Autobiography of Eppa Hunton

by Eppa Hunton

Eppa Hunton II (1822-1908), was a prominent figure in Virginia throughout his career as a lawyer, soldier and Congressman. Although his autobiography was written mainly for his family it contains much to interest the general reader and Civil War historian alike.

In 1861 Hunton was among the delegates to the Virginia Succession Convention and voted for secession; immediately thereafter he was commission as a colonel in the 8th Virginia Infantry. He saw much action in the early years of the war, at First Bull Run and the battle of Ball’s Bluff; he commanded a brigade in Longstreet’s Corps under Pickett. His memories of Pickett’s charge in which he was wounded are among the ever written, having recovered he served in the Army of Northern Virginian as a Brigadier General at Cold Harbor and the defence of Petersburg. He was again wounded at the battle of Sayler’s creek and captured by Union forces.

A gem of a Civil War memoir.

294 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

Reviews

[Jeff Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copies of this book at very expensive, as only 100 copies were printed, but I found a digitize copy at the Universiy of Virginia library site. Well worth the read. Eppa Hunton was involved in just about every major Civil War battle on the eastern front. He writes well, and the book is easy to read. He falls squarely in the camp that blames Longstreet and Ewell for the loss at Gettysburg. While showing obvious bias towards the south, you just need to take some of his assumptions with a grain of salt. Definitely worth the read though.