Reminiscences of a Soldier's Wife: An Autobiography (Shawnee Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Hilariously worshipful & unobjective in every sense
Review: If any historical researcher needed an example of a primary source that is manifestly unreliable, then he/she could cite this memoir, which cannot be trusted in any sense.

If the reader is not familiar with the career of "Black Jack" Logan, one would quickly assume from Mrs. General Logan's gushy, worshipful prose that General Logan was due to be canonized any time now.

Mrs. General Logan conveniently glosses over most of Logan's career as a political boss, which had more than a few squalid moments. She would also have the reader believe that her husband's military career was more distinguished than in fact it was. While Logan was one of the better "political generals" in the Union Army (not a rank incompetent such as Banks or Butler), he was nonetheless removed from command by Sherman's request because he was believed to be prioritizing politics over military affairs.

If the reader picks this book up believing it contains a gripping account of the tough life in the field --- well, at times it does, but it also contains in equal parts accounts of being received at the Imperial German court, and rubbing elbows with all the famous people that General Logan knew over the years. Mrs. General Logan clearly enjoys life as the wife of a Very Important Person, and enjoys recounting details of moving in selected circles.

All of this riveting information is presented in typically gaudy 19th-century prose, which is made even more hilarious by Mrs. General Logan's starry-eyed regard for her saintly, model of perfection husband. The book can get pretty funny at time, because it is simply so over-the-top, but as a historical resource, it should be considered almost worthless.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting reading.
Review: Mrs. Logan, (the wife of General John A. Logan of Illinois, one of the most notable "political generals" of the Civil War), was well placed to observe and report on the events of her time.
Residing in Washington for more than fifty years, she apparently was acquainted with everyone of importance, and has used her considerable powers of observation and description to produce this highly readable, useful and entertaining chronicle of the public affairs and personages of nineteenth-century America.
In conjunction with Mrs, Logan's autobiography the reader may wish to consult "Black Jack", James Pickett Jones' excellent biography of General Logan also published by Southern Illinois University Press.

(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not 'score" books.).