Samuel Gibbs French

Born in New Jersey in 1818, Samuel Gibbs French graduated from West Point and began a military career that took him into the Mexican-American War. He later became a Confederate major general during the Civil War, giving him a place in two of the defining conflicts of 19th-century America.

After the war, he spent many years reflecting on his experiences and wrote Two Wars: An Autobiography of General Samuel G. French. The book brings together recollections of military service, camp life, and the turbulent years that followed the fighting.

French lived until 1910, spanning an unusually long stretch of American history. That long perspective helps make his writing especially interesting: it is not just a soldier's account of battle, but also an older man's attempt to make sense of the world he had seen change so dramatically.