author
Marcus B. (Marcus Breckenridge) Toney
1840–1929
Best known for his memoir The Privations of a Private, this Tennessee writer left a vivid firsthand account of Civil War soldiering, imprisonment, and postwar life. His book remains a useful window into how one former Confederate veteran remembered a turbulent era.
1 Audiobook
The privations of a private : The campaign under Gen. R. E. Lee; the campaign under Gen. Stonewall Jackson; Bragg's invasion of Kentucky; the Chickamauga campaign; the Wilderness campaign; prison life in the North; the privations of a citizen; the Kuklux Klan; a united citizenship; retrospection
by Marcus B. (Marcus Breckenridge) Toney
About the author
Born around 1840 in Virginia and later associated with Tennessee, he served in the Confederate army during the Civil War and was eventually captured and held as a prisoner of war. After the war, he worked for the Tennessee Central Railroad and became active in Masonic circles in Nashville.
He is chiefly remembered as the author of The Privations of a Private, a memoir first published in the early 1900s. The book follows his wartime service under several Confederate commands, his time in prison, and his memories of civilian life after the war, giving readers a personal and often detailed narrative of the period.
Some sources also note his involvement with the Ku Klux Klan, which is part of the historical record surrounding his life and writings. He died in 1929, leaving behind a memoir that is still read today for its firsthand perspective, even as modern readers may approach it with a critical eye toward the world it reflects.