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Not only did young Richard Irwin leave his War Department clerkship to serve in the three-month D. C. Volunteers, he wrote a story about it.
"Fly-Leaves From The Life Of A Soldier" was published in two parts in the September and November 1864 issues of the "Continental Monthly." A third part seems to have been planned, but either failed to interest the editors or was put aside as Irwin took on duties as editor of the "United States Service Magazine," including publishing his own, also incomplete, novel "Seeking the Bubble." You can find "Fly Leaves" online through Cornell's "Making of America" site, but I've attached a transcript for easier access and reference.
Irwin had resigned a Lieutenant-Colonel's commission in September 1864 due to ill health, but had certainly already begun work on this story. From the perspective of the scale and savagery of the war in 1864, the three-months' service must have looked halcyon indeed, and Irwin certainly treats it as such. Nevertheless, while flecked with humor, the story is only slightly disguised as fiction. The "American Sharpshooters" are clearly, from the description of their uniforms, the National Rifles, and the cigarette addict "Colonel Diamond" is an obvious early portrayal of Colonel Charles Pomeroy Stone, who appears similarly chain-smoking in Irwin's later account of the Red River Campaign for "Battles and Leaders."
Beyond the basic history, however, Irwin provides a delightful picture of the early volunteers as they ponder various mysteries of military life: just what are "overcoat straps," when exactly is "sharpshooter" one as opposed to two words, and just what is the dead animal part that distinguishes the "Swishtail Rifles."
From 1864, a view of 1861, fresh in the eyes of Jenkins and his cynical friend Smallweed...
Enjoy!
"Fly-Leaves From The Life Of A Soldier" was published in two parts in the September and November 1864 issues of the "Continental Monthly." A third part seems to have been planned, but either failed to interest the editors or was put aside as Irwin took on duties as editor of the "United States Service Magazine," including publishing his own, also incomplete, novel "Seeking the Bubble." You can find "Fly Leaves" online through Cornell's "Making of America" site, but I've attached a transcript for easier access and reference.
Irwin had resigned a Lieutenant-Colonel's commission in September 1864 due to ill health, but had certainly already begun work on this story. From the perspective of the scale and savagery of the war in 1864, the three-months' service must have looked halcyon indeed, and Irwin certainly treats it as such. Nevertheless, while flecked with humor, the story is only slightly disguised as fiction. The "American Sharpshooters" are clearly, from the description of their uniforms, the National Rifles, and the cigarette addict "Colonel Diamond" is an obvious early portrayal of Colonel Charles Pomeroy Stone, who appears similarly chain-smoking in Irwin's later account of the Red River Campaign for "Battles and Leaders."
Beyond the basic history, however, Irwin provides a delightful picture of the early volunteers as they ponder various mysteries of military life: just what are "overcoat straps," when exactly is "sharpshooter" one as opposed to two words, and just what is the dead animal part that distinguishes the "Swishtail Rifles."
From 1864, a view of 1861, fresh in the eyes of Jenkins and his cynical friend Smallweed...
Enjoy!