author
William P. Seville
A Civil War veteran wrote from experience, turning service in the Union army into a firsthand history of Delaware’s soldiers in the field. His work remains valuable for readers who want the war described by someone who was there.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Best known for History of the First Regiment, Delaware Volunteers, he was a Union officer and veteran of the American Civil War. Contemporary and later book records identify him as William Penn Seville, and reprints of his work note that fellow veterans asked him in 1884 to prepare a history of the regiment because he had served as one of its original officers.
That background gives his writing a direct, lived-in quality. Rather than offering a distant overview, he wrote as someone closely connected to the men, marches, and hardships he described, which helps explain why his book has continued to be reissued for modern readers interested in Civil War history.
Available memorial records indicate that William Penn Seville was born on August 10, 1833, and died on June 24, 1913. While detailed biographical information is limited in the sources I could confirm, his reputation as a soldier-historian is clear, and his work remains a useful window into the experience of Delaware volunteers during the war.