Publisher's Synopsis
He was neighbor, acquaintance, and fellow churchgoer with Ulysses S. Grant after the American Civil War. His lively account of his war experiences are exciting, absorbing, tragic, and humorous.
What sets Wilbur Crummer's Civil War memoir apart from that of hundreds of others by Union line soldiers was his proximity to General Grant. Both of them were Illinois residents at the outbreak of war and Crummer's enlistment in the 45th Illinois Volunteer Infantry put him under Grant's command for some of the most important battles of the war. Crummer was there at Fort Donelson, the battle that brought Grant to national fame and to the eventual remark by Abraham Lincoln, "I can't spare this man. He fights." Crummer was at bloody Shiloh, a Union victory that nevertheless nearly derailed Grant's military career due to its horrific loss of life. And Crummer was at what is considered by many to be the most brilliant campaign of the war: Vicksburg. Today, Grant's capture of Vicksburg is overshadowed by Meade's victory at Gettysburg just one day prior. But Grant's accomplishment was essential to winning the war for the Union. Two days before Vicksburg surrendered, Wilbur Crummer was severely wounded by a sharpshooter's bullet through the lung. He spent the rest of the war recovering. After the war, Crummer spent much time up close to the great general in Galena, Illinois. He was for a time in the employ of William Ruben Rowley, (1824-1886), a good friend and neighbor of Grant who had served on his wartime staff. He pays glowing tribute to both in the final chapter of this book.
