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(More customer reviews)Henry P. Goddard was in some ways not an atypical Union soldier, although his Civil War service was more diverse than was usual with most of his comrades. He served as an officer of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, as well as being on the staff of a general, suffering wounds and illness along the way; and he was simultaneously a war correspondent for his hometown newspaper. The greatest part of his service was with the 14th Connecticut Infantry, a regiment in the Army of the Potomac. "The Good Fight that Didn't End" chronicles Goddard's Civil War service (and even some of his prewar and postwar experiences) through his letters, diaries, published memoirs, and newspaper articles. He saw the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville at first hand (as well as the little-known but bloody affair of Morton's Ford, Virginia) before poor health prompted his resignation from service in early 1864. Goddard's accounts make for sometimes lively but uneven reading, blending observations about Army life and glimpses of life back home together with gossipy comments about his fellow officers; much of that latter material probably would be of little direct interest to most readers (although as a student of the 14th Connecticut, I found his insights into the diverse personalities of the regiment's officers quite enlightening).
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The letters, journals, and newspaper writings of Henry Perkins Goddard (1842-1916) of Norwich, Connecticut, provide much firsthand detail about the passions and principles of a divided nation during the Civil War and Reconstruction as witnessed by a scrupulous soldier and scribe eager to capture the bitter realities of his time. Edited by his great-grandson, The Good Fight That Didn't End includes Goddard's accounts of combat in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, his travels across the war-torn South after the war, and his encounters and friendships with well-known historical and literary figures of the era, including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, George McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, Joseph Hooker, George Armstrong Custer, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Mark Twain.
Goddard served the Union forces in the cavalry, infantry, general staff, and artillery, all the while also acting as war correspondent for the Norwich Bulletin. He distinguished himself as a skilled journalist, even in the throes of fierce combat, and vividly recorded the prevailing attitudes and motivations in the ranks of the Army of the Potomac as well as the bloody realities of war. For Goddard the miseries of camp life and horrors of combat were overshadowed by a powerful sense of duty and camaraderie that justified the hardships and motivated the Union toward victory.
In the decades following the war, Goddard's newspaper accounts from Connecticut, Maryland, and his travels across the South chronicle the open wounds of war on American society and the unresolved issues of race relations in particular. In his writings and actions, Goddard shows himself to be a staunch advocate for the civil rights of freed African Americans, and he consistently defends their just and fair treatment. In his friendships with prominent former Confederates and high-ranking officials in both the North and the South, Goddard places himself at a nexus of efforts toward national reconciliation, carefully recording the temper of the changing times.
The Good Fight That Didn't End serves as an insightful look into the Union ranks and national postwar tensions as viewed by a stalwart soldier and thoughtful journalist for whom the pen and sword delivered with equal might.
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