From Camp Douglas to Vicksburg: The Civil War Letters of William J. Kennedy, 55th Illinois Infantry, 1861-1863
- Current Stock:
- Editors:
- Mellen/Powell
- Pub Date:
- Spring 2025
- ISBN:
- 978-1-61121-740-7
- eISBN:
- 978-1-954547-67-4
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Specs:
- 16 images; 3 maps; 288 pp.
Ebook coming soon!
About the book
Wars change the course of history and touch in intensely personal ways the lives of everyone involved. Thankfully, surviving firsthand accounts offer modern readers a deeply personal window into earlier times. From Camp Douglas to Vicksburg: The Civil War Letters of William J. Kennedy, 55th Illinois Infantry, 1861-1863, edited and annotated by Rachael E. Mellen and David A. Powell, constitutes a rich and informative glimpse into one such life.
William J. Kennedy was a second-generation Irish-American born in New York in 1827. By 1861 he was a harness-maker running his own business in the small town of LaSalle, Illinois. When Governor Yates called for volunteers, Kennedy jumped at the chance. He even recruited many of his friends and relatives into Company G of the 55th Illinois Infantry, a new regiment being organized in Chicago under Col. David Stuart. Kennedy had ambitions to become a captain and, like most men his age, dreamed of battlefield heroics.
With a sharp eye and an even sharper wit, Kennedy played the role of embedded reporter during some of the most momentous events in the Western Theater. His letters to his wife Jane, family members, and friends are often as detailed as newspaper accounts and battle reports. His observations span the gamut, from corruption in the army and the alien culture in Tennessee and Mississippi, to his unyielding confidence in President Lincoln’s judgment. Most students of the war will treasure his previously unseen descriptions of the fighting at Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the triumphal entry into Memphis, the disaster of Chickasaw Bayou, and the misery of digging canals around Vicksburg. Sadly, it was there, on the undulating hills near the Mississippi River during the final fatal assault against that fortress, that William lost his life.
His original letters reside in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Archives in Springfield, Illinois. A genealogical long shot led Mellen to discover the connection between her family and the letters at the library. Editors Mellen and Powell used their expertise to sift through genealogical records, histories of the war, and other regimental accounts to flesh out the people, places, and events that can now be shared with everyone. These documents have brought William Kennedy and his family back to life for their 21st century relatives and a wider audience.
From Camp Douglas to Vicksburg adds significantly to the historiography of the war and is one of the finest Western Theater letter collections to reach print in many years.
Rachael E. Mellen is a graduate of the University of London, U.K. (1974) with a BA (Honours) in education and history. She earned a postgraduate degree in Humanities from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2008. Rachael has published three books on English genealogy as well as numerous articles. She has given presentations on genealogical and historical topics since 1984 to many organizations including the National Archives (Chicago Branch) and the Newberry Library. For many years, Rachael accompanied her late husband Robert to Civil War reenactments with Battery G, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery. She is currently president of the LaSalle County Genealogy Guild and researching the life of William Byrne. Rachael lives with her daughter Alice in Peru, Illinois, within a mile of the home of Alice’s Civil War relative, William J. Kennedy. David A. Powell is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (1983) with a BA in history. He has published many articles in various magazines, and more than fifteen historical simulations. David’s primary focus has been on the epic battle of Chickamauga, and he is nationally recognized for his tours of that important battlefield. He is the author of many books on the subject, including The Chickamauga Campaign trilogy, The Maps of Chickamauga, and Failure in the Saddle. He is currently working on the second of what promises to be a five-volume history of the Atlanta Campaign. The first, The Atlanta Campaign: Volume 1: Dalton to Cassville, May 1-19, 1864, was released by Savas Beatie in 2024. David and his wife Anne live with their trio of bloodhounds in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He is now retired and writes full time.
