Book Description

This book depicts the true story of Frederick William Miller and John Armstrong Robison who served the Union in the 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. It follows the time they spent from training at Camp Fuller to being wounded at the battle of Chickamauga. Through their letters and memoirs the two men vividly described the everyday events of a soldier's life, the horrors of battle, the pain and suffering of being wounded, the journey from the battlefield to the hospitals in Nashville, the experience of amputation, and the effects of gangrene on both men. At the Battle of Chickamauga, the 96th, in the front line of Whitaker's Brigade, marched double quick to the aid of General George Thomas. John, as a member of the color guard, was in the very front of their Regiment. Granger's Reserves arrived at Snodgrass Hill just in the nick of time. The "Rock of Chickamauga" was nearly out of ammunition and in desperate need of reinforcements. Whitaker's green troops fought bravely that afternoon and by the end of the battle, no one doubted that they earned the name "Iron Brigade of Chickamauga." The story explodes when both are wounded. The novel, through John's memoirs, tells the story of how the Federal wounded soldiers of Chickamauga traveled from the battlefield in Georgia to the hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee. John told in his own words, the pain and suffering that he and others endured during the week they traveled, many on foot, to Nashville after the battle. Four days after walking over sixty miles to Bridgeport he wrote, "Finally the train was loaded and we started and oh, the jar of that old box car was so great, I had to sit squatted down on my toeslike, and then the pain was so great in my arm that the tears would run from my eyes." The novel also tells the fate of the slightly wounded. These soldiers stayed with their regiments for a week or more before they received proper treatment, which by then, for many was too late. Exemplary of the state of their medical care are Charles E. Belknap's remarks: "In the confusion of the retreat, primary operations could not be performed to the extent desired; thus, many cases of injuries of the knee and ankle joints subsequently proved fatal that might have been saved by timely amputations." Many of these soldiers, like Frederick, died. 213 pages, 8.5 X 11, soft cover, 17 B&W Photos, 40 Drawings, 1Maps, 11Other