He looks like a good honest man, and I trust that with God’s help he can bring our country safely out of peril.” As we passed the White House I had my first view of Abraham Lincoln. “Today we brushed up and marched into Washington and were reviewed by the President. In addition, without suffering injury or death and all the while rapidly advancing from private to Lieutenant Colonel upon end of his time in the war.Ī timeline of Elisha Hunt Rhodes in the 2nd Regiment, Rhode Island Infantry It is unbelievable, that with so much death, sickness and casualties in the Civil War, that Rhodes was able to stay with his original unit for the entire duration. Rhodes provides readers with a fascinating account of the war from an ordinary soldier’s perspective, with his entries describing battles fought, his time spent drilling, long distance marching, and the inevitable loss in war and hope.įor a diary written from the stress of war, it is written quite eloquently, as Rhodes tells matter of factly his daily events without resorting to blame or hatred for the war. The book was also featured in the Ken Burns PBS Special The Civil War. He would not return to Rhode Island until they end of the war, four years later, fighting in every major campaign of the Army of the Potomac.Įlisha Hunt Rhodes kept an extensive diary for his duration in the war, eventually it was edited by his great grandson Robert Hunt Rhodes and published. The Historyist All For The Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt RhodesĮlisha Hunt Rhodes was born Main Pawtuxet Village, known as Cranston, Rhode Island today. At 19 years old, Rhodes enlisted as a private and they left Rhode Island on June 19, 1861.

All for the Union by Robert Hunt Rhodes