This War So Horrible

“Riveting reading.” —Georgia Historical Quarterly

The Civil War diary of Hiram Smith Williams is extremely unusual. A carriage maker and native of New Jersey, Williams only arrived in the Deep South in 1959 and yet enlisted in the Confederate Army. As a middle-class craftsman, he represented neither wealthy Southern planters nor yeoman farmers. Part of the 40th Alabama Volunteer Regiment, he was first in Mobile, where he attempted to transfer to the CSA Navy. Failing that, he went with his regiment to Atlanta to engage in the great battle there. 

A careful writer, Williams paid the same attention to his composition as he did to his carriages. Unlike many Civil War veterans, he never revised his diary to embellish his record or heroism. Prized by historians both for providing an unique point of view as well as an exceptionally articulate narrative, Williams’ diary is an important addition to any Civil War library.