author
James Moses Nichols
1835–1886
A Civil War veteran and late-19th-century historian, he is best known for a firsthand regimental history of the 48th New York Infantry. His writing brings military service, memory, and biography together in a direct, personal way.
1 Audiobook
Perry's Saints; Or, The Fighting Parson's Regiment in the War of the Rebellion
by James Moses Nichols
About the author
Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1835, James Moses Nichols was educated in the local public schools, prepared for college at Phillips Academy in Andover, and graduated from Williams College in 1857. Contemporary biographical notes connected with his book describe him as a fellow student of future president James A. Garfield.
After the outbreak of the American Civil War, Nichols joined the Union cause and served with the 48th New York Infantry, eventually holding the rank of colonel. He is chiefly remembered as the author of Perry's Saints; Or, The Fighting Parson's Regiment in the War of the Rebellion (1886), a regimental history that drew on his own experience and focused on the men and campaigns of that unit.
Nichols died in 1886, the same year his best-known book was published. For readers today, his work offers both a soldier's perspective and a period account of how veterans of the war wanted their service to be remembered.