George W. Darby enrolled as a Private in Company G, 8th Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps (known as the 37th Volunteers) on April 24, 1861. A native of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Darby served for the duration of the Civil War and was promoted through the ranks from private to sergeant. He endured the hardships of many battles and skirmishes, was severely wounded at the Second Bull Run and was imprisoned by the Confederates at Belle Isle and Libby. Despite his rudimentary formal education, Darby wrote with powerful verbosity. A number of his Civil War poems are included in this book as well as a retrospective in which he attempted to bring some closure to his wartime experiences. He began his memoirs in 1861 and his narrative carries the reader through to 1865. Three appendices are included: a chronology of events for the 37th Volunteers, 1861-1864; a chronology for the 191st Pennsylvania Infantry, 1864-1865 (Darby joined this unit as a Veteran Volunteer); and the account of Private C. H. Golden's wartime experiences. Golden was a native of Greene County, Pennsylvania, and a survivor of the Confederate prison camp at Salisbury, North Carolina. Accounts of many veterans known to both Darby and Golden are to be found in this fascinating narrative.
Rogan H. Moore
(1999), 2012, 5.5" x 8.5", paper, 186 pp.
ISBN: 9780788413070
101-M1307
