Civil War Reminiscences of Orlando T. Hanks

Civil War Reminiscences of Orlando T. Hanks offers Civil War Scholars and regional historians a unique perspective of the Civil War from the eyes of an East Texas solider. Hanks missed only one major battle his company fought in during the entirety of the Civil War (Gettysburg) because of his Antietam wound. Two words describe Hank’s Reminiscences: Detailed and neutral. The level of detail contained in Hank’s Reminiscences allowed me as editor to document the accuracy of his account and the neutral words used to describe African-American solders provide an objectivity seldom found in many of his contemporaries’ post-war accounts. Hanks served in Company K, First Texas Regiment from the time the Company first mustered in during the spring of 1861 until its disbandment at Appomattox Courthouse on 12 April 1865. Hanks was wounded at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 and spend the next 12 months convalescing in a series of Richmond hospitals until he rejoined his company just as they left Virginia to participate in the Chickamauga Campaign (September 1863) and remained with his unit until their surrender at Appomattox in April 1865. 

JONATHAN DAVIS HOOD is an independent Scholar who is a Senior Historian at the 673d Air Base Wing History Office in Anchorage Alaska.