author
Luther W. Hopkins
b. 1843
Best known for a firsthand Civil War memoir, this Virginia cavalryman wrote with the vivid, youthful perspective promised by his title, From Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy's View. His account helped preserve one soldier's memory of the war for later generations.
1 Audiobook
From Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy's View
by Luther W. Hopkins
About the author
Luther W. Hopkins was born in 1843 and is remembered chiefly for From Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy's View, a memoir drawn from his service in the 6th Virginia Cavalry during the American Civil War. Library and public-domain records identify him as the author of that work, and later historical writing about him places his life from 1843 to 1920.
What makes Hopkins interesting as a writer is the angle he chose: instead of offering a distant, formal history, he focused on what the war looked and felt like to a young participant. In the book's preface, he says he had not expected to write a book and suggests that his son encouraged him to do it, which gives the memoir an especially personal, family-told quality.
Today, Hopkins's writing is valued as a period eyewitness narrative. Readers who pick him up are usually looking for a direct, human account of the Civil War rather than a broad overview, and that straightforward point of view is what gives his work its lasting appeal.