Joseph Ruff Memoirs Series

In this stirring memoir, Joseph Ruff recounts his experiences during the first year of his four years of service in the Union Army, Company D of the 12th Michigan Regiment. It was, as he describes, “[B]y far the most severe year of our service...a year of battles, severe marches, constant duties, privations, illness, and death.”

Beginning as a green new recruit with no fanfare, no uniform, and only the bare necessities, Joseph became a seasoned soldier, at times living by his wits and off the land. Joseph recounts, in harrowing detail, his confrontations with the enemy and numerous narrow escapes. There was more than one occasion when Joseph felt that divine providence had not only saved him personally, but had guided the war, as well.

One of the most important battles of the war, the Battle of Shiloh took place on April 6 of that first year. Joseph writes his harrowing account of the experience, beginning with a skirmish on the night of April 5, when he and 200 soldiers undertook a scouting expedition, little knowing that a force of 42,000 Confederate men was lying in wait prepared to attack next day.

Fortunately, Joseph and his squad saw an outlying sentry, saving them from blundering into the entire enemy camp. Even so, they barely escaped through a barrage of bullets and returned to camp, carrying their wounded. Thus, they were able to deliver a warning to the Union camp, so timely it is thought to have affected the course of the war. Had the Union Army been caught unawares and defeated at Shiloh, it could have handed the Confederacy a victory.