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John Horn

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The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859–1865 Kindle Edition

by John Horn (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 28 ratings

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Winner of the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History. “Splendid . . . will stand among the classics of the discipline.” —Ralph Peters, New York Times bestselling author

The 12th Virginia has an amazing history. John Wilkes Booth stood in the ranks of one of its future companies at John Brown’s hanging. The regiment refused to have Stonewall Jackson appointed its first colonel. Its men first saw combat in naval battles, including Hampton Roads and First Drewry’s Bluff, before embarrassing themselves at Seven Pines—their first land battle—just outside Richmond. Thereafter, the 12th’s record is one of hard-fighting from the Seven Days’ Battles all the way to Appomattox. Its remarkable story is told here in full for the first time.

Horn’s definitive history is grounded in decades of archival research that uncovered scores of previously unused accounts. The result is a lively, driving, up-tempo regimental history that not only describes the unit’s marches and battles, but includes personal glimpses into the lives of the Virginians who made up the 12th regiment. Tables compare the 12th’s fighting prowess with friend and foe, and an appendix resolves the lingering controversy over the fate of the regiment’s last battle flag.

With thirty-two original maps, numerous photos, diagrams, tables, and appendices, a glossary, and many explanatory footnotes, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War will long be hailed as one of the finest regimental histories ever penned.

“In Horn’s history, men at war leap off the pages as full-blooded figures and not just background extras in some sweeping tactical history.” —Civil War Courier

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Horn’s history, men at war leap off the pages as full-blooded figures and not just background extras in some sweeping tactical history. If you are interested in revisiting what it must have been like for the men of the 12th to serve, this is the book for you."
Civil War Courier

“One of a score or so of outstanding unit histories.”
Edwin C. Bearss, former Chief Historian, National Park Service

“Horn writes with humanity of a band of brothers who push through the hard work of war across Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, only to spend the last unhappy months fighting on their own doorsteps to protect their hometown. The Petersburg Regiment is compelling, empathetic, and highly readable—a model for the way regimental histories should be written.”
Chris Mackowski, editor, The Emerging Civil War Series

“The culmination of years of study and research, John Horn’s definitive 'The Petersburg Regiment' narrates the wartime adventures of the 12th Virginia with the skill of a master storyteller. We meet the regiment’s members and experience with them the horrors of battle, the exhaustion of the march, and the tedium of camp life. Grounded in primary source materials, told with engaging verve, and accompanied by an ample array of maps, this is Civil War history at its best. 'The Petersburg Regiment' sets a new standard for regimental histories.”
Gordon C. Rhea, author of On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864

"One of the best regimental histories this reviewer has read . . . Highly recommended."
StrategyPage

"Reflecting his years of careful research, Horn tells an exciting story, which scholars, students,and buffs will both enjoy and learn from. The selections from letters, journals, diaries, and memoirs by the soldiers, their wives, and their children, allows students and academics to walk in the shoes of the soldiers and relate to their experiences on the march and in battle, as well as to better appreciate the decisions made during the war."
The NYMAS Review

“A comprehensive biography of a fighting regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia, especially useful in delineating the hometown support system that sustained the regiment throughout the war.”
Dr. William Glenn Robertson, author of The First Battle for Petersburg

"...an extraordinarily informative, exhaustively researched, exceptionally detailed, impressively informative work of Civil War scholarship."
Midwest Book Review

“John Horn’s splendid history of the 12th Virginia will stand among the classics of the discipline. Long years of research and patient crafting allowed the author to deliver an account as detailed and precise, as honest and clear, as any regimental accounting we’ll ever see. Following the men of Petersburg and its environs from the naïve enthusiasm of the war’s initial months through near-disaster amid the gore at Crampton’s Gap, and on through a series of tough stands in the Chancellorsville campaign to the blunt savagery of the war’s last year, this chronicle of one hard-used, heroic regiment is a true soldier’s book—and that is a great compliment. John Horn takes us as close as words on a page can bring us to the soldier’s experience. From merry snowball fights between entire brigades, to the final, bitter defense of their home city, the men of the 12th Virginia leap to life. Horn’s reliance on first-hand accounts reminds us of how casual death became—as well as how hungry those men in gray became as early as the winter of 1863, when at least a few acquaintances of the regiment found rat meat a tasty supplement to their rations. Simple pleasures and harsh punishments, battlefield confusion and clashes of character…informal truces on the picket line and the shock of finding your powder wet as the enemy approaches…so often, it’s the telling detail, the tidbit ignored by the proponents of grand history, that really bring those Civil War soldiers to life again. And Horn is the master of such details.”

― Ralph Peters, bestselling author of Cain at Gettysburg and The Damned of Petersburg

"Certainly, anyone who wishes to deeply explore the ANV career of the 12th will want to pick up a copy of Horn's book."
Civil War Books and Authors

“John Horn has written important books on the entire Siege of Petersburg and on some of its most crucial battles. His latest, The Petersburg Regiment, was a hard-fighting unit of Robert E. Lee’s army heavily engaged from early 1862 to the end of the war. Its significant service is compellingly narrated throughout these pages. Complementing this narration are keen analyses of the 12th’s strengths—and shortcomings. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the humanity of the military experience.”
Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed: The Siege of Petersburg and Challenges of Command in the Civil War

‘’…quotations of so many previously unused primary sources make this published regimental history such a pleasure to read."
Miniature Wargames

About the Author

A native of the Chicago area, John Horn received a B.A. in English and Latin from New College (Sarasota, Florida) in 1973 and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in the City of New York in 1976. He has practiced law around Chicago since graduation, occasionally holding local public office, and living in Oak Forest with his wife and law partner, H. Elizabeth Kelley, a native of Richmond, Virginia. They have three children. He and his wife have often traveled to the Old Dominion to visit relatives, battlefields, and various archives. John has published articles in Civil War Times Illustrated and America’s Civil War. His books include The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad (republished in 2015 as The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864, with a dust jacket based on a painting of a soldier from the town where John has his law office winning a Medal of Honor on August 16, 1864), and The Petersburg Campaign. With Hampton Newsome (author of Richmond Must Fall) and Dr. John G. Selby (author of Virginians at War), John co-edited Civil War Talks: The Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans. This was a sequel to Bernard’s War Talks of Confederate Veterans, which was published in 1892. Civil War Talks was ready for publication in 1896 but disappeared until 2004, when it was found in a flea market, purchased for fifty dollars, and sold to the History Museum of Western Virginia for $15,000. Bernard served in the Petersburg Regiment. John blogs at petersburgcampaign@blogspot.com.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07YBFKK8G
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Savas Beatie (August 19, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 19, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 53510 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 445 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,446,998 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #144 in Civil War Appomattox History
- #592 in History of the U.S. Confederacy
- #956 in 19th Century World History

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4.6 28 ratings

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John Horn

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A native of Illinois, John Horn received a B.A. in English and Latin from New College (Sarasota, Florida) in 1973 and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1976. He has practiced law in the Chicago area since graduation, occasionally holding local public office, and living in Oak Forest with his wife and law partner, H. Elizabeth Kelley, a native of Richmond, Virginia. They have three children. Horn and his wife travel to the Old Dominion often to visit relatives, battlefields, and various archives. He is a member of the Chicago Civil War Round Table and has published articles in Gettysburg Magazine, North & South, Civil War Times Illustrated and America's Civil War.

His books include "The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865" (Savas Beatie, 2019), winner of the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History. Other books are "The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad" (reissued by Savas Beatie in 2015 in a revised and expanded Sesquicentennial Edition as The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864") and "The Petersburg Campaign" (Combined Books, 1993). With Hampton Newsome (author of "Richmond Must Fall") and Dr. John G. Selby (author of "Virginians at War"), Horn co-edited "Civil War Talks: The Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans" published by the University Press of Virginia in 2012.

He is currently working on a history of Grant's second offensive at Petersburg: "Grant Besieges Lee at Petersburg: Jerusalem Plank Road and the Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 20-July 1, 1864."

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A rousing history of an iconic Civil War Regiment.

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2020

The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War, A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox 1859-1865. By John Horn
El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie LLC, 2019, Reviewed by Emil L. Posey, Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table (March 2020)

A rousing good history of one of the iconic regiments of the Civil War, one that ranks up there with the likes of the 20th Maine, the 24th Michigan, and the 15th Alabama, the 12 Virginia Infantry, a.k.a. the “Petersburg” regiment, went the distance, finding itself in most of the key battles in the Eastern theater – Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, and battles around its namesake, Petersburg, to name a few.
Horn traces the regiment’s formation from militia units in and around Petersburg and Richmond – the Petersburg Guard, the Petersburg Grays, the Lafayette Guards, the Huger Grays, the Richmond Grays, among others – in the late 1850s to its activation in July 1861. Filled with photos, drawings, and maps, this history ranges from individual stories to the whole regiment, in the process spanning privates to generals, the brave and the self-serving, and those that lived and those that did not survive. It is filled with cogent insights and nuggets throughout. Take, for example, the regiment’s early brush with Major Thomas Jonathan Jackson, a professor at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Looking for an assignment that would best use Major Jackson’s talents, Governor John Letcher considered him for command of the newly forming regiment. The 12th would be a plum assignment, but Jackson’s representation as an officer of “an eccentric and ascetic disposition” preceded him. The regiment’s officers protest so strongly that Governor Letcher assigned him elsewhere. It eventuated that the 12th was assigned to defend Norfolk. One can only imagine how the spring and summer of 1862 in the Valley and on the Peninsula might have been different had Major Jackson received the assignment.
History is a great playground for the imagination, and nothing serves one’s imagination better than eyewitness views and unit stories. Horn takes us on just such a journey — the toils and foibles; successes, failures, and fears; tragic incompetence and occasional brilliance. It’s all here.
This story finishes with casualty comparisons (appendices) of the 12th Virginia with other Confederate and Union regiments. A quick scan evidences the intensity of the fighting the Petersburg Regiment endured during the war. This is a great read. Enjoy.
As for John Horn, a native of Illinois, he received a B.A. in English and Latin from New College (Sarasota, Florida) in 1973 and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1976. He has practiced law in the Chicago area since graduation, occasionally holding local public office. He resides in Oak Forest with his wife and law partner, H. Elizabeth Kelley, a native of Richmond, Virginia. They have three children. He has published articles in Civil War Times Illustrated and America's Civil War, and his books include The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad (reissued in 2015 in a revised and expanded Sesquicentennial Edition as The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864) and The Petersburg Campaign (1993). With Hampton Newsome, Horn co-edited Civil War Talks: The Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard & His Fellow Veterans, published by the University Press of Virginia in 2012, which was extensively drawn upon for this regimental history.

Your reviewer is Emil L. Posey, former Vice President of the TVCWRT, now continuing to support as Secretary. His work history spans almost 45 years of military and civilian service to our country. He retired from NASA/George C. Marshall Space Flight Center on December 27, 2014. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Hood College, Frederick, Maryland; is a former president of the Huntsville chapter of the National Contract Management Association and is a life member of the Special Forces Association and the 1756h Infantry Association. He is also a member of Elks Lodge 1648 (Huntsville, AL) and the Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society. He is a dedicated bibliophile and a (very) armchair political analyst and military enthusiast.

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David Marshall

Fabulous new book that everyone interested in regimental history should purchase

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2020

The 12th Virginia Infantry has an amazing history that begins with their participation with the John Brown’s hanging in 1859 and ends at Robert Lee’s and the Army of Northern Virginia’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865. They fought in some of the most important battles in the Eastern Theater such as Second Manassas, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Crater, and battles during the Petersburg Siege.

The 12th was comprised of men mainly from Petersburg. Most every family from this city had a relative or friend from this heroic unit. Following U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s April 15th request for 75,000 troops, Virginia Governor John Letcher April 19th called for men to sign up for the cause. This was heard by many local militias. These heralded men were originally known as the Petersburg Battalion and left Petersburg on April 20, 1861. While this group of soldiers failed to distinguish themselves during much of the initial fighting during the Civil War, they redeemed themselves and were quite brave for most of the fighting. The 12th, Weisiger’s brigade, and Mahone’s division became renown and some of the most important combatants fighting for the Army of Northern Virginia.

This book tells an exciting story from the start of the conflict to when the war ends. Throughout this writing, this excellent author constantly provides contextual analysis that supports the revelations of the totality of the combatant’s experience. The collection of letters, journal’s, diary’s and memoirs selected and used throughout allow students and academics to walk in the shoes of the soldiers, relate to their experiences during marches and in battle as well as better appreciating the decisions made in this struggle. Additionally, the author reveals a diversity of men who made practical decisions that allow them to contribute to the Confederate cause.

Savas Beatie has published another wonderful new book that many students and enthusiasts will enjoy and learn from. With thirty-two original maps, forty helpful images, eight supportive diagrams, a detailed bibliography, and many explanatory bottom of the page notes, as well as an excellent index, the Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War will long be hailed as one of the finest regimental histories ever written. Horn has obtained a great deal of information from the primary sources left by the soldiers, their wives and their children. The Epilogue is one of the true highlights of this tome and provide a great deal of helpful information on the men’s life following the Civil War. My favorite chapter concerns the Crater and is beyond complete. Readers will feel like they are almost in this most important moment for this proud regiment.

This monograph is the result of years of research by John Horn. While different than the well-respected military works such as John Pullen’s Twentieth Main Infantry, the First Minnesota by Richard Moe, the Twentieth Massachusetts by Richard Miller, or the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves by Joseph Gibbs, however, it includes not only like information on battle history but provides a greater understanding of these fighting men. The author provides an in-depth look at these men throughout the conflict and allows the manuscript to come alive. Readers will come away wanting more.

This is a well written book on the 12th Virginia Infantry. Each battle this regiment participated in - and most of the major battles of the eastern theater are covered in detail. Horn has produced a volume, so scholars, students and enthusiasts will gain a great deal of insight from the words of so many common soldiers and officers throughout this excellent new title. Like most modern regimental histories, the authors do not seek to glorify the men of the 12th but simply to understand the reality of the soldiers’ experience and respect what they endured.

This narrative is by far one of the best regimental histories I have ever read. A first-rate work that should appeal to anyone with an interest in regimental history in general and Virginia in particular. This outstanding historian provides a remarkably full account of the 12th’s soldiers and their circumstances as they march off and experience four years of the Civil War. The prose is moving and the narrative is quite readable. Expertly researched, detailed, engaging, fresh contribution, informative and perceptive analysis, you will not go wrong purchasing this treatment. While not cheap at $39.95, I highly recommend this publication which should become a memorable regimental history.

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