Reminiscences of a Rebel: 40th and 47th Virginia Infantry by Wayland Fuller Dunaway. Rep. of 1913 ed., 133 pp., hc, dj, Index.

Reminiscences of a Rebel

by Wayland Fuller Dunaway

When war broke out in 1861, Wayland F. Dunaway was studying law at the University of Virginia. He promptly enrolled in the 47th Virginia Infantry and, after a non-eventful first year, participated in the 1862 battles of Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill, and Frayser's Farm. Due to the regiment's heavy losses in the encounters, Lt. Dunaway served as a company commander during July and August of 1862. He then assumed the post of regimental adjutant, a position that he held until March 1863 when he became captain of Co. I, 40th Virginia Infantry. Soon thereafter, Dunaway joined the staff of Brockenbrough's Brigade.

Dunaway's memoir was characterized by one reviewer as "brief and bright"; another wrote that his recollections were "even-tempered" and that they "avoid the unreliability of more detailed narratives". This book serves as one of the only substantial sources on Charles W. Field's Virginia brigade.