Three Months in the Southern States

The American Civil War was at a turning point in 1863 when Lt. Col. Arthur J. L. Fremantle of the British Coldstream Guards toured the Confederacy. Mildly predisposed toward the Union side because of his dislike of slavery, he was soon awakened to the gallantry of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and his generals, ordinary Johnny Rebs, and the women left at home. From April to early July 1863-the critical period of campaigns at Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg-Fremantle traveled from the Texas frontier to northern Virginia, recording in a diary his experience of the war. Three Months in the Southern States, published upon his return to England later in the year, has long been considered a classic of wartime writing, especially in its description of the Battle of Gettysburg. Filled with biographical vignettes of Lee, Davis, Stonewall Jackson, Sam Houston, and others, this book offers a kaleidoscopic view of the Confederacy at floodtide. Gary W. Gallagher is a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University and the author of Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander (1989) and other books.