author
James Harvey Kidd
1840–1913
A Union cavalry officer, newspaperman, and memoirist, he is best remembered for vivid firsthand writing about service with Custer’s Michigan Cavalry Brigade during the Civil War.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Ionia, Michigan, in 1840, James Harvey Kidd studied at the University of Michigan before leaving school to join the Union Army during the Civil War. He served in the 6th Michigan Cavalry, rose from captain to colonel, and became closely associated with George A. Custer and the famous Michigan Cavalry Brigade.
After the war, Kidd remained active in public life in Michigan. Sources about his later career describe him as a newspaperman and a leader in the Michigan National Guard, where he held the rank of brigadier general. He died in 1913.
As an author, he is chiefly known for Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman, a memoir drawn from his wartime experience. The book is valued for its direct, eyewitness account of cavalry campaigning and for the picture it gives of soldiers, leadership, and battlefield life.