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The author, Gordon Rhea, notes in the INTRODUCTION that "....books about privates are rare" and continues "None tell a story half as fascinating as that of Charles Whilden...." The text is a brief account of Whilden's life stating that his first forty years were characterized by mediocrity and failure. However, Whilden's brief fifteen minutes of glory came at the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania Court House where he vividly demonstrated the capacity of an insignificant player "to alter the course of history."
Chapter 1 gives a short review of the 1864 strategic conditions in central Virginia which "By most estimates, 1864 loomed as the war's decisive year." In March 1864 President Lincoln made Grant commander-in-chief whose aim was the destruction of the Confederate armies, not to capture territory. The author observed "Thus the stage set for the Civil War's decisive campaign....The campaign would be a duel to the death between Grant and Lee, the best generals either side could field. The prize was the fate of two nations." Chapter 2 presents a concise account of pre-Civil War Charleston, S.C. stating the source of Charleston's wealth was rice and that the city's affluence "rested on the back of slaves." The author gives an interesting review of the area's concern about a slave rebellion and continues "As the Carolina Low country's slave population grew so grew the white minority's unease about servile insurrection."
After a unsuccessful brief career as a lawyer, Charles moved to Detroit where his lack of success continued to plague him.He left Detroit in 1855 and accompanied Colonel Grayson to Santa Fe, New Mexico as the colonel's personal secretary. In Santa Fe his mediocre success continued. When the Civil War commenced, Charles began the long trip home to Charleston. The ship he was on heading for the Carolina coast was badly damaged; and his health was compromised; for the rest of his life he suffered from epileptic seizures. In Charleston he tried to enlist a number of times; but due to his epilepsy he was unsuccessful in enlisting. By January 1864, Confederate manpower shortages were critical; and at age 39 Whilden was at last able to enlist as a private in Company I of the 1st Carolina at Orange Court House in February 1864.
Author Rhea uses Whilden and the 1st Carolina as the narrative vehicle for an interesting account of the battles of The Wilderness and at Spotsylvania. Whilden's unit was "destined to the worst of the campaign's carnage." Whilden received his baptism-under-fire on May 5 in the Battle of the Wilderness, had not run and was appointed as flag barrier when the flag barrier was wounded. Rhea observes "The post of flag bearer was important, not only for sentimental reasons but for practical ones as well." Charles career as a color barrier was off to a bad start as Union General Hancock troops overran Charles's unit. Only the last minute arrival of Confederate General Longstreet on May 6th saved the day. On the night of May 7-8 Grant's and Lee's armies moved south to the vicinity of Spotsylvania Court House where Lee erected sophisticated earthworks. The text briefly narrates Grant's fruitless efforts over the next three days to break through Lee's battlements.
Lee had erected a salient, nicknamed The Mule Shoe, and Grant had selected it for a massive attack by Union General Hancock on May 12. Union troops soon overran the pickets and the outer earthworks including the high ground, referred to as "the angle", to the Confederate left. The author gives a chilling account of the gruesome, bloody chaotic fighting as the Confederates fought to regain the angle and survive. Lee ordered General McGowan's brigade into the Mule Shoe. Charles, "still wracked by seizures" clearly understood the situation and fixing his eyes on the angle, carried the flag never expecting to reach the angle alive. When the flag was shot from its pole, Whilden wrapped the flag around his body. Behind him followed a "motley band of rebels." By ten o'clock in the morning Charles led his fellow Southerners to take over the Bloody Angle thus saving the battle for the Confederates. The butchery of May 12 was horrendous with the two armies suffering approximately seventeen thousand causalities. While Lee had won another battle, "the war in Virginia settled into a siege that would last ten months....but Grant had won the campaign, destroying the Army of Northern Virginia's offensive capacity."
His epilepsy making him unfit for service Charles returned to Charleston in August 1864 and was discharged after only eight months of duty. On September 25, 1866, during an epileptic seizure he fell facedown in a mud puddle, and drowned. While there are no monuments to Charles Whilden, his heroic action on May 12, 1864 at the Bloody Angle lives on as a tribute to the potential of an insignificant player who altered the course of Civil War history.
Gordon Rhea has done considerable research on the campaigns of 1864, having previously written several books on these campaigns. This is an easy book to read. Civil War buffs who want a brief/limited account of the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court and a private who won his fifteen minutes of fame in 1864 at the Bloody Angle, will find this book interesting.
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