The Legacy of Elisha Hunt Rhodes

This is a research project about Elisha Hunt Rhodes, a 19-year-old who enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 and kept a journal through nearly the entire Civil War. I started reading his diary because I wanted to understand what it was actually like to be a soldier my age during that time, not just what the history books say happened. The more I read, the more I found myself asking what I would have done in his place, and whether I could have survived what he survived.

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This site holds my research into his life, my reflections on his writing, and notes from a trip I'm taking to Gettysburg to walk some of the ground he marched.