Civil War News - Jeffry D. Wert
"A somber portrait of the reality of Union veterans’ postwar lives. . . . Theirs is a story that had to be told, and Brian Matthew Jordan tells it very well. The research is impeccable, and the writing finely crafted. . . . Highly recommended."
Emerging Civil War
"[A] wonderful antidote for the fog of romanticism that clouds the public’s memory of the Civil War…. Jordan’s book is an important contribution to the scholarship of the life of Union soldiers after the war. It is honest and cynical, poetic and disturbing. Here is a brutal reminder of the realities of war and life after war. As we cope today with the many former soldiers of modern wars and their struggles against Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other maladies, it is good to be reminded—as Lincoln did in 1864—that we have an obligation to ‘bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
James Oakes
"Billy Yank’s Civil War did not end with Appomattox. Rather, as Brian Matthew Jordan shows in his literate, beautifully crafted book, the homeward journey of the Union soldier was a long and bitter one. Racked by painful recollections of the battlefield, unprepared for the ways of civilian life, and greeted with suspicion wherever they went, the shell-shocked veterans lived out their lives unable to let go of the memories of a war that their neighbors seemed determined to forget. Framed as a Homeric odyssey, Jordan’s tale of the Union soldier combines unflinching honesty with generous humanity."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Frank Reeves
"[Marching Home] provides us with yet another cautionary tale from the Civil War—that the pain of war endures long after the stacking of arms or the signing of an armistice. A fact that those who clamor for U.S. military intervention in every conflict too often forget."
Wall Street Journal - Randall Fuller
"A rich trove of journals, letters and published accounts reveal[s] the enormous toll that the Civil War took on its participants. . . . Books like [Marching Home] contribute to a much broader cultural narrative."
Gary W. Gallagher
"Using evidence from diaries, letters, pension records, regimental histories and other sources, [Jordan] constructs a far darker narrative of veterans profoundly and permanently alienated from a civilian public that neither understood nor properly acknowledged their wartime sacrifice… Marching Home also brings into sharp relief the gulf—present in every war—that developed between soldiers and people on the home front who did not experience, and thus could not grasp, the reality of military service… Readers will find in Marching Home a powerful exploration of how some Union veterans made the transition from military service to civilian life."
Allegra di Bonaventura
"An eloquent elegy to the “Boys in Blue,” Jordan’s Marching Home follows the Union Army veteran from armistice through the enduring psychic and political civil war that came after. Sensitively written and impeccably researched, Jordan’s inspiring debut animates the struggles of countless “Billy Yanks” to secure recognition, compensation, and basic human dignity until the death of the last survivor in 1956. It will stand as an important contribution to the history of the American veteran."
Foreign Affairs - Walter Russell Mead
"Readers . . . will come away with a deeper appreciation of the sacrifices soldiers make; many living veterans will thank Jordan for his attention to an often neglected but important aspect of U.S. military history."
Jeffry D. Wert - Civil War News
A somber portrait of the reality of Union veterans’ postwar lives. . . . Theirs is a story that had to be told, and Brian Matthew Jordan tells it very well. The research is impeccable, and the writing finely crafted. . . . Highly recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
2014-11-05
This Civil War history begins where most end, showing what happened to the men who fought to preserve the Union.Jordan's (Civil War Studies/Gettysburg Coll.) book is about the postwar tribulations of Billy Yank. While the civilian population had had enough of war, those who fought for the North were unwilling to forgive and forget, and they marched in Washington a few weeks after Robert E. Lee surrendered and Abraham Lincoln was murdered. Two million boys in blue had fought in the war, and more than 800,000 were mustered out in six months—more veterans than the country had ever known. In a nation that evidenced little appreciation beyond bombast for their sacrifices, there was no national welfare policy, network or veterans' service. The Yanks had difficulties getting home. Many had lost limbs, and many were unemployable and fell victim to alcoholism. Illness, poverty and suicide were endemic badges of service. Like soldiers throughout history, they treasured mementos of battle. More than warriors of the past, they united in the postwar fight for recompense and respect. They returned to battlefields like Gettysburg and prison camps like Andersonville and erected monuments to mark their presence. They created newspapers, wrote memoirs and histories, and established benevolent organizations—the most effective of which was the Grand Army of the Republic. They campaigned for decent pensions and federal "asylums" to house those who were impoverished and disabled. Jordan doesn't need to emphasize the obvious contemporary parallels. Assiduously researched—half the volume is occupied by a bibliography and copious notes—his book is entirely founded on the words of those who fought, extracted from letters, recollections and reflections. The boys in blue who rallied around the flag are gone, but in Jordan's history, their words survive. A useful history of how "the terror of this unprecedented war long outlived the stacking of arms at Appomattox."
