Book Review: The 117th New York Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster

The 117th New York Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster. By James S. Pula, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2023, 311 pp. $49.95.

Reviewed by Doug Crenshaw

James S. Pula, who penned the enjoyable Under the Crescent Moon with the XI Corps in the Civil War, as well as a recent biography about Gen. Daniel Butterfield, has written another interesting book from his study of the 117th New York Infantry. Pula traces the unit from its inception to the end of the war, and at times it is a stirring tale.

While the 117th New York Infantry started its service in the fall of 1862, orders relegated them to several backwater posts early in their war experience. They manned the Washington D.C. fortifications, participated in the Suffolk Campaign, found themselves involved in Gen. John Dix’s ill-fated campaign against Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign, and they served near Charleston, South Carolina, before finally returning to Virginia as a part of the Army of the James. However, the book begins to pick up steam with the 117th’s involvement in the disappointing Bermuda Hundred Campaign, when they transferred to Cold Harbor. Pula paints vivid descriptions of their camp and combat experiences, from the drudgery of daily routines to the terrors of battle.

Deeply mining the letters and diaries of 117th’s soldiers, Pula brings these primary sources to life. These first-hand accounts have readers feeling like they are almost among the soldiers as they experience and express hunger, exhaustion, and longings for home. If readers want to know that it was like to be in a Civil War army, this is a great place to start.

Pula also portrays the horrors that the 117th faced in battle with unsanitized, realistic depictions. The description of the attacks on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in January 1865, form perhaps the most compelling part of the book. With the stakes of the battle high, Pula immerses the reader in the attack. Haunting and vivid portrayals of the combat, like the gruesome moment a shell enters a soldier and explodes, is horrific to think about, but was unfortunately a part of Civil War soldiers’ battle experiences. The terrors of warfare are told in an honest but compelling way, and the desperation of the final assault is especially intense.

As the war draws to a close, Pula describes the deplorable conditions of the Federal prisoners when finally freed from the Confederate prisoner of war camp at Salisbury, North Carolina. He quotes a veteran who said he had read of the cruelty of the camps, “but all these could not fortify a person against the shock that which must follow the first sight of a victim.” (195) Pula’s prose is intense and riveting.

However, the narrative about the Army of the James’ attacks at Chaffin’s Farm in Virginia was somewhat disappointing. The writing is a bit unclear, and the author appears to imply that the unit participated in the capture of Fort Harrison, which it did not. Instead, the 117th assaulted nearby Fort Gilmer. Additionally, there is an image of Fort Harrison that is more likely that of Fort Hoke. Despite Pula’s otherwise deep research, he apparently did not refer to Richard Sommers’s Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg, the classic study of the campaign. Pula also discusses the actions of late October 1864, but does not mention Hampton Newsome’s trailblazing study, Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864, in the bibliography. These are curious oversights.

That aside, if readers wish to get a close look at what the 117th’s soldiers experienced—which after all is a large part of what one desires in a regimental history—this book is certainly worth reading. Pula also includes an extensive 82-page roster of the 117th, which hints at his extensive research. In addition, the book contains numerous images of members of the regiment, and the epilogue contains information about some of unit’s the veterans. All told, the book is 311 pages long, with 227 pages devoted to narrative text. Pula’s The 117th New York Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster gives readers a true sense of soldiering in a unit that has not received much scholarly attention since its original regimental history appeared the year after the war ended.