author
Henry V. (Henry Van) Boynton
1835–1905
Remembered as a Civil War officer, Medal of Honor recipient, and influential military journalist, this writer also helped shape how Americans remember the battles around Chickamauga and Chattanooga. His work blends firsthand experience with a strong sense of historical preservation.
2 Audiobooks
Chattanooga and Chickamauga Reprint of Gen. H. V. Boynton's letters to the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, August, 1888.
by Henry V. (Henry Van) Boynton
About the author
Born in 1835, Henry Van Ness Boynton served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Missionary Ridge. After the war, he became known not only as a veteran officer but also as a newspaper writer and commentator on military affairs.
Boynton wrote about the war with the authority of someone who had lived it. He is especially associated with Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and his books and guides helped document those campaigns for later readers. He also played an important part in preserving those battlefields, helping build public memory around some of the war's most important western engagements.
By the time of his death in 1905, Boynton had left a mark both as a soldier and as an interpreter of Civil War history. For readers interested in eyewitness-informed history, his writing offers a direct link to the generation that fought the war and then worked to explain it.