Book Review: The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War: A Biography of a Regiment
The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War: A Biography of a Regiment. By James Marten. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2025. Hardcover, 231 pp. $35.00.
Reviewed by Doug Crenshaw
Historian James Marten contends that if biographies of Lincoln or Grant can describe American life during the period in which they lived, then the biography of a regiment of Union soldiers also reveals much about the time and place in which they fought and died, survived, and remembered the Civil War. This is an excellent description for Martin’s latest book, The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War: A Biography of a Regiment.
Marten’s study is a fascinating examination of a single regiment, the Sixth Wisconsin, which was part of one of the most famous units of the war, the Iron Brigade; or sometimes known by their foes as the “Black Hats.” Although organized in 1861, the regiment spent considerable time in the Washington D.C. defenses and other northern Virginia locations before finally seeing its first true combat during opening of the Battle of Second Manassas. However, following that battle, and by the end of the war, the Sixth Wisconsin’s long list of engagements included most of the great battles fought by the Army of the Potomac.
The author’s research is impressive, and his use of primary sources is extensive. As he discusses the origins of the unit and the ongoing effort to keep it replenished with soldiers, he digs down to some interesting facts. For example, almost 47% of the regiment consisted of farmers, compared to 30% for the entire Federal army. Almost 28% were immigrants, as compared to the army’s 23%. The regiment’s immigrant soldiers were heavily German, although Irish, English, and Canadians were also represented. Roughly 30 of the original men were all that were still active in the unit at the end of the war. What happened to the rest of them? The response is interesting. While some authors struggle with potentially dry information like statistical numbers and demographic facts, Marten’s well-delivered prose keeps the narrative lively and flowing. His discussion of the regiment’s ongoing recruiting process provides modern readers a clear window into small town and farm life in the 1860’s.
The book’s descriptions of army life are plentiful and evocative. The reader can almost sense the dullness of camp life and drill experienced by the men of the Sixth Wisconsin. On the opposite end of the soldier life spectrum, their mounting apprehension and terror of battle is also felt through Marten’s vivid writing, especially during his telling of the fight in the Miller cornfield at Antietam, or the approach to Gettysburg and the combat that that the regiment endured in the famous railroad cut. Perhaps the most heartfelt descriptions are those about the experiences of the wounded. The author goes into great detail describing their treatment and suffering.
Marten devotes a significant portion of the book to discussing the lives of the regiment’s veterans after the war, including the way they remembered the battles, their veterans’ organizations, and their experiences at the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. His writing explores intriguing questions like: How did wounded members of the regiment experience post-war life? What challenges did the surviving veterans, and soldiers’ widows and orphans face? How did they make sense of the costs of the war?
While The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War is a fairly short study compared to some other regimental histories, it packs an amazing amount of detail between its covers. To absorb it fully, it is a book that is best read slowly and carefully. James Marten should be commended for delivering such an important and interesting addition to the growing scholarship covering Civil War regiments.
