Review: "Daughter of the Regiment" by Stephanie Grace Whitson

This is a very entertaining, fictional story about Maggie Malone. She and her brothers are Unionists living in Missouri at the start of the Civil War. Most of their neighbors were slave owners and supported the South but they were Irish who had just arrived in the country around 1848 and did not believe in slavery. Her two brothers were compelled to join the Irish Brigade forming in St Louis. Maggie and her uncle are left to take care of their farm. After a skirmish with the southern troops, she finds that her one brother has been injured. Since she has received no letters and was worried and their camp in just down the river, she sets off to find out their condition. While at their camp, the southern troops block her way back home and she stays with her brothers and their brigade, making herself useful by mending shirts, cooking, carrying water and even nursing during the battles. She proves herself brave and a true “Daughter of the Regiment”.

This story was a very pleasurable read. The author does an excellent job tying all the characters together and the story flows. It compels you to keep reading. It also is written in such a way that a young reader from about 12 and older could also pick it up and enjoy. The story is completely fiction though. The Irish Brigade in the story and the Battle of Wildwood Grove are based on similar brigades and battles but they did not actually exist nor was that battle ever fought. The story is written for pure entertainment. Maggie was actually modeled after real life daughters of the regiment. During the Civil War they were actually called vivandieres or cantinieres but they performed the duties that Maggie performed in the book.

I enjoyed this book very much. I do a lot of reading about the Civil War but had never read about daughters of the regiments. This story introduced one more fascinating aspect of the war that is not spoken about a lot. It has encouraged me to delve more into their history and it will do the same for you.