author

Rufus H. Peck

Best remembered for a firsthand Civil War memoir, this Virginia veteran wrote with plainspoken detail about life in Company C of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. His recollections offer a personal, on-the-ground view of camp life, battles, and memory after war.

1 Audiobook

Reminiscencies of a Confederate soldier of Co. C, 2nd Va. Cavalry

Reminiscencies of a Confederate soldier of Co. C, 2nd Va. Cavalry

by Rufus H. Peck

About the author

Rufus H. Peck is known for Reminiscences of a Confederate Soldier of Co. C, 2nd Va. Cavalry, a memoir published in 1913. Library and public-domain catalog records identify him as the author of this short personal narrative, which looks back on his service in the American Civil War.

Available records suggest he was a Virginian associated with Fincastle, and some sources list him as Rufus Harrison Peck, born in either 1838 or 1839 and died in 1923. Because the basic biographical details are not entirely consistent across the sources found, it is safest to say that he is chiefly remembered through this memoir rather than through a large published body of work.

What makes Peck notable to modern readers is the directness of his storytelling. Instead of a distant military history, his book preserves the voice of one participant remembering the routines, dangers, and emotions of cavalry service many years after the war.