Leander Stillwell

author

Leander Stillwell

1843–1934

Best known for a vivid memoir of Civil War service, this Illinois-born veteran wrote with the plainspoken detail of someone who had truly lived the history he described. After the war, he built a life in Kansas as a lawyer and judge while preserving the memories that made his book endure.

1 Audiobook

The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

by Leander Stillwell

About the author

Born on September 16, 1843, in Jersey County, Illinois, Leander Stillwell served in Company D of the 61st Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. His later memoir, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861–1865, is remembered for its direct, personal account of everyday army life rather than grand military drama.

After the war, Stillwell settled in Kansas, where he practiced law in Erie and was known as Judge Leander Stillwell. Archival records also connect him with correspondence from his wartime service and with a long postwar career in the state.

He died in 1934. Today he is chiefly remembered as a veteran-writer whose firsthand storytelling gives readers an unusually grounded view of the Civil War from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.