author
R. C. (Robert C.) Eden
d. 1907
A Civil War officer turned firsthand chronicler, he wrote with the urgency of someone who had lived the campaign himself. His surviving work offers an immediate, ground-level account of the 37th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry at the war’s hard end.
1 Audiobook
The Sword and Gun: A History of the 37th Wis. Volunteer Infantry
by R. C. (Robert C.) Eden
About the author
Robert C. Eden is remembered for The Sword and Gun (1865), a regimental history of the 37th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Contemporary title pages and library records identify him as Major R. C. Eden or Robert C. Eden, and modern catalog records note his death year as 1907.
His book makes clear how close he was to the story he told. In the text, Eden refers to himself as Captain R. C. Eden of Company B, and he explains that the volume was compiled largely from memory, regimental records, and the recollections of fellow officers. That gives the narrative a direct, eyewitness quality rather than the feel of a distant summary.
Reliable biographical details beyond his military service and authorship are scarce in the sources I could confirm. What does stand out is the character of his writing: plainspoken, practical, and focused on preserving the experience of the regiment and the memory of the soldiers who served and died with it.