This War So Horrible: The Civil War Diary of Hiram Smith Williams

by Lewis N. Wynne (Editor), Robert A. Taylor (Editor)

A different sort of Civil War diary.

"[M]ost intriguing . . . for it is the diary of a Confederate who spent most of his military service as a noncombatant . . . a soldier who was also an outspoken opponent of military life and war in general and of the Civil War in particular. Hiram Smith Williams was a native Northerner who moved to the South shortly before the war but enlisted as a private in the 40th Alabama Infantry. . . . This truly unique diary, which is enlivened by Williams’s keen eye for detail, a certain literary flair, and his frank assessment of the Confederate army and cause, also includes extensive notes and a perceptive introduction."

—Civil War History

Genres: Civil War, History

200 pages, Hardcover

First published March 30, 1993

Reviews

[Jon Bauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terribly dull. "We built roads" "Cannon shell burst around us" "We built a fort and then had to abandon it". Any student of war knows that mundanity characterizes the soldier's life. If for no other reason, this book is important because you get a sense of that.

I'd only recommend it if you have ties to the region or are involved in intensive study of the civil war. There are other war journals out there that are better-suited for mass consumption.