author
Frederick L. (Frederick Lyman) Hitchcock
1837–1924
A Union officer turned lawyer and memoirist, he left behind one of the vivid firsthand accounts of the Civil War from the rank-and-file point of view. His writing brings camp life, battle, and memory together in a direct, personal way.
1 Audiobook
War from the inside : the story of the 132nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in the war for the suppression of the rebellion, 1862-1863
by Frederick L. (Frederick Lyman) Hitchcock
About the author
Best known as the author of War from the Inside; or, Personal Experiences, Impressions, and Reminiscences of One of the "Boys" in the War of the Rebellion (1904), Frederick Lyman Hitchcock wrote from lived experience rather than distant hindsight. His book draws on his service in the 132nd Pennsylvania Infantry and is remembered as a firsthand Civil War memoir.
Before publishing that memoir, he trained as a lawyer and was admitted to the bar in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. During the Civil War he served as an officer in the 132nd Pennsylvania Infantry, and later references to him often use the title Colonel, reflecting the military identity that stayed closely tied to his public reputation.
Born in 1837 and dying in 1924, Hitchcock belonged to the generation that experienced the war directly and then spent decades shaping how it would be remembered. For readers interested in personal narratives of the conflict, his work offers an eyewitness voice that is practical, reflective, and full of period detail.