Yale's Confederates and Crimson Confederates

Gary of CA

Active member
Yale Confederates by Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes, Jr. and Crimson Confederates by Helen Trimpi.

These two companion volumes are published by University of Tennessee Press (of which I have no pecuniary or other interest).

Some books have become standard Civil War reference works. This would include Mark Boatner's Dictionary of the Civil War, Patricia Faust's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War, E. B. and Barbara Long's Civil War Day by Day, Ezra Warner's Generals in Blue and its companion volume, Confederates in Gray, Battles and Leaders, Bruce Allardice's More Confederates in Gray, Robert E. L. Krick's Confederate Staff Officers. Any serious researcher in the Civil War should have or at least have access to these books. Now, there are two more books to add.

Hughes' Yale Confederates and Trimpi's Crimson Confederates are biographical studies of Confederates who respectively attended Yale University or Harvard University. Virtually any man who became a Confederate politician, soldier or marine is covered in a brief, sometimes several pages in length, biographical sketch that tells when he attended that university, what school within that university and most importantly, what service or capacity he served the Confederacy during the war. Not all survived and the books will describe their demise whether it was by honors of battle or by disease. These volumes are useful to any writer/researcher who needs a quick but thorough (and in some cases exhaustive) look for background material of an individual.

They are pricey and don't expect to find them at your local Borders or Barnes and Noble, but you should ask your local library to pick up a copy of each book.

I was told that Crimson Confederates was originally offered to Harvard University Press. The author, Trimpi, graduated from Harvard and supposedly wanted to offer them first crack on a book about their alumni. They declined and are probably embarrassed to admit that Harvard men fought for the South. I'm glad University of Tennessee saw fit to publish it as it is a very fitting companion volume to Yale's Confederates.

Of the two, I do have a favorite - Crimson Confederates. It's only because I recognize more people that I myself have written about and my personal bias should not reflect poorly on Hughs' Yale's Confederates.
 
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