Author interviewed on the Civil War

D. Reid Ross, author of Lincoln's Veteran Volunteers Win the War, was interviewed in the PostStar on Sunday. Here's a snippet about Reid's ancestral connections to Washington County, NY (part of the region the PostStar covers):

When writer D. Reid Ross began researching his Washington County genealogy, he intended to learn more about his ancestral history. The family facts he uncovered, however, reflected a much bigger story.

Ross soon found himself engulfed in a long-forgotten chapter of Civil War history.

"I ran into my grandfather's background. He was the only one I knew from family stories of the Civil War. I knew he had one brother who had been killed, but I didn't know he had three brothers. I also didn't know his regiment," said Ross.

Through his research, Ross learned that his grandfather was a member of the 123rd New York regiment and was an infantryman in Sherman's march on Atlanta. He was captured 30 miles from the city and sent to Andersonville and four other prisons.

"I started digging into the whole record of Veteran Volunteers. Most of them were committed to anti-slavery. They were honest-to-God Lincoln emancipators," Ross said.

Read the entire interview here, and check out one of our recent posts for more info on the book and the incredible amount of research that went into it. Visit our website for more on the book and to order a copy today.

Journey back to the Civil War

“A major breakthrough in Civil War history.”
— Edwin C. Bearss, military historian and Civil War scholar


Have you ever wondered about what your ancestors did and why? If so, you will find inspiration in the story of D. Reid Ross and his journey into the past. He didn’t set out to write a book, but what he discovered compelled him to do so. Since childhood, he had heard about his grandfather fighting in the Civil War, being captured and imprisoned in Andersonville. He wanted to know much more.

He discovered that Veteran Volunteers, including his grandfather and two of his brothers, reenlisted, rather than going home, so they could continue to fight. Because of their experience and combat skills, they were exposed to the greatest dangers in battle after battle, and their regiments suffered the highest casualty rates of the entire Union army. Ross was amazed that despite all that had been written about the Civil War, the story of Lincoln’s bravest and most dedicated soldiers has been ignored.

Why did they reenlist, and continue to risk their lives?

Ross read hundreds of soldiers’ letters, diaries, memoirs and government records in search of the answer. The quest took him thirty years, and led him to the common threads among Veteran Volunteers, particularly their anti-slavery convictions and their loyalty to Lincoln. From the beginning when they first enlisted, they fought for the twin goals of saving the Union and ending slavery. Those discoveries left him no option but to tell their story in Lincoln’s Veteran Volunteers Win the War: The Hudson Valley’s Ross Brothers and the Union’s Fight for Emancipation.

The book explores the religious ideals and family traditions, allegiance to Abraham Lincoln, and moral imperative that left Veteran Volunteers no choice but to continue fighting until they won the war. It reveals, too, their profound sacrifices for their beliefs: injuries, debilitating disease, near starvation, imprisonment, even death. In the Ross family alone, one brother was killed, another blinded, another deafened, and the fourth held captive in five Confederate prisons. Their parents were crippled with rheumatism, and without their sons’ help during the war, they lost the family farm to foreclosure. Yet none of them wavered in their commitment to fighting for emancipation and preservation of the Union.

This story is an inspiration to all who believe in the principles on which the United States was founded and a timely reminder that our nation’s ability to overcome profound challenges depends on the dedication and sacrifices of its people.

Ross earned his undergraduate degree from Washington University. After serving as a gunnery officer in the Pacific during World War II, he earned a master’s degree in urban planning at the University of Chicago and did post-graduate work in England. He worked in urban planning in Chicago, Milwaukee; Providence, Rhode Island; Cincinnati; St. Louis; and Madison, Wisconsin. He also taught graduate courses part-time at three universities. After retiring, he earned a master’s degree in American History at the University of Wisconsin and has published numerous articles about the Civil War and his ancestors.

He and his wife, Sari, live in Durango, Colorado.

Lincoln's 200th

In continuing our dual themes of the week—the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth and President Obama and his inauguration—here's an interesting article from Salon about how Lincoln might vote if he were alive today. Michael Lind looks at how everyone, from Obama to the GOP, are aligning themselves with Lincoln and his politics today. He looks at Lincoln's views on issues from his era and makes reasonable assumptions of how the former president might feel about today's pressing issues—many of which aren't as different as you might think from those of Lincoln's era.

So are we all Lincolnians now? Maybe not. It's perfectly reasonable to ask what political movements and factions today would attract someone with Lincoln's political values. Lincoln was not King Arthur, living in a wholly alien society. Many of the issues of the mid-19th century—from the role of the federal government in the economy to whether America is a Christian nation to evolution vs. creationism—remain issues in the early 21st century.

Check out our new book, Lincoln's Veteran Volunteers Win the War, for additional reading on Lincoln's presidency as it related to four Union soldiers from the Hudson Valley and their "unflinching belief in home, family, country, and duty."

D. Reid Ross in the Denver Post

Durango, Colorado resident and Lincoln's Veteran Volunteers Win the War author D. Reid Ross was interviewed in yesterday's Denver Post. Read the interview here.

Ross will be speaking at a series of upcoming events, all in the greater Boston area.

Saturday, February 14

The Lincoln Group

Bridgewater, MA

Monday, February 16

Cape Cod Civil War Roundtable

Yarmouth, MA

Thursday, February 19

Civil War Roundtable of Greater Boston

Waltham, MA

Lincoln's Veteran Volunteers Win the War

With this Thursday, February 12th marking the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, now is an appropriate time to read our new book, Lincoln's Veteran Volunteers Win the War. The book chronicles the Civil War experiences of four brothers from New York’s Hudson Valley. Author D. Reid Ross (grandson of one of the brothers) provides vivid descriptions of soldiers’ attitudes toward President Lincoln and emancipation, courage and performance on the battlefield, the hardships of army life, the role of the Veteran Volunteers, and the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. after the end of the war.

Edwin C. Bearss, author of Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War, said the book is a “A major breakthrough in Civil War history.”

D. Reid Ross is a retired urban planner and family historian and has published many articles on the American Civil War and his family’s history. The book was a true labor of love, for which Ross spent three decades researching. During that time he visited more than one hundred libraries, pored over hundreds of manuscript collections, and read more than one thousand Civil War and other historical publications, personal memoirs, diaries, and letters. Ross will participate in a number of celebratory events organized by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

For more on the journey that Ross took to research and write this highly personal book, read this interview with the author.

Explore the website for the Civil War Preservation Trust, where you can find links to a number of Civil War blogs and online communities.

Also check out the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission site for a comprehensive compendium of Lincoln bicentennial information and events.