John H. Myers Memoir

This collection consists of a Civil War memoir written by John H. Myers, a corporal in Company G, 55th Illinois Infantry. Rather than a strictly personal narrative, Myers' memoir provides an overview of military operations as he experienced them. He writes at length on military personnel (never naming individuals, however), likening officers to monarchs and privates to serfs, detailing several instances of injustices and incompetence committed by the former. Also discussed, often in a somewhat humorous manner, are army rations. (The writer particularly describes the soldiers' experiences with hardtack and the worms with which one shipment became infested.) Myers relates several anecdotes about foraging and the procurement of food, water and clothing. In subsequent sections, the former corporal describes the day-to-day experiences of the soldiers within an invading army--marches, encampments, picket duty, and battle preparation--providing specific details on army procedures. In the final section, Myers takes the reader step-by-step through the experience of battle, then its aftermath, as the dead and wounded are removed from the field.

Accompanying the memoir is a carte-de-visite, the verso containing--in modern-day ink pen--the name of Dr. J. H. Myers, Lewistown, Pa. The portrait was executed in the studio of F. R. M'Carthy of Philadelphia.