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The
Preacher's Tale
The Civil War Journal of Rev. Francis Springer, Chaplain,
U.S. Army of the Frontier
Edited
by William Furry
An
intimate Civil War journal revealing the author's thoughts
on the nature of war, the meaning of violence, and the role
of religion.
In the fall
of 1861, fifty-one-year-old Rev. Francis Springer enlisted
in the Union army. The following spring, Springer, a friend
and one-time neighbor to Abraham Lincoln, rode away with the
10th Illinois Cavalry. A witness to the Battle of Prairie
Grove (December 1862), Springer was later named post chaplain
at Fort Smith, where, in additon to preaching and ministering
to the troops, he was placed in charge of refugees—widows,
orphans, and contrabands—the displaced victims of virulent
guerrilla warfare in Northwest Arkansas. Springer also wrote
articles and columns in the Fort Smith New Era under
the pseudonym, "Thrifton." Springer's honest appraisals
of life in the Army of the Frontier make for fascinating reading,
and his unique perspective as moralist, educator, and journalist
provide new insight into the Civil War and how it was fought
in the West. The book includes several never-before published
photographs and appendixes which feature accounts of six military
executions that Springer participated in as a Union Army chaplain,
the hitherto unpublished last letters home of two rebel soldiers
condemned and executed at Fort Smith, as well as a eulogy
for Abraham Lincoln.
William
Furry is editor of the Illinois Times, the alternative
newsweekly of Springfield, Illinois. He is the co-editor of
Tramping Across America: Travel Writings of Vachel Lindsay
(1999, Rosehill Press) and the Golden Book of Springfield
(1999, Charles Kerr Publishing). In addition, he was researcher
and script consultant for two PBS documentaries, James
Jones: Reveille to Taps, and The Lincolns of Springfield,
Illinois. He and his wife, Deborah Brothers, are presently
at work on a new book about Civil War orphans in Arkansas.
6"x9",
224 pages
12 illustrations (photos)
$34.95 cloth
1-55728-703-1
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