{"product_id":"a-rebel-war-clerks-diary-at-the-confederate-states-capital-volume-1-april-1861july-1863-modern-war-studies-9780700621231","title":"A Rebel War Clerk's Diary: At the Confederate States Capital  Volume 1: April 1861-July 1863 (Modern War Studies)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmidst the vast literature of the Civil War  one of the most significant and enlightening documents remains largely unknown. A day-by-day  uninterrupted  four-year chronicle by a mature  keenly observant clerk in the War Department of the Confederacy  the wartime diary of John Beauchamp Jones was first published in two volumes of small type in 1866. Over the years  the diary was republished three more timesbut never with an index or an editorial apparatus to guide a reader through the extraordinary mass of information it contained. Published here with an authoritative editorial framework  including an extensive introduction and endnotes  this unique record of the Civil War takes its rightful place as one of the best basic reference tools in Civil War history  absolutely critical to study the Confederacy.  A Maryland journalist\/novelist who went south at the outbreak of the war  Jones took a job as a senior clerk in the Confederate War Department  where he remained to the end  a constant observer of men and events in Richmond  the heart of the Confederacy and the principal target of Union military might. As a high-level clerk at the center of military planning  Jones had an extraordinary perspective on the Southern nation in actionand nothing escaped his attention. Confidential files  command-level conversations  official correspondence  revelations  rumors  statistics  weather reports  and personal opinions: all manner of material  found nowhere else in Civil War literature  made its meticulous way into the diary. Jones quotes scores of dispatches and reports by both military and civilian authorities  including letters from Robert E. Lee never printed elsewhere  providing an invaluable record of documents that would later find their way into print only in edited form. His notes on such ephemera as weather and prices create a backdrop for the military movements and political maneuverings he describes  all with the judicious eye of a seasoned writer and observer of southern life.  James I. Robertson  Jr.  provides introductions to each volume  over 2 700 endnotes that identify  clarify  and expand on Joness material  and a first ever index which makes Joness unique insights and observations accessible to interested readers  who will find in the pages of A Rebel War Clerks Diary one of the most complete and richly textured accounts of the Civil War ever to be composed at the very heart of the Confederacy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651925368885,"sku":"ByrdShop_0700621237","price":61.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780700621231.jpg?v=1781845609","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/a-rebel-war-clerks-diary-at-the-confederate-states-capital-volume-1-april-1861july-1863-modern-war-studies-9780700621231","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}