On Wheels: And How I Came There

Rating:
Summary: On Wheels-------A True Story of the Civil War
Review: A good read! Originally written in 1892, this book by William B. Smith is his recollection of time spent as a young Union Army Private in the 16th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He tells of his trips up and down the Missisippi on paddlewheel boats, then as a foot soldier marching through the Southern countryside. Along the way he gives us a taste of what it was like as a soldier in the Civil War.
Whats remarkable about this book is that the author retains his sense of humor throughout--not just the tales of his youthful soldiering, but also as he tells of the terrible hardships he and his comrades faced as prisoners in those horrible Southern Prisons.
The cover picture is the author "on wheels" as a result of injuries sustained at Andersonville and Blackshear prisons.

That this book was rediscovered, researched, updated and edited by a high school student the same age as Smith when he was discharged from Andersonville is extraordinary in itself.