That Civil War Reading Thing-- Part 2: "Would Become As Rusty As A Boy's Jack Knife"

**  "You see I must read something, or my mind would become as rusty as a boy's jack knife that has been lost in a rubbish pile for a year or two, and in the absence of anything better I devour every novel I get hold of."

Major Thomas A. Connolly, 123rd Illinois Infantry, explaining why he had read "David Copperfield" and "The Confessions of Con Cregan," in a letter to his wife, February 14, 1864.

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**  "I wish I had some books.  The best I can do now is to repeat over and over such pieces of poetry as I have committed to memory."

Charles B. Hayden, 2nd Michigan Infantry, in his diary, June 21, 1861.

Read Them Books.  --Secesh