Book Review: Heavy Marching: The Civil War Letters of Lute Moseley, 22nd Wisconsin

Heavy Marching: The Civil War Letters of Lute Moseley, 22^nd Wisconsin. Edited by Sara DeLuca. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2023. Hardcover, 306 pp. $29.95.

Reviewed by Tim Talbott

Editor Sara DeLuca calls Heavy Marching: The Civil War Letters of Lute Moseley, 22^nd Wisconsin, “primarily the personal journey of one Union soldier, unique in the telling, yet representative of so many young men on both sides of the conflict, who fought with valor and determination, certain that God was on their side.” (xv) It is indeed that, and so much more.

DeLuca became aware of Pvt. Lucius S. Moseley’s letters when she met Esther Baer Moseley. Ms. Moseley, whose late husband was the grandson of Pvt. Moseley, was working on editing the letters and asked for DeLuca’s assistance. Unable to get much done before Ms. Moseley passed away, DeLuca finally dug into the letters about a decade later with the family’s blessing. What she found was a collection of common soldier’s letters, “filled with detailed accounts of military drilling, exhausting marches, tedious waiting and watching, deadly battles, bitter conflicts between his company’s officers, fears for friends and family, for his own survival, and always . . . always the longing for more news from home.” (xiv)

Lucius “Lute” Moseley was a mere 19 when he enlisted in Company B of the 22^nd Wisconsin Infantry in the late summer of 1862. The 22^nd Wisconsin was also known as the “Abolitionist Regiment” due to the anti-slavery sentiments that Col. William Utley and many of his men brought with them into the unit. Unwilling to return enslaved individuals who came into their camps or joined them on their marches, the 22^nd faced their fair share of trouble while serving in Kentucky.

Not all of the soldiers in the 22^nd came into the service as abolitionists or even emancipationists. Like many other Union soldiers, Pvt. Moseley’s personal views about African Americans evolved over his service. For example, while camped in Danville, Kentucky, in December 1862, Mosely complained about them coming into camp claiming, “I don’t want anymore, they are dishonest.” (36). He also sometimes focused more on what he saw as exotic characteristics: “We have a white negro in our regiment. He is curiosity. He has sandy hair and is white as I am. . . .” (39) However, after having more interactions with people of color, and seeing the contributions that they were making to the cause, he tempered his views and showed empathy. After mentioning how thankful he was to be able to communicate across long distances by writing letters to his family, Moseley wrote that “I often think of those poor negroes leaving their families to go off and help in this great struggle, for few can either read or write.” In Nashville, in April 1864, Moseley wrote about helping a Black woman whose dress caught fire from their tent chimney when she returned his tent mate’s laundry. When Moseley burned his hands in putting out the fire, the woman expressed her gratitude to him for saving her life.

After serving for several months in the Bluegrass State, the regiment boarded steamboats and made way for Tennessee, where they saw their first true combat at the Battle of Thompson’s Station in early March 1863. Captured in the fight with several others in the regiment Mosley was marched to Chattanooga and then sent by rail to Libby Prison in Richmond. Receiving a rather quick parole he went to a holding camp in Annapolis and then St. Louis to await exchange.

Back with his regiment in Middle Tennessee by June 1863, the 22^nd Wisconsin remained there, missing the Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga Campaigns. They were not so fortunate for the Atlanta Campaign in the spring of 1864. Fighting in the XX Corps, Moseley’s battle accounts are descriptive and he maintains a rather good morale as long as he is able to communicate with those back home. For example, in a June 7, 1864, letter Moseley wrote, “I am well and contented, Uncle Sam owes me $70, and it will be more before it is less. I am dirty and ragged, but my ragged clothes cover a healthy contented body, and this is enough.” (139) His descriptions of everyday camp activities while on the march and after the fall of Atlanta are entertaining and informative.

Moseley and the 22^nd Wisconsin marched on from Atlanta to Savannah, and into the Carolinas. They participated in the Grand Review in Washington, but Moseley wanted to go home and was not amused with the waiting. Writing on May 25, 1865, he penned “We did not volunteer to remain in the service as required to parade and make big shows to gratify the ambition of officers, and to be reviewed and rereviewed, and kept in the field when no human being can see the least bit use for it.” (215) His last letter was sent home on June 5, 1865. He mustered out in Washington D.C. a week later.

DeLuca divides the book into six chapters. Instead of putting the notes at the end of the chapters, or in a section at back of the book, they appear following each letter, which helps find them easily. The notes are thorough and informative without being burdensome. A few images are included of Col. Utley, Lt. Col. Edward Bloodgood, and a few other people and places that Moseley mentions in the letters. Also included are several appendices giving the officers of the regiment and a roster of Moseley’s Company B, as well as Col. John Coburn’s (brigade commander) farewell address at Atlanta.

Heavy Marching: The Civil War Letters of Lute Moseley, 22^nd Wisconsin is an excellently edited collection that makes for enjoyable reading. Its rich content and Pvt. Moseley’s insightful commentary are sure to appear in future campaign studies now that they are more readily available to researchers.