This published collection of Bryan Grimes' Letters includes excerpts from those he wrote to his wife, Charlotte, during the Civil War, as well as official reports detailing the activities of his regiment during a number of battles, including Gettysburg. Cowper, who compiled and edited the book also added excerpts from an unfinished memoir Grimes wrote, which includes Grimes' description of his first experiences in battle and the time he spent with the 4th North Carolina Regiment. Grimes' letters are balanced by the fuller perspective of his memoir and together provide a view of the Civil War from a southern perspective both in the midst of battles and during the post-War period. Cowper, a relative of Grimes', published Extracts of Letters of Major-Gen'l Bryan Grimes to His Wife in 1883, after Grimes' death.

Works Consulted: Wakelyn, Jon L., Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976; Powell, William S., ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. 2, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1979-1996.

Monique Prince