Under the Old Flag (Vol. I & II, Abridged, Annotated)

Major General James Harrison Wilson stood at the very center of the Union war effort, yet his name has faded from popular memory. In this vivid two‑volume memoir, Under the Old Flag , he tells the story of the war from inside Grant’s inner circle and from the saddle of the Union cavalry.

A brilliant West Point engineer turned fighting officer, Wilson began the war on George B. McClellan’s staff, then joined Ulysses S. Grant during the Vicksburg Campaign as part of the tight‑knit “military family” that shaped Union strategy. He later emerged as one of the army’s most effective young cavalry commanders, serving under Alfred Pleasonton and Philip Sheridan and earning the jealous nickname “Grant’s pet” from George Armstrong Custer.

Wilson’s cavalrymen rode at the cutting edge of the war’s decisive campaigns. He helped train the mounted arm that screened and supported Sherman’s March to the Sea, played a key role in the brutal Overland Campaign, and commanded the hard‑hitting troopers who helped seal John Bell Hood’s fate at Nashville and finally beat Nathan Bedford Forrest in the field. His men took part in the pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis and in the final reckoning with Andersonville’s commandant, Henry Wirz.

What makes Under the Old Flag a classic is not just where Wilson fought, but how he writes. He records the war with an engineer’s precision and a cavalryman’s eye for movement and terrain, combining sharp battle narratives with frank portraits of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, George Thomas, Rawlins, Custer, Forrest, and dozens of other leading figures. The pages are packed with candid anecdotes—by turns humorous, caustic, and generous—that could only come from a young general who knew these men personally.

Blunt, opinionated, and deeply informed, Wilson went on to serve again as a volunteer general in the Spanish‑American War and to write widely on military and political subjects, including the first full‑length biography of his close friend John A. Rawlins. Under the Old Flag remains an indispensable first‑hand account for readers of Civil War history who want to see the conflict through the eyes of a participant who was there at nearly every turning point.