As Wolves Upon a Sheep Fold: The Civil War Letters of Ohio Surgeon William S. Newton

"William S. Newton (1823-1882) served as an assistant surgeon in the 91st Ohio for most of the war and as surgeon for the 193rd Ohio at the end of the war. His units fought in the Appalachian Highlands, mostly in western and then West Virginia, but also in Maryland, where he treated wounded soldiers after the Battles of Cloyd's Mountain, New River Bridge, and Opequan, among others. Newton was captured by John Hunt Morgan's raiders in May 1864. He was ordered to perform an amputation on Gen. Albert Jenkins, which ended badly. After three weeks, he and fellow medical personnel were given the option of either treating Confederate soldiers or going to Libby Prison, which is what they did. He spent just a few days there, but the toll on his health was great. The letters are mostly to his wife, and they provide a window into fighting in the Appalachian borderlands, where the differences between battle, guerrilla warfare, and occupation were often blurred. He also has interesting observations on the importance of family, African Americans (he was definitely a white supremacist), and what he hoped for after the war"--