Edward M. Boykin

Edward M. Boykin was an American writer remembered for Civil War-era and postwar historical writing. He is credited with The Falling Flag: Evacuation of Richmond, Retreat and Surrender at Appomattox, a firsthand account of the Confederacy's final days, and with The Boys and Girls' Stories of the War, a much earlier collection published in Richmond during the war.

Sources available here describe him as Edward Mortimer Boykin and identify him as a lieutenant colonel of the 7th South Carolina Cavalry. That military background helps explain the immediacy of his writing: even when he is recounting major events, his work stays close to lived experience and memory rather than distant overview.

Because reliable biographical details were limited in the material I could confirm, this sketch keeps to the broad outline. What stands out clearly is his place as a participant-writer whose books preserve a personal Southern view of the Civil War and its ending.