By Luther W. Hopkins
320 pgs. Virginia Gentleman Books.
Available for Purchase from VisionForum.com
Christina Hoff Sommers wrote in The War Against Boys that certain elements of our culture are penalizing boys for being boys and “trying to make them, well..., into girls.” Her book deals primarily with the influence of radical feminism on the educational system, but the attempt to feminize boys, sometimes subtle, sometimes not, has also permeated children’s literature. The next time you are in your neighborhood Barnes & Noble or Borders, take a stroll through the children’s books section, especially “literature” for young teens, and do a brief survey of the offerings.
In another popular work, published in the 1980s, a Canadian author recommended four hundred of what she considered the best books for young readers. All of them were fiction! Many of the titles are books worth reading but very few have connection with history and even fewer relate in any way to heroism in battle or defending family or civilization against enemies. I suspect that recent lists by conservative writers include some of the more traditional heroic literature that boys of generations past enjoyed, but precious few nonfiction titles for younger readers, written by participants in great events, appear on any shelves.
When I was a boy, I loved to read exciting stories, especially tales about warriors or men of the Wild West. Our library was well-stocked with my favorite “We Were There” books and the diverse and well-written “Landmarks.” The stories of the first type were fictional eye-witness accounts ostensibly written by children on exciting expeditions or witnessing important historical events. The real settings and the vivid descriptions recreated such events as the Alamo (how did those children survive?) or the Battle of Gettysburg (no place for children but I wanted to be there myself). The “Landmark” books specialized in biographies of famous people, written in a novelistic style, with interesting dialogue and commentary.
Most of the books I read in my early years reflected my own keen interest in history and heroes. What those books lacked, though I did not realize it then, was the reality of experience by actual participants in the events described. The narrators were fictional characters, the dialogues invented, the pleasant endings unrealistic. Unfortunately, I discovered G.A. Henty’s historical novels for boys thirty years too late, when I no longer had time to indulge my voracious reading appetite for unlimited hours. Henty based a number of his books on his personal experiences as a war correspondent thus making them a little closer to real life, the best example of which was probably By Sheer Pluck, a story of the war in which he himself fought against the Ashanti tribe, but still fiction with a happy ending.
Where are the stories told by the veterans of great events, written for the younger generation? From Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy’s View provides one of those rare exceptions where the author is telling his own story with a younger reader in mind.
Luther Hopkins was seventeen years old when the war began. He and his three brothers and more than twenty of his classmates enlisted for the war in their hometown of Middleburg, Virginia. Many of those childhood friends died in Pickett’s charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Luther served in a company of the 6th Virginia Cavalry through all four years of war. He experienced firsthand the whole range of army service and fought to the bitter end. He faced close combat with saber and pistol, was captured and imprisoned twice, was felled by sickness, and witnessed the death of brothers and comrades. Luther Hopkins also rode one raid with the legendary John Mosby and was detailed once as part of Robert E. Lee’s bodyguard. He was on his way to rejoin his company in April, 1865 when General Lee surrendered. Eight of the ten men in his squad gave up also, but the seasoned twenty-one-year-old veteran made his way home without surrendering. Forty years later, Luther Hopkins wrote his memoirs, a man reconciled to the Union and devoid of any bitterness.
The old Confederate recalled his personal experiences but also interspersed his narrative with information on the larger historical context. If you are looking for an unbiased, footnoted text without error, you probably will not like this book. Hopkins writes from the cultural context of the late nineteenth-century South with its prejudices and wistfulness for the old days. Also, Luther was a lover of horses all his life and wrote a tribute chapter to the thousands of cavalry mounts which suffered greatly in the conflict.
If you like dramatic, real-life stories of heroism and sacrifice as seen through the eyes of a young Christian soldier caught up in America’s most cataclysmic event, your time would be well-spent with Luther Hopkins, late high private in the 6th Virginia Cavalry.
Reviewed by William Potter
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