UW Press: Heavy Marching

Heavy Marching
The Civil War Letters of Lute Moseley, 22nd Wisconsin
Lucius S. Moseley
Edited by Sara DeLuca
Foreword by Robert Lucius Moseley

“I have read hundreds of such collections in print and manuscript, so for a collection to attract as much of my interest as this one did speaks to its quality. Virtually every letter has something of significance to students of the war—a rarity.”
—George Rable, author of Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!

“Moseley’s letters offer evocative descriptions of a Union soldier’s life with unsettling immediacy. We endure muddy marches, tolerate incompetent officers, witness the savagery of battle, mourn the deaths of friends, forage with the ‘bummers,’ and yearn for peace and home. Lute Moseley tells us what it really felt like.”
—Fred Burwell, Beloit College Archivist Emeritus

An intimate first-person account of life as an infantry soldier

Lucius “Lute” Moseley was a nineteen-year-old student at Beloit Academy when he enlisted in the Union Army. Raised on a family farm outside Beloit, Wisconsin, where his father operated the first dray service before opening a blacksmith shop and lumber yard, Moseley fought in the Civil War as an infantry soldier in Wisconsin’s 22nd Volunteers. Briefly captured and interned in a Confederate POW Camp, he returned to action and participated in Sherman’s Atlanta campaign. He marched in the Washington, DC, Grand Review before returning to the Beloit area, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Moseley wrote detailed missives to his family about his wartime experiences, demonstrating a flair for describing both camp life and battles. Frank and forthright, he was remarkably articulate, insightful, and thoughtful, whether describing mundane activities or the nearly unfathomable death of President Lincoln. These 125 letters became touchstones and sources of pride for the Moseley family; published here for the first time, they provide a uniquely candid and vivid view of this tumultuous period in US history.

Lucius “Lute” Moseley (1843—1923) fought in the Civil War as a soldier in the Union Army from 1862 to 1865. After the war, Moseley became a farmer, and would remain in Beloit for the rest of his life.

Sara DeLuca is the author of the memoir Dancing the Cows Home, the family biography The Crops Look Good, and three chapbooks of poetry. Her work appears in Atlanta Review, Lullwater Review, North Coast Review, and elsewhere.

“Fascinating, informative, unique, memorable, Heavy Marching: The Civil War Letters of Lute Moseley, 22nd Wisconsin is deftly compiled and edited by Sara DeLuca. . . . A welcome, seminal, and highly recommended acquisition.”
—Midwest Book Review

Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations

Foreword by Robert Lucius Moseley
Preface
Introduction

1 Drilling for War: August 31, 1862—February 9, 1863
2 Surrender, Prison, Parole: March 8, 1863—June 11, 1863
3 The News from Tennessee: June 14, 1863—April 29, 1864
4 Redemption in Georgia: May 12, 1864—July 21, 1864
5 The Fall of Atlanta and the March to the Sea: July 25, 1864—December 26, 1864
6 The Road to Washington: January 6, 1865—May 6, 1865

Afterword by Esther Baer Moseley
Obituary of Lucius S. Moseley
“Cover Them Over with Beautiful Flowers”

Appendix A. Roster, 22nd Wisconsin Officers and Staff; Company B Infantry
Appendix B. Colonel John Coburn’s Farewell Address to His Troops
Appendix C. 22nd Wisconsin Chronology of Service and Regimental Statistics

Notes
Index

Of Related Interest
Such Anxious Hours Wisconsin Women's Voices from the Civil War Edited by Jo Ann Daly Carr	Dear Delia The Civil War Letters of Captain Henry F. Young, Seventh Wisconsin Infantry Henry F. Young Edited by Micheal J. Larson and John David Smith