Lary Bloom
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Friday, April 21, 2006
Twain's Minister At War
Last night, I went to R.J. Julia book store in Madison to hear Steve Courtney talk about his new book, a collection of the Civil War letters of the Reverand Joseph Twichell. This isn't the book Steve first set out to produce. Back when we were colleagues at Northeast magazine, he began working on Twichell's biography. But then the opportunity came to co-edit letters, in a collection at Yale, that the minister sent home from Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and many other legendary American battlefields.Twichell, Steve is well aware, is not a household name. The minister's modest fame, if that isn't a contradiction in terms, comes from the fact that he was Mark Twain's preacher at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford -- which, because of its upper crust members, Twain referred to as the Church of the Holy Speculators. Twain and Twichell became fast friends, and it was a relationship that lasted for decades. The writer was fascinated by his friend's knowledge and experiences -- including the war.
What struck me about Steve's book signing last night was that many of the people in the crowd appeared to be there largely because they are Civil War buffs. In the question and answer period, they asked intense questions about certain battles. It was almost as if they had been at Gettysburg themselves in the brutal summer of 1863, at Little Round Top, the Wheat Field, or in the Peach Orchard.
This has always fascinated me -- the Civil War Industry. Of all the wars America has been involved in, none bring out the experts as this one. There are tons of books on the subject, of course, but the Twichell book adds a dimension that hasn't been seen; it is a view from behind the lines but graphic in its descriptions and elegant in its prose. And it ought to help create a Twichell industry, particularly when the University of Georgia Press brings out, finally, Steve's bio of the minister next spring.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 6:01 AM
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