352 pages / 6.00 x 9.00 inches / 3 maps
History / United States - Civil War Period
The 31st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was one of only a handful of New England units to serve in Louisiana and the Gulf region during the Civil War, and, of those, it remained there the longest. Its soldiers, most of whom were impressionable young men from small towns in central and western Massachusetts, assumed numerous roles, functioning as infantry, cavalry, and mounted infantry when needed. The regiment operated as an army of occupation; participated in siege warfare at Port Hudson, Louisiana; marched and fought in long field operations such as the Red River campaign; engaged in guerrilla warfare; and garrisoned coastal defense fortifications. It also had the distinction of being the first Federal unit to enter and occupy New Orleans.
Larry Lowenthal’s authoritative history of the 31st is the first comprehensive examination of this remarkable regiment and its men. When veterans of the unit attempted to write its history in the late nineteenth century, they were not able to complete the task, but they did collect a large quantity of primary-source materials and deposited them in a Springfield, Massachusetts, museum. Lowenthal’s work draws heavily from that unpublished cache. Among the documents are highly personal letters, diaries, and first-person recollections that offer vivid and unrivaled accounts of the unit’s military experiences, as well as its soldiers’ impressions of the people and physical conditions they encountered in Louisiana. The men also offer their unvarnished opinions on a variety of subjects.
Lowenthal, a longtime historian and former U.S. National Park Service employee, relays many of the stories in the soldiers’ own words. Their impressions of the South—which they viewed as essentially a foreign country—are highly revealing. Critical issues such as slavery and abolition, as well as more private matters such as personal experiences and military life, are also discussed. To all of this, Lowenthal brings a modern perspective, presenting a crucial picture of the period’s people and their views of the South and active military life. A Yankee Regiment in Confederate Louisiana is a welcome addition to the literature on occupied Louisiana and the Union Army’s service in the Gulf South.
Larry Lowenthal is a former historian for the U.S. National Park Service.
“Lowenthal's study provides insightful reconsideration of a Federal regiment long criticized for aspects of its service record. The 31st Massachusetts endured tours of duty in Louisiana that encompassed virtually the entire wartime period in diverse regions of the state. The book accordingly offers a refreshing new look at most of the major military engagements in the central Gulf South as well as illuminating less revealed actions that contributed to the final result.”—Samuel C. Hyde, author of Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1899
“Larry Lowenthal has accomplished the improbable: he has created a enjoyable narrative history of the 31st Massachusetts Infantry that features the immediacy of the eye-witness account while benefiting from the perspective and analysis offered by 150 years' distance. This book finally brings to fruition the dreams of Frederick L. Rice, the unit's historian, who died before completing the history he was preparing. Larry Lowenthal has done Rice and his comrades proud with this fast-paced and insightful look at this much unsung unit.”—Cliff McCarthy, archivist at the Wood Museum of Springfield History and founder and former president of the Pioneer Valley History Network
“Lowenthal's book draws from a wealth of archival sources, a treasure trove that inspired the author to write this history. The book is arranged chronologically, blending a narrative month-to-month account with context of the war's larger events. It also includes accounts from leaders and the rank and file describing the day-to-day life of a soldier in the Union army in the Gulf South. This fine volume could serve as a model for future scholars wishing to produce similar scholarly Civil War regimental histories.”—Christopher Stacey, Journal of Southern History
Found an Error? Tell us about it.
