Charlotte's Boys - by Andrea Page & Phillips Mauriel Joslyn (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This volume reveals the fate of the three Branch sons, John, Sanford, and Hamilton; their mother, Charlotte; and their extended family and friends from 1861 through 1866. An analogue to the travails endured by Savannah herself, the Branch letters offer a revealing look at military and civilian struggles during the Civil War.

From the Back Cover

"Their actions gave them substance, and their soft Savannah accents whispered from the pages. What I heard is as much a tribute to a mother's devotion and faith as it is to the courage and sacrifice of her soldier sons."
--Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, on the Branch family letters

Charlotte Branch, a widow of Savannah, Georgia, raised three sons to become servants of the Confederate cause. John, Sanford, and Hamilton Branch enlisted in Savannah's Oglethorpe Light Infantry, and their fate--along with the fate of many of their fellow soldiers--is revealed in this vast collection of letters from 1861 through 1866. Augmented by secondary correspondences from family and friends, the letters of Charlotte Branch and her sons depict the trauma endured by Savannah herself, offering a candid look at military and civilian struggles during the Civil War.
One of the most complete compilations of Civil War correspondence to appear in print, Charlotte's Boys reveals the profoundly varied impact of war on individual soldiers and their families. John Branch, the eldest of the three sons, was one of the South's most promising officers before he fell at First Manassas and died in the arms of his brothers. Sanford, the second son, was captured and suffered as one of the Immortal Six Hundred before his release in 1864. Hamilton, the youngest, was wounded three times, participated in the battle of Atlanta and the Tennessee campaign, and remained in service until the South's surrender.

About the Author

Mauriel Phillips Joslyn was born in Manchester, Georgia, and is currently living in Sparta, restoring an 1822 house with her family. Joslyn received her B.A. in history from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and an M.A. in history from Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia. One of the reasons Joslyn chose to attend school in Virginia was because it was six miles from the Virginia Military Institute, placing her near many former battlefields, where she could continue to explore her fascination concerning the Civil War. Her husband, who shares her interests, is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. Early in her marriage, Joslyn worked at various sales jobs while teaching horse-riding lessons on the side. She also worked for the library at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her husband's job required the family to move to Summit Point, West Virginia, where they lived in a historic house associated with the Confederacy. During that period, Mauriel worked for the post office in Meadowview, Virginia, and the entire family participated in Civil War reenactments. Josyln has published several books and articles concerning the Civil War. Her articles have appeared in Gettysburg Magazine, United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine, Georgia Journal, Military Heritage, Irish Sword, and many others. She is a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, the Blue and Gray Education Association, the Georgia Historical Society, and other groups. Her book Confederate Women is a collection of various women's wartime experiences. In addition, Joslyn participates in lectures and living-history events on military subjects. Her presentations have taken her to schools, civic groups, and SCY groups, where she often dresses in Confederate costume and brings artifacts to discuss. As president of the Patrick Cleburne Society, Joslyn is raising money for a statue of General Cleburne to be erected in Ringgold, Georgia. She is currently the vice-chairman of the Georgia Civil War Commission and is writing two nonfiction screenplays about historical personages, one dealing with the Civil War and the other relating to the flying aces of World War I.