Rebel at Large

This diary is one of the most unusual produced during the Civil War because it contains very little about military life. Early in the war Van Buskirk abandoned his regiment, working as a schoolmaster, farmhand, and casual laborer. He wrote of the suffering civilians endured at the hands of contending armies. But he also found time to chronicle his fascination with handsome young lads he encountered during his life as a deserter—unwittingly providing modern readers an illuminating glimpse of class differences and sexual mores. Naval, social and sexual historians, in particular, will find much valuable source material.

B.R. Burg is a professor of history at Arizona State University and has written extensively on the sexuality among seafarers and the sexual abuse of children. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

Philip Van Buskirk

Edited by B.R. Burg

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 190
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4293-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5489-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Preface      1
Introduction      5

THE CIVIL WAR DIARY OF PHILIP C. VAN BUSKIRK
1861–1862      49
1863      51
1864      59
1865      106

Afterword      123
Notes      143
Bibliography      163
Index      173