James Madison Stone

Born in 1840, James Madison Stone is best remembered for Personal Recollections of the Civil War, a firsthand account of his service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Library of Congress records the book as published in Boston in 1918 and identifies Stone with the 21st Massachusetts Infantry.

Rather than writing a grand military history, Stone set out to describe the everyday life of a private soldier. His memoir follows the routines, suffering, and endurance of men in the field, which gives the book much of its lasting appeal.

Today, Stone's work is valued as a personal narrative from a veteran who wrote long after the war, with the benefit of memory and reflection. For listeners interested in how the war felt on the ground, his account is especially approachable and human.