I HOPE YOU WILL ALL REMEMBER ME

The wartime letters of a Confederate soldier take center stage in Holt’s nonfiction book.

A Confederate infantryman from North Carolina, Matthew Yow is survived by almost 60 letters, written between 1862 and his 1864 death, that have been passed down by his descendants. Most of the letters were written to his wife, Catharine, and their children. Presented for the first time to a public audience in this remarkable collection, Yow’s wartime commentary, which largely focuses on homesickness, lack of supplies, and other daily experiences of soldiers, offers an intimate portrait of the experiences of a Confederate infantryman. Lightly edited for clarity (mostly limited to punctuation marks and the capitalization of letters), the transcriptions are accompanied by historical commentary written by Holt, Yow’s great-granddaughter. Organized chronologically, each group of letters includes a brief overview that provides context about how they correspond to the broader movements of soldiers within the 48th North Carolina Infantry. Further background is provided by ample introductory and appendix material, including a short biography of Yow, a list of other soldiers who were part of his company, and a detailed family tree. Holt’s commentary is backed by 275 endnotes that demonstrate a firm command of the relevant scholarly literature. While most of the research is thorough, the book’s handling of white supremacy falls out of step with contemporary historiography; an appendix essay on “Remembrance and Reconciliation,” for example, offers a sanitized history of postwar reconciliation services that ignores their connection to the emergence the “New South” and its system of Jim Crow segregation, as detailed in the work of historian David W. Blight and others. (The book’s introduction importantly emphasizes Yow’s initial ambivalence toward the Confederacy—he even deserted once before being caught.) Neither the book’s commentary nor Yow’s letters mention his views on slavery; Matthew and Catherine Yow are described as yeomen farmers whose meager earnings came from “the fruits of their labor.” Buried in the book’s endnotes is the key detail that both Matthew and Catherine’s parents were enslavers.

A unique glimpse into the life of a Civil War solider.