Book Review Excerpts

By: ForeWord Clarion Reviews - February 1, 2013

The “glory seekers” of 1861, as David C. Reavis calls his ancestors and others who answered

the call to the colors, soon learned that war was anything but glorious. In Upon These Steps,

Reavis chronicles the experiences of two brothers and their brother-in-law who served in the

23rd North Carolina Regiment, detailing how they suffered not just in battle but also in hospitals

and prisoner of war camps.

The author grew up in the house where these soldiers were raised, walked the fields

where they farmed, and visited the battlegrounds where they fought. His thirty-five years of

research into family documents, local records, and military histories and reports yielded a

treasure trove of detail, but these are merely the buttons and braid to the well-tailored uniform

that is Upon These Steps.

Upon These Steps is a solid piece of both Civil War and family history. Its few

shortcomings aside, it deserves a place on the nightstand of any who are intrigued by works of

either genre.