author
Theodore Reichardt
Best known for a vivid Civil War diary written from the field, this Rhode Island artilleryman left behind a direct, personal record of camp life, marches, and battle. His book has endured as a firsthand window into the everyday experience of Union soldiers.
1 Audiobook
Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery
by Theodore Reichardt
About the author
Theodore Reichardt is known for Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, a firsthand account of service with Battery A of the 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery during the American Civil War. The book was published in Providence in 1865 and presents itself as a record written in the field, giving it the immediacy of a soldier's own day-by-day observations.
In the preface, he explains that he wrote the book for his comrades after their years of hardship and service, hoping to preserve the memory of what they had lived through together. That purpose still shapes the reading experience: rather than feeling distant or formal, the diary comes across as a plainspoken witness to military routine, endurance, and the shared identity of the battery.
Reliable biographical details about his life outside the diary are limited, but available records identify him as a Civil War veteran and place his lifespan from 1839 to 1925, with burial in Providence, Rhode Island. For many readers, his importance rests less in a long literary career than in the honesty and historical value of the single work by which he is remembered.