Touched With Fire: Civil War Letters and Diary of Olivier Wendell Holmes

by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Mark de Wolfe Howe (Editor)

Holmes's wartime letters and diary entries have attracted students of war as well as biographers of Holmes as rare glimpses into the mind and heart of a soldier who withstood the great slaughter.

Genres: History

158 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior, son of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932; many of his opinions greatly influenced the American concept of law. Noted for his long service, his concise and pithy opinions, and his deference to the decisions of elected legislatures, he is one of the most widely cited Supreme Court justices in history, particularly for his "clear and present danger" majority opinion in the case of Schenck v. United States (1919), as well as one of the most influential American common-law judges.

Reviews

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finally read Touched with Fire: Civil War Letters and Diary of Olivier Wendell Holmes and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a series of letters and drawings by a young Oliver Wendell Holmes during his time fighting in the Civil War.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of America's great jurists, best known as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1902-1932). He was most proud of his service as a 1st lieutenant and an aide-de-damp during the Civil War. In fact, he insisted on being buried at Arlington National Cemetery and his gravestone lists his time in military service before his tenure on the United States Supreme Court.

This book isn't for everyone; in fact, some people I know who have read it either gave up on it or found it "boring." But I found it insightful, especially with Holmes' his legal philosophy of, "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience."

Go Cards! L1C4!!

[Joel Manuel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oliver Wendell Holmes was a great man and his Civil War career was interesting, but this collection of letters and diary excerpts was incredibly dull for me. :(

[E B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather interesting series of Journals and Letters from a Union soldier. The Author was wounded several time, a few where it was questionable if he would live. It can be slow at times when he goes into grave details about day to day movements. The Letters home are however quite insightful and rather interesting to see a soldier battle with the question of why he is out there fighting. It is a shame that the letters from his father and family are not also included to be able to see the back and forth as it is quite clear his father disapproves of him not re-enlisting towards the end of the war.

The author reminds us all that many of these soldiers were quite young when they went in and were turned into men on the battlefield. He exclaims such quite directly to his father when his character appears called into question.

A little bonus throughout the book are a number of sketches of both the battlefields as they happened along with sketches of the author and fellow troops, which were all made by the author.