God Rest Ye Merry, Soldiers: A True Civil War Christmas Story

by James McIvor

Book Overview

In the tradition of the bestselling Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, this inspiring title is filled with soldiers' letters, Christmas poems, and songs from the period. McIvor presents the true story of unabashed holiday spirit on the eve of the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670034517
• ISBN13: 9780670034512
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A must read for the Civil War enthusiast

Ok, I admit it. I very nearly didn't add this treasure to my personal Civil War library. I was looking for a copy of Kevin Rawling's "We were Marching on Christmas Day," hoping beyond hope of finding it in stores after having read an article in my local paper about him being the Civil War Santa. An article which, I might add, mentioned his book and had me turning my attention to the Christmas season during the war for the first time. When I saw this book in stores for the first time I was at first intrested and then quickly turned off by it. It just seemed like it was a novel to me. I was looking for non-fiction, not a fictional story set at Christmastime during the war. But for whatever reason I decided to pick it up even though I really didn't want a novel on Christmas during the war. Well let's just say I was far from disappointed about being wrong about the book. It is a fascinating look into Christmas and how the war affected it for soldier and civilian alike. Even more fascinating, for me, was to learn that one of the sources McIvor used was the very book I'd been looking for in the first place. James McIvor brings together both research and individuals' letters to paint a picture of what life was like for soldier and civilian, North and South, alike. One can learn much about life at this time and how the war affected it. But even more than that, McIvor brings out how the feelings towards the war had changed from the early days when people on both sides expected all it would take was one big battle to get the other side to capitualate to the growing realization that the war was going to be a long one. And this was even more noticeable at Christmas, a time when most of the soldiers were so used to being at home with friends and loved ones. And at home the holiday season just reminded those who the soldiers left behind that their sons, grandsons, fathers, husbands, brothers, etc. were away fighting the war. Or worse, they were never coming home again. "God Rest Ye Merry, Soldiers," along with "We were Marching on Christmas Day," is an absolute must for any Civil War enthusiasts library as it gives us a look into a too often overlooked element of the war. Holidays. We spend too much time paying attention only to the generals, politicians, dates and the events that occured on those dates that we overlook the the fact that the war was fought by living, breathing individuals. But when a book takes the time to remind us of those individuals and the lives they led during the war, then that book is absolutely worth reading. That is exactly what this book does. It reminds us of those individuals and also gives us an understanding of how they must have felt during the holiday season. Now if only someone would provide a book that looks at some of the other holidays of the year and how they were affected by the war.

Short, but fantastic!

***** This is a small book that was actually released in 2005. Now, in 2006, it is being reprinted in a small paperback for more people to discover and enjoy. The story takes readers back in history, to the Civil War. Through the eyes of soldiers' letters (Union and Confederate) comes a true tale of a Christmas miracle. It will not take you long to read the story since it is less than two hundred pages, but it is a book that you will find yourself reading more than once. Full of joy, sorrow, compassion, and courage, this is a story you will never forget. ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

In Heavenly Peace

I read this on Christmas Eve with tears in my eyes. Even if you aren't interested in Civil War history, you might like this book just for what it tells us about Christmas customs in an age way before Santa Claus became a Christmas staple. (For a Canadian version of these matters, check out Derek McCormack's magnificent CHRISTMAS DAYS for a refresher course.) From the buoyant spirits of the North and South during Christmas 1861, to the privations and agonies of Christmas 1862, is a dramatic reflection of the larger picture of the war. Soldiers in the previous Christmas still had gift packages from home, but by the very next year mail service had become erratic where it existed at all, and nothing was safe in the mail. A single turkey cost nearly 30 dollars, enough to rent an entire home for six months! There was inflation like that found in Berlin after World War I. And the suffering of the soldiers is unbelievable. Having to eat hard tack laced with worms is ghastly. McIvor's research is terrific, and he seems to have been everywhere at once, in the research libraries of dozens of universities and private collections, gathering and sifting a mass of undifferentiated and miscellaneous dross and sifting out all but the most telling anecdotes. The only thing I didn't really like was the title, which just seems forced. I remember the old carol, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," but to switch it to "Soldiers," I shake my head with distaste, murmuring, nix on that.

Informative read of Civil War Christmas

The book was well written. It is a short and easy to read book. The book contains a lot of letters from soldiers to their families at Christmas. They picture in their minds the good times they had at Christmas past, and yearning to be home, and the end to this miserable war. Soldiers were shot as they tried to sneak away from their unit, just to go home and see their family one more time at Christmas. The book is worth reading year round.

Men at War; Images of the Christ Child...

Well worth the read at Christmas or anytime of the year, but especially at Christmas...not a hard read or a long read but a good read...the story, to some degree, of the evolution of the Christmas celebration in America, highlighting the differences between celebrations in the North and the South, and how those varying celebrations came together on a cold winter night in 1862 in Tennessee to change men, and perhaps the country, forever...When read with "Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce" (Stanley Weintraub), the reader will have a good view of historically documented fact on how the thought and memory of the Christ child can affect men at war. Interesting; Provocative..Good stuff, especially at Christmas.