War Memories of an Army Chapiain. By H. Clay Trumbull.
(C. Scribner's Sons, New York.)—There have been few books in the very considerable literature of the American Civil War more read- able than this. Mr. Trumbull was Chaplain to the 10th Connecti- cut Volunteers, serving during the whole of the war,—no holiday task, we may be sure. Indeed, he was in serious danger,—not, we mean, on the battlefield, for that va sans dire, but in the Confederate camp, where, not having, we gather, a very clerical appearance, he narrowly escaped being hanged as a spy. There is the usual, we might say the inevitable, mixture of comedy and tragedy, the terrible story of suffering and death being relieved by humorous touches of this kind. In the siege of Petersburg the men had wormy ships'-biscuits served out to them, and per- sisted in throwing them into the trenches, in spite of the General Order that these were to be kept clean. An officer rebuked them. "Don't you know you have no business to throw hard tack in the trenches F" "We have thrown it out two or three times, Sir, but it crawls back," was the answer. Mr. Trumbull gives a fine assortment of "suitable texts." There is one of a sermon preached at Richmond when that city was first occupied by the Federal's amidst the jubilation of the slaves and dismay of the white men. "I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth" (Eccl. x. 7). The most important chapter as concerns the history of the war and its lessons is that on" Desertions and Deserters." It shows the weak side of a Volunteer army. Some of the men who deserted were excellent soldiers. The bounty system demoralised them.
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