Gene Schmiel will introduce us to Citizen General Jacob D. Cox, who had no formal military training, yet experienced more facets of the Civil War than most officers: by land and sea, in both Western and Eastern Theaters, and among the inner political circles of Ohio and Washington, DC. Cox later capitalized on his experiences by penning a two-volume Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, one of the war’s finest memoirs. During the war, he wrote extensively to his wife, Helen, a mother of six and the daughter of Oberlin College president Charles Finney. These intimate and insightful wartime letters were an important basis of much of his memoir, as well as his monograph, The Battle of Franklin, which was the definitive history of that battle for many years. The letters showed both the fondness Cox had for his spouse and his respect for her as an intellectual equal. To Helen, he revealed—as he did to no one else—his inner thoughts and concerns, presenting observant, lucid, and informative reports and analyses of the war, his changing life, and his ambitions as he made the transition from untested soldier to respected general and statesman.


LLI Coordinator: David Pace