at heart. It is a great history lesson kids can relate to and learn from. The best part is when the author mentions, “Just like people, no two gumbos are alike.” What an impactful statement demonstrating to kids that no matter where you’re from, like gumbo, it’s okay to be different!
Editor of Update Calls Letters “Clear-eyed, Candid, Informative”
Through Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865, Revised and Expanded Edition. Edited by J. Gregory Acken. Maps, photographs, bibliography, footnotes, index. 312 pp., 2023. The Kent State University Press. KentStateUniversityPress.com. Hardback, $55.
Gregory Acken is an independent historian specializing in the writings of Civil War soldiers. In addition to the book under review, he has edited three collections of letters and diaries of other Federal officers. In this work, Acken presents 118 letters written by a Boston blueblood who served in the Army of the Potomac.
Charles J. Mills was a member of a well-to-do Boston family and a Harvard graduate, class of 1860. Failing in his effort to secure an army commission, Charley enlisted as a private in a Massachusetts militia unit which, unfortunately, was disbanded almost as soon as he signed up. He tried again to earn a commission by recruiting men for a regiment of volunt eers, but failing to bring in enough recruits, he was again disappointed. His efforts finally paid
off when, in August 1862, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in
p y r ollc
the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry.
Lt. Mills’s first letters home describe the difficult marches he and his new comrades endured as they moved toward the battles in Northern Virginia and Maryland. The regiment was not engaged at Bull Run, but was in the thick of things at Antietam, where, after serving only one month, Mills was severely wounded by a shot which passed through both thighs.
For most men, such a wound would mean a one-way ticket home and a permanent goodbye to the military.
However, after a year, Mills reentered the service, even though his wounds left him partially lame. From the fall of 1863 through March 1865, he served as a staff officer, first under a regimental commander, then at the division level, and ultimately at the headquarters of the IX and then the II Corps.
Charley’s letters home, most to his mother, some to his father and a few to others, offer good descriptions of the movements of the army and the fighting; they comment on the qualities of the generals in charge and other officers nearer to his own rank; they express opinions on the larger issues military and political; and convey news about his college friends and others who served in various capacities. From time to time, Charley showed his opinionated side as well as his superior attitude toward people not of his class and education. He preferred the company of gentlemen to that of roughs and had a rather odd prejudice against Pennsylvanians. He also had a low opinion of black soldiers and often, in a very casual way, used an impolite word in lieu of “black.” The reader also learns about his literary and sartorial preferences from the list of items he requests from home.
The last letter written by Mills was penned on March 31, 1865, addressed to his mother, hours before he was struck by a solid shot and killed instantly. How this book came to be is an interesting story. In 1977, Gregory A. Coco bought a collection of artifacts that once belonged to Major Mills. Among the collection was a leather case of letters. Coco transcribed and edited the letters, which he self-published in 1982. The originals have been lost, both the 118 Coco published and the 80 or so others. Coco’s edition (only 300 copies) has been used by historians: I quickly found the 1982 edition listed in the bibliographies of four books on my own shelves. Aken’s edition builds on Coco’s original by providing useful footnotes and detailed editorial comments which add context to Mills’s account and supply information on the many characters who appear in the letters. With the publication of this book, the letters of Maj. Charles J. Mills can be read by a much wider range of Civil Warriors.