The Corporal and the General: New Englanders Together in the Civil War

In the Civil War, Maine schoolmaster turned general, John Curtis Caldwell, found in a cavalry corporal and Yale University drop-out, Uriah Parmelee, an irreplaceable subordinate and comrade. They fought at decisive moments in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and more. Based on the many letters written by Parmelee to his family throughout the war and other research, the class will follow the development of the general’s dependence on the Connecticut-born farmer’s son during the most violent period in American history.

Norman MacLeod is a retired Episcopal priest living in Newport. He learned of Uriah Parmelee, the corporal of the course, while serving as Rector of Christ Church, Guilford, Connecticut, the soldier’s hometown. Parmelee wrote hundreds of letters between 1861 and 1865 from his various postings with the Army of the Potomac. MacLeod has studied the letter transcripts in depth and written and presented on the Corporal and the General.