author
Richard B. (Richard Biddle) Irwin
1839–1892
A Union Army officer turned historian, he wrote vivid firsthand-minded accounts of the Civil War, including major works on William T. Sherman and the Nineteenth Army Corps. His books carry the perspective of someone who served close to the action and later set out to record it carefully.
1 Audiobook
History of the Nineteenth Army Corps
by Richard B. (Richard Biddle) Irwin
About the author
Born in 1839 and died in 1892, Richard Biddle Irwin was an American soldier, businessman, and writer remembered today for his Civil War histories. Archival and library records connect him both to military service during the war and to later historical writing about it.
He is best known as the author of History of the Nineteenth Army Corps and as co-author, with S. M. Bowman, of Sherman and His Campaigns: A Military Biography. Those works helped preserve detailed narratives of Union campaigns for later readers, and they still circulate through major public-domain and library collections.
Family correspondence records also show that he was the brother of educator Agnes Irwin and a descendant of the Benjamin Franklin family line. A surviving memorial record describes him as a Union Army officer, which fits the strong military focus of his published books.