Hardtack Books
all things civil war.
Specializing in republishing classic Civil War books
Spring 2024 Edition
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Current Edition
Spring 2024 Issue
George Alfred “GATH” Townsend chronicled extraordinary events during extraordinary times. We provide a sketch of some fascinating scenes described in Campaigns of a Non-Combatant.
By Jeffrey R. Biggs
With the thousands of photographs of scenes of land and water during the momentous years of 1861 to 1865, the Civil War is on a basis different from all others.
By Henry Wysham Lanier (from Photographic History of the Civil War, 1911)
From the mundane to the morose, John Billings’ day to day account of what life was like for the Civil War soldier is still a fascinating read.
By John D. Billings (from Hardtack and Coffee, 1888)
HARDTACK BOOKS
Campaigns of a Non-Combatant: The Memoir of a Civil War Correspondent by George Alfred “GATH” Townsend, edited by Jeffrey R. Biggs
George Alfred Townsend was a special war correspondent for the Philadelphia Press and New York Herald during the Civil War. He followed McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and Pope’s Army of Virginia in the spring and summer of 1862, filing dozens of dispatches to his editors. Finally, after suffering from the effects of ‘swamp fever,’ he took a two-year break in Europe, where he lectured about his experiences. Townsend returned to the war front in 1865 and - after taking the pen name of “GATH” - was the first correspondent to describe the war’s climax at Five Forks. He released his memoir in 1866, detailing his personal experiences and recollections of the Civil War and those dramatic days.
This Hardtack Books reissue of Campaigns of a Non-Combatant is not a facsimile of the original work. Instead, it reimagines Townsend’s work in a modern font with dozens of illustrations and editorial footnotes.
Reviews of the Hardtack Books revised edition
“…published in 2024 through Hardtack Books, this new version is highly readable and informative. The editor has skillfully interwoven most of Townsend’s original verbiage with slight revisions to clarify the text (replacing obsolete or outdated words, for example) and make it appealing to modern readers who may be unfamiliar with young Townsend’s writings…the use of carefully selected photographs (not present in the 1886 version) further enhances this volume.”
- Cannonball, York County Record, by Civil War author Scott Mingus
“In this new edition, editor Jeffrey Biggs revises Townsend's 1866 memoir (excising the non-Civil War chapters), re-formats the text in a more attractive modern font, and reorganizes the original chapters into three parts…newly added period illustrations and photographs are peppered throughout, and the editor also indexes the material..”
- Booknotes: Civil War Book and Authors, Andrew J. Wagenhoffer
Praise for George A. Townsend (“GATH”):
“Townsend is the Sheridan of correspondents - as rapid, as dashing, as lawless and yet as successful, as the great cavalry commander.”
- Cleveland Daily Leader, 1866
“Townsend was the Ernie Pyle of his day, more interested in the human side of the news than in strategy ... his pen more concerned with little people than generals.”
- The Miami Herald, 1950
“Townsend had the quality, rare among partisans, of perspective. He was able to sense the sometime pathetic, sometimes uproarious humor of a desparate but essentially artificial hostility.”
- Baltimore Evening Sun, 1950
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