Life in the Confederate Army

WATSON, William. Life in the Confederate Army, Being the Observations and Experiences of an Alien in the South during the American Civil War. London, 1887. 1st ed. 456pp. Orig. cloth with pictorial spine. Spine worn at ends, hinges cracking. Overall very good. The first edition precedes the American edition of the following year, which uses the same sheets. In addition to being the true first, the English edition is also scarcer than the American. Watson, a Scotsman, emigrated to America a few years before the war and established a small business in Baton Rouge. Although a British subject, he enlisted in the Confederate army on the outbreak of war. After training in New Orleans, Watson was posted in Arkansas where he participated in the battles of Wilson's Creek in Arkansas and Pea Ridge, and in the engagements around Corinth, Mississippi. When his term expired, he returned to Union-occupied New Orleans for a short while before re-enlisting. After being wounded, captured and paroled he became a blockade-runner, operating as such until the end of the war. "[Watson] wrote with facility and at times a sense of humor. He gives an excellent description of soldiers' life in camp, on the march, and in battle. The account was not written until 1887, when he was in Skelmorlie, Scotland, and there is no evidence of a diary or notes. Yet this work has the essence of reliability and may be rated among the best descriptions of a Confederate soldier's experiences."--Coulter 467. Howes W173. CWB I, 175. Dornbusch II, 446.