DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Greatest Trials I Ever Had

The Civil War Letters of Margaret and Thomas Cahill

Ryan W Keating editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of Georgia Press

Published:1st Nov '17

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Greatest Trials I Ever Had cover

A revealing four-year Civil War correspondence between a husband and wife

This edited collection of Civil War correspondence between Col. Thomas Cahill and his wife, Margaret, offers a rare glimpse into the symbiotic relationship between soldiers and their home communities. They are the only substantial extant collection of letters from an Irish American woman on the northern home front.

This edited collection of Civil War correspondence between Col. Thomas Cahill and his wife, Margaret, offers a rare glimpse into the symbiotic relationship between soldiers and their home communities. In the only substantial extant collection of letters from an Irish American woman on the northern home front, Margaret’s pivotal role as a go-between in the financial affairs of men in the regiment and their wives is made evident, as is the broader interplay between the community of New Haven, Connecticut, and the regiment.

The couple’s correspondence was nearly constant in their four years apart. There is an inherent intimacy in the way that daily life during the Civil War is documented and in particular in the gradual revelation of the emotional toll taken by a long-distance relationship. Because the volume includes letters from both Cahill and his wife, the interplay between the regiment and the home front is traced in a way most collections are not able to achieve.

This lively correspondence provides a great introduction to primary source reading for students of the Civil War home front. These teaching opportunities will supplemented by a companion website that features more correspondence, maps, and additional learning materials.

ISBN: 9780820351544

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

240 pages