Reluctant Rebel: The Secret Diary of Robert Patrick, 1861--1865

by F. Jay Taylor

“Patrick emerges from this diary as the GI Joe of 1861–1865.” ―Charles L. Dufour

In April, 1861, Private Robert Patrick, a talented clerk in the Commissary and Quartermaster departments of the Fourth Louisiana Infantry, began a diary that he continued until the last days of the Civil War. A keen observer who had a flair for descriptive writing, Patrick offers a fascinating look behind the Confederate front lines.

In his memoir, originally written in Ben Pitman shorthand and intended for no one’s eyes but his own, this articulate and practical-minded young Louisianian provides a colorful narrative of events―both on and off duty. He vividly recounts the siege around Port Hudson and Vicksburg, the Battle of Shiloh, and the retreat from Atlanta, episodes in which his regiment had one of the highest records for casualties in the entire Confederate Army. Especially enlightening are his comments on logistics, supply, and the competence of supply officers, issues relatively ignored in Confederate history. His descriptions of conditions and civilian sentiment in the residential areas near army camps and along the route of the march are also revealing.


Patrick’s honesty and literary craftsmanship give his narrative unusual realism. Full of anecdotes ranging from humorous to horrifying, his diary adds significant details to the portrait of the Confederate soldier in the rear echelons.

271 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young soldier's voice, hushed by death over 150 years ago, his diary reveals a highly intelligent person, and a keen observer of human nature. Clever and imaginative, he excelled in both philosophical pursuits and physical survival skills. With heartwarming frankness, a worthy gentleman from the past is revealed with whom the reader would like to be acquainted. He offers many insightful details of military operations and officers likely not recorded anywhere else. He survived the war and returned home, only to die the next year, just after Christmas in 1866. An excerpt: "Camped in the woods South of the Chattahoochee River. Wednesday, May 25, 1864: I feel rather sad and low spirited this evening and I get so very often and I cannot help it. I wonder if it is so with every one. I am sitting alone at the door of my tent. The evening is calm and beautiful. There is a blissful breathing in the summer air; a placid depth in the summer heaven; the trees are green and lovely; the air is fragrant with the numerous sweet-scented wild flowers; a beauty, a grandeur, a peace indescribable pervades everything. The wild bee hums by in the gathering twilight and the faint outline of the moon with her attendant stars can be seen just peering above the tree-tops and in the distance across the fields of a neighboring farm, I hear the sharp crow of a patriarchal shanghai; the plaintive lowing of the cattle mixed with the sweet bells of the wandering herd. There is a brass band along with our train and they are playing "Shells of Ocean" and as the familiar notes of this sweet air are gently wafted in delightful cadences over the woody hills and dewy fields of the quiet forest, numberless visions of home in happier hours and sweet reminiscences of the past crowd thick and fast upon my soul and bring to view a green spot on memory's wide waste. There is nothing in the world that reminds me more of home than those old familiar airs that I heard when life had brighter appearances than it does at present, and causes me to feel more keenly my present position and to long the more earnestly for peace. But alas! There is no peace for the end is not yet. How many moons will rise and wane, how many months languish, ere peace, the white-winged Angel comes to soothe the nation's anguish." [Reluctant Rebel: The Secret Diary of Robert Patrick 1861-1865]