Book Review: A Union Tested: The Civil War Letters of Cimbaline and Henry Fike
A Union Tested: The Civil War Letters of Cimbaline and Henry Fike. Edited by Jeremy Neely. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2024. Softcover, 233 pp. $24.95.
Reviewed by Scott Bumpus
The sheer size of “The War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,” gives vivid evidence to how deeply documented the American Civil War was. However, excluded from this impressive collection are the millions of personal letters exchanged between the men serving and their families at home. In an age of instant messaging, it is easy to forget how communication functioned throughout much of the 19th century. It was primarily through hand written letters that the home front connected with the front lines.
While the majority of white adult Americans were literate, many others were merely functionally illiterate. Forsaking proper spelling, grammar and punctuation, they were still able to express their thoughts and feeling phonetically in written form.[1] Students of the Civil War are fortunate to have online resources that provide easy access to large collections of these vital primary documents. However, it is rare that one comes across such an impressive group of wartime letters containing thoughts, observations, fears, and frustrations, as those housed in the collection containing over 400 wartime letters written between Lt. Col. Henry Fike and his wife Cimbaline.
To form the narrative of A Union Tested, Jeremy Neely masterfully edits the letters residing in the files of the Henry C. and Lucy C. Fike Papers at the University of Kansas. Through seven impressive chapters, Neely weaves together the story of a husband and wife desperately trying to maintain a marriage and household through pen and paper. While Cimbaline struggles handling the couple’s personal affairs and raising a young child alone, Henry is serving as a staff officer hundreds of miles from home. Henry Fike enlisted as a private in August 1862 into what was unofficially known locally as the “McKendree Boys,” which became a company in the 117th Illinois Infantry. Henry’s education and experience as a school teacher and administrator resulted in his election as the regimental Quartermaster. Departing the small town of Mascoutah, Illinois, for training at Camp Butler, he left behind his wife of 7 years, Cimbaline, and their daughter Ellie, born the previous January.
Neely utilizes better than half of the existing letters (along with Lt. Col. Fike’s diary), only omitting ones that are either repetitive or inconsequential to the narrative of the story. He points out the 19th century “variegated” use of spelling and allows the letters to phonetically speak for themselves, only providing input as to the intended words in cases where confusion is most likely to occur.
Henry’s letters reveal a well-educated man, confident in his ability as a storyteller. Experiencing the grand adventure of his life, Henry gives us a vivid pictures of garrison duty, slavery, combat, the various trials endured in the army, and his inability to be the husband and father his wife and child need. The disparity in Cimbaline’s education as compared to Henry’s becomes obvious in reading her letters. One is almost required to read them out loud to make sense of her phonetic spelling and lack of punctuation. She brings us into a world that does not often receive attention in traditional studies of the war; what was it like for those who kept the world turning while the men were away.
Cimbaline remained behind to deal with the family’s mounting financial problems and to raise their often mischievous daughter alone. Though her letters carry a tone of negativity, make no mistake, Cimbaline was a patriot and readers get the impression that she and women like her were as much part of the U.S. war effort as the men in uniform.
While Henry’s letters were rich with descriptions of martial life, Cimbaline’s spoke of monotony, longing, and suffering. She documented her struggles with her health and her disdain of life in Mascoutah. She wrote at length about her involvement in the local Union League and of organizing efforts to support the war movement from home. She detailed the dangers that emerged while so many of the men from town were away in the army, about the fears aroused by local “Copperhead” factions, and her disdain of men who would not answer the call to volunteer for service. While she missed Henry, overall she supported his mission and was proud of his service. Her descriptions of Ellie pining for her father pulls at one’s parental heartstrings, as did her stories of Ellie telling the locals that “her pa was away in ‘dixey’ to shoot the rebels.”
A loving playfulness exists in the couple’s letters, yet they also express the frustrations that occur from the broken timeliness caused by the mail system. Henry and Cimbaline often berated each other for a lack of letters, each promising that “this would be the last they wrote,” unless one was received from the other. It is notable that most of Henry’s letters centered on the “now” of what was happening in his world and his attempts to regale Cimbaline with his wartime exploits. Cimbaline on the other hand, spent more time talking about daily struggles, their future when the war ended, and her desire to move away from Mascoutah. Through all the turbulence, troubles, and fears, their obvious love for each other constantly rose to the top. Though separated by hundreds of miles, and perhaps weeks between a letter being written and it being read, they still depended on each other’s love, support, advice, and reassurance.
Neely’s narratives at the beginning of each chapter helps tie the letters into the broader history of what was going on in the war at the time. He also draws on Lt. Col. Fike’s diary to provide context for the letters as well as letters from other contemporaries of the couple. Each chapter is thoroughly footnoted on each page, providing great detail about peripheral characters mentioned in the letters. Readers will find the entire work exceptionally moving.
A Union Tested should be required reading for all students of the Civil War. Providing not only context to major campaigns, but also valuable information about the logistical operations and men that supported them, as well as the women left behind at home attempting to keep life in order until peace returned to the land, this collection of letters is a true treasure trove.
[1] Flowtow, Mark, ed. In Their Letters, In Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home,” ix; Carmichael, Peter, The War for The Common Soldier,” 210.
Scott Bumpus is a 6th generation native of West Tennessee and an amateur “armchair” historian. As a child, he fell in love with Civil War history on a family trip to Shiloh and from learning about his family connections to the period. Scott earned his bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television and another in Cinema-Photography from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is also a partner in the family motorcycle business. Scott enjoys spending his spare time on Civil War battlefields, playing with his grandson, reading, and attending Civil War symposiums such as the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, the Seminar in the Woods at Chickamauga, and others. He is a passionate fan of Chicago Cubs baseball, music, and my bride Angie and our 3 kids. He currently lives in Mercer Tennessee.
