Elisha Hunt Rhodes

Elisha Hunt Rhodes

Elisha Hunt Rhodes (born March 21, 1842 in Providence , Rhode Island , † January 14, 1917 ) served in the US Army during the American Civil War . Rhode's detailed Civil War journal was used as a key resource in Ken Burn's documentary The American Civil War for PBS .

Life

Rhodes was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Captain Elisha H. and his wife Eliza A. Rhodes. He had several sisters and two brothers. When he was 14, Rhodes attended a business school. Three years after his father drowned in a hurricane in the wreckage of his schooner Worcester on December 10, 1858 , Rhodes volunteered for military service with his mother's permission. At first he thought the war was an adventure. During the Civil War he was promoted from rifleman in a company in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment to regimental commander with the rank of colonel . After the war he became a successful businessman and was involved in veteran affairs. From 1879 to 1893 he was Brigadier General in command of the Rhode Island State Militia .

Elisha Hunt Rhodes is best known for his war diary and letters of the period, later published by his great-grandson Robert H. Rhodes under the title All For the Union . In this diary, Rhodes' change of opinion about the war becomes clear, and it becomes clear that after initial enthusiasm, disillusioned by the reality of the war, he primarily wanted to return to his family. His recordings were best known for their use in Ken Burns' documentary The American Civil War for PBS-TV. His extensive collection of personal memorabilia and mementos are now owned by the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence.

He married Caroline Pearce Hunt on June 12, 1866, with whom he had a son, Frederick Miller Rhodes, and a daughter, Alice Caroline Rhodes Chace.

Web links

• GAR veterans biography of Rhodes