Two Years Before the Paddlewheel: Charles F. Gunther, Mississippi River Confederate - Softcover

"A fascinating personal story of the experiences of a Northern businessman forced by the outbreak of the Civil War to work for the Confederacy through 1862. Gunther's situation was unique in many respects, and his diaries are a wonderful addition to the historiography of the Western Theater." —Michael B. Ballard, coordinator, Congressional and Political Research Center, and archivist, Mississippi State University

"A meticulously researched book of a Yankee trapped in the South - fascinating account of a neglected account of a neglected area of Civil War history." —Michael Moosmann, past president, Lincoln-Davis Civil War Round Table

"Two Years Before the Paddlewheel fills a void in Civil War historiography. While Gunther's 1861 diary provides insight into civilian life in Memphis during secession and the economic impact of the war during its early months, his 1862 diary is possibly the best primary source detailing the problems of supplying Confederate troops conducting field operations in Arkansas, a region almost devoid of railroads and navigable waterways." —Lawrence Lee Hewitt, author of Port Hudson, Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi

"Long lost to history, Charles F. Gunther's diary is an important and revealing source from a uniquely interesting man. Gunther's eyewitness testimony of the opening days of the war in the western theater bring those events vividly to life. As a riverboat man, pressed into Confederate service, he ferried troops and supplies along the western waterways, though never disavowing his Unionist sentiments. His descriptions of the events, people, and places during these exciting days, juxtaposed against the historical backdrop expertly provided by Bruce Allardice and Wayne Wolf, will surely make this a go to book for historians. This is an instant classic!" —Robert I. Girardi, author of Campaigning with Uncle Billy: The Civil War Memoirs of Sgt. Lyman S. Widney, 34th Illinois Volunteer Infantry

Charles F. Gunther is a Yankee ice peddlar who is trapped in the South at the outbreak of the war. Here presented are two years of diaries of Gunther's experiences working on the steamboat Rose Douglas, ferrying Confederate troops and supplies. After the war, Gunther makes a fortune in the candy business across the street from Marshal Field's in Chicago, becomes a premier collector and preserver of Civil War artifacts and Lincoln memorabilia, endows the Chicago history Museum with its Civil War collection, and goes on to hold political office as an alderman and City Treasurer of Chicago.  Readers can follow the day-by-day survival of an ordinary ice merchant turned Confederate steamboat purser during the Civil War. Gunther's day-by-day account as a civilian in military service illuminates the economic, military, social, and personal side of America's Civil War.

BRUCE S. ALLARDICE is Professor of History at South Suburban College in Illinois. He is a past president of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago. Allardice has authored or coauthored six books and numerous articles on the Civil War. His book More Generals in Gray was a selection of the History Book Club.

WAYNE L. WOLF is Professor of Social Sciences and Criminal Justice at South Suburban College in Illinois. He is past president of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Roundtable and is the author of twenty-three books, including Heroes and Rogues of the Civil War, The Last Confederate Scout, and Soldiers, Sailors, and Scoundrels of the Civil War.

(January 18, 1862). "The days are perceptibly getting longer & I manage to get up much earlier. We get along very well, & had considerable excitement by the reports of rats leaving the boat. Our Englishmen & others are in a great stew about it. Life preservers are in requisition. Read the greater part of the day & Eve. Some sport with passengers at the Englishmen’s expense & rats."

 

(January 19, 1862). "The rat story is the story of the boat & many a joke is got off upon it, not sunk yet. Sunday again. I am sorry to say the surroundings are such that all religious thoughts & feelings are missing & the day passes like all others,--quiet with the usual monotonous scenery of the river. Arrived at Vicksburg at 8. News: Cameron resigned & a fight in Ky."

 

The battle in Kentucky that Gunther refers to was the Battle of Mill Springs (also known as Fishing Creek), fought near Nancy, Kentucky on January 19, 1862. It concluded an early Confederate offensive campaign for Eastern Kentucky and stands as the first significant Union victory of the war. The main units involved for the Union were the 2nd Minnesota and 10th Indiana and for the Confederates the 15th Mississippi and 20th Tennessee. Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer was killed leading his troops here. These are the exciting bits of war news that would have been poured over aboard the Rose Douglas late into the night.