Hello list friends, I have just finished reading a wonderful book and I would like to recommend it to anyone on these lists who is interested to learn about life in Richmond during the Civil War. It is: ASHES OF GLORY by Ernest B. Furgurson, pubihsed by Vintage Civil War Library [Div of Random House] in 1996. Price $16. There is also a hardcover edition around $30, but believe it's out of print. I ordered my paperback copy through my local bookstore. ISBN # is0-679-74660-9. I learned about this book in the VA Hist Soc's "VA Magazine of History and Biography", its excellent quarterly publication, in the book review section. I am enthusiastic about this book because, most of all, it put me 'right there', at the level of the Richmond citizen, both the privileged and the man on the street, white and black, military and civilian, during the war years. It tells not only what daily life in the city was like, but, as background, outlines the course of the entire war and the history of the Confederacy in a most immediate and colorful way. Written by a journalist, it makes for very engaging reading - not your basic boring and dry history book. And - although well-written, it is minutely documented, with zillions of footnotes and an astonishing bibliography of sources ranging from manuscripts, newspaper accounts, personal journals and diaries, primary and secondary sources. I will use these sources to do further research in related areas of interest to me, such as on the Chimborazo Hospital. I found the book fascinating and hope to read more on this subject. The reason I read it was to gain some further insight into my ancestor Thaddeus Higgins' CW service in a Confederate unit [40th BN VA Cav, Co. B [aka Wren's Co.] / 31st BN VA Cav, Co. B - Henrico Mounted Guard > Infirmary Corps.] and, allegedly, in the Richmond Home Guard. Another ancestor, Augustine Edwards, served in 24th VA Cav / 42nd Bn, Co. E, from Hanover. Thad Higgins made a claim to the Federal govt after the war for reparations for his property, stating that he was a supporter of the Union effort. His claim was rejected. Although we feel this was simply a ploy of his to get some money out of the feds for the damage they did to his farm, loyalties were not often all that clear-cut, and there were many 'Unionists' abroad in wartime [esp. at the end]. It would be interesting to know the truth of his claim, or at least have some more background info. with which to judge it, since he does have some Yankee descendants. I hope some of you who are interested in Richmond history during the CW years will search out this book and enjoy it. Marge Garfield in VT Researching: Slater, Richardson, Williams, Hughes, Higgins, Edwards, Bailey, Harris, and other families of Peninsula counties east of Richmond.