The Civil War Letters of Colonel Charles F. Johnson, Invalid Corps

Chronicles the untold story of disabled combat veterans who continued to serve in the Union Army; Organized in May 1863 to meet the Union Army’s growing manpower needs, the Invalid Corps - later renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps - was a unique military unit. With more than twenty-four regiments of troops, nearly all of them men disabled by illness or combat wounds, it was at one point twice as large as the entire pre-war United States Army. During four years of service its troops enforced the draft, guarded prisoners and vital outposts, protected rail lines and supply depots, and served as military police in cities all across the country. Members of the Corps escorted President Lincoln’s body home to Illinois, and after the war its officers formed the nucleus of the new Freedman’s Bureau. This volume brings together some 150 letters written by Colonel Charles F. Johnson, an officer who served with the 18th Veteran Reserve Corps after sustaining debilitating wounds during the Seven Day’s Battles in June 1862. Edited with an introduction by Fred Pelka, the letters describe the day-to-day circumstances of The Cripple Brigade, as it was derisively called, as well as guerrilla warfare