author
William A. Canfield
1840–1917
A Union soldier who turned his wartime service into a firsthand Civil War memoir, writing with directness about camp life, battle, and the loss of his arm in combat. His surviving book offers a personal view of the 9th New Hampshire Infantry and the hard realities of military hospitals and recovery.
1 Audiobook
A History of the Army Experience of William A. Canfield
by William A. Canfield
About the author
William A. Canfield was an American Civil War veteran and author best known for A History of the Army Experience of William A. Canfield, published in 1869. Records associated with the book identify him as born in 1840, and later library and catalog records list his life dates as 1840–1917.
Canfield served in Company F of the 9th New Hampshire Infantry in the Union Army. In his memoir, he traces his experience from enlistment through picket duty, marches, and major fighting, and he writes especially vividly about being wounded and losing an arm during the war. The book is valued not as a polished literary monument, but as a candid personal narrative from someone who lived the events he describes.
For modern readers, his work stands out for its immediacy. It captures the everyday strain of army life as well as the physical and emotional cost of battle, making it a useful and human-scale account of the Civil War from the perspective of an ordinary soldier who chose to tell his own story.