Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Fremantle of the Coldstream Guards traveled through the Confederate States in the spring of 1863 as a military observer, and his published diary is one of the most valuable foreign accounts of the Confederacy at war. Fremantle was present at the Battle of Gettysburg and witnessed the full sweep of Lee’s army during the Pennsylvania campaign, recording what he saw with a soldier’s eye and an Englishman’s bemused curiosity.
Foreign military observers provide a uniquely detached perspective on the societies and armies they visit, and Fremantle’s diary is both a first-rate historical source and an entertaining read. Download this free EPUB for an essential outsider’s account of the Confederacy during the Civil War’s pivotal summer.