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2nd Saturday Civil War Series: American Citizen: The Civil War Writings of Capt. George A. Brooks, 46th Pennsylvania Infantry, with Benjamin E. Myers
September 9, 2023 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
In Person in the Lincoln Gallery at ACFL&MH
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarnegieCarnegie No Account Required!
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9370579279 Meeting ID: 937 057 9279
In the spring of 1861, America was pulling apart at the seams and George Brooks’ life was in shambles. Destitute and reeling from a failed business venture and familial disagreement following a turbulent love affair, Brooks spent the years before the Civil War traveling in search of work. His wife and young son, of whom he saw little, remained at home in Harrisburg, PA. When war broke out, soldiering offered the first steady job he had held in years.
Sent off to war as a scourge to his family instead of a hero, Brooks became captain of Company D, 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He soon proved an admirable leader and recruiter, writing to his hometown paper in patriotic prose about his wartime experiences. Brooks chronicled his regiment’s pursuit of Stonewall Jackson in Northern Virginia in 1862, during which the Union suffered a series of devastating losses, as well as “seeing the elephant” at First Winchester, Cedar Mountain, and Antietam. American Citizen combines Brooks’ personal diary, newspaper articles, and personal correspondence to tell the story of a young man trying to balance a life left behind while leading a company of soldiers through some of the Civil War’s most studied campaigns.
Benjamin E. Myers was born and raised just outside Harrisburg, PA, where an interest in local and family Civil War history found him at a young age. His research on the 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry has appeared in Civil War Times and Military Images magazines. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from American University and works as a web designer and developer in Washington, DC. American Citizen: The Civil War Writings of Captain George A. Brooks, 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, is his first book.