R. E. (Robert Ekin) McBride

author

R. E. (Robert Ekin) McBride

b. 1846

A Civil War veteran, he wrote from lived experience rather than hindsight, turning his service in the Army of the Potomac into a vivid firsthand memoir. His best-known work brings readers close to the daily reality of marching and fighting from the Wilderness to Appomattox.

1 Audiobook

In The Ranks: From the Wilderness to Appomattox Court House The War, as Seen and Experienced by a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac

In The Ranks: From the Wilderness to Appomattox Court House The War, as Seen and Experienced by a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac

by R. E. (Robert Ekin) McBride

About the author

Born in 1846, R. E. McBride is identified in library and archive records as Robert Ekin McBride. He is best known for In the Ranks: From the Wilderness to Appomattox Court House, a memoir of the American Civil War first published in 1881.

The book presents the war as he saw it and experienced it as a private soldier in the Army of the Potomac. That perspective gives his writing a plain, immediate quality that makes it valuable both as a historical source and as a personal account of military life.

Published records also connect his name with The Revellers, showing that his interests may have reached beyond war writing. Even so, his lasting reputation rests on the firsthand account he left of one of the defining conflicts in American history.