed maps further enrich readers’ understanding of the “who” and the “how” of Antietam’s battle. Adding considerable numbers of personal soldier stories, Murfin’s work takes readers closer to understanding the common soldier’s experience, while tying those experiences to the larger objectives of senior military officers. Although his analysis generally reflects an earlier era, knowing how the battle was understood during the Civil War’s centennial provides context for most current interpretations of America’s bloodiest day.    

Ezra Carman’s seminal work, a must-read for anyone wanting to master the battle’s often-complex swirl of events, was simply invaluable to my own research on the Battle of Antietam. Unpublished for decades—part of a much larger work, Carman passed away before completing it—Carman’s volume uniquely draws on his personal experience as an Antietam veteran (commanding the 13th New Jersey Infantry Regiment) while also offering the author’s wider analysis. I think Clemens’ is the best of several modern published versions, providing in footnotes the editor’s research identifying Carman’s sources, many of which the author obtained from fellow Antietam veterans and which remain available only in libraries and archives. Be forewarned, however, that Carman writes in the often-obtuse style of his era and because this is a published raw draft, it frequently dives into detailed rabbit holes before suddenly leaping on to a new topic. Even so, no other source offers Carman’s… show more.

Civilians affected by America’s bloodiest day—tiny Sharpsburg, Maryland was literally at the center of the fighting—are too frequently treated as an afterthought, but Kathy Earnst’s excellent book proved a vital resource for capturing their experiences in my own book. Featuring firsthand accounts of these experiences that day, she provides background stories of these average people swept up in this event as well as short descriptions of their lives after the battle.

Published in 1993, the book is part of Fordham University Press’ “The Irish in the Civil War” series. The book is a collection of James P. Sullivan’s newspaper reminiscences published in the 1880s in the Milwaukee Sunday Telegraph. 

James Patrick Sullivan, born in Ireland, was a 17-year-old farm hand in Juneau County, Wisconsin when he first enlisted. Sullivan fought in most of the regiment’s battles and was wounded at least three times; enlisting on three separate occasions (the only soldier in the regiment to do so). The “Rebs” just couldn’t keep Mickey down (He was called “Mickey,” in his company).

In his memoir, Dawes wrote that Sullivan was not only “a heroic soldier” but “For genuine sallies of humor at unexpected times, I have never seen his equal.” He had an “unconquerable good humor and genuine wit. Such men,” Dawes wrote, “are of priceless value in an army.”

Sullivan’s… show more.

This “memoir” was originally serialized in 1902 in the National Tribune, a weekly publication aimed at veterans, under the title “Adventures of an Iron Brigade Man.”

Born in Canada, Robert Beecham’s family moved to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, when he was about five years old. Beecham served as an enlisted man in the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry regiment (part of the Iron Brigade) and fought in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, where he was taken prisoner.

After being returned in a prisoner exchange, Beecham was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in the 23rd United States Colored Troops. With them, he fought at the Battle of the Crater in July 1864, where he was wounded and again taken prisoner. After eight months in a Confederate prison, he escaped, but voluntarily surrendered himself in order to be exchanged (again). He rejoined his regiment and was promoted to captain in May 1865, but resigned… show more.