author
Ezra Knight Parker
b. 1832
A Civil War veteran turned memoirist, this Rhode Island writer left behind vivid first-person accounts of Union Army campaigns. His books bring the movement, strain, and memory of wartime service into clear view.
1 Audiobook
Campaign of Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery
by Ezra Knight Parker
About the author
Born in Scituate, Rhode Island, in late 1830, Ezra Knight Parker is often listed in library records as born in 1832, but an alumni death notice gives December 29, 1830 as his birth date. He later served as a first lieutenant in Battery E of the First Rhode Island Light Artillery, and his wartime experience became the basis for the historical writing he is remembered for.
Parker wrote firsthand Civil War narratives including Campaign of Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery and From the Rapidan to the James under Grant. These works were published in the early 1900s and focus on the movements, hardships, and military action he witnessed or closely followed, making them useful to readers interested in soldiers' personal perspectives rather than broad summaries of the war.
He died on December 19, 1919, at his home in Washington, Rhode Island. For modern listeners and readers, his work stands out for its directness: it preserves the voice of someone who had lived through the conflict and later tried to set those memories down carefully.