Elisha Hunt Rhodes

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Elisha Hunt Rhodes (March 21, 1842 – January 14, 1917) served in the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Rhodes' illustrative diary of his war service was quoted prominently in Ken Burns' PBS documentary The Civil War.

Rhodes was born in Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, to Elisha H. and Eliza A. Rhodes. He had one sister and two brothers. At age 14, Rhodes went to a business academy. Soon after his father was believed to have died at sea. Rhodes enlisted in the war with his mother's permission. He believed war to be an adventure, and practiced marching in front of a mirror for weeks before going to war. During the Civil War, he advanced from private in Company D of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry to colonel of the regiment. He retired from the service as a brigadier general. After the war, he became a successful businessman and became active in veteran's affairs. He never missed a regimental reunion. Elisha Hunt Rhodes is most remembered for the journal he kept during the war. This diary reflects the change in Rhodes' ideas about war greatly, and shows how he just wanted to be home with his family after seeing so much death and suffering.