Ed Rutan: If I Have To Go and Fight, I Am Willing

Taking a broad view of the Union soldiers’ experience in the Petersburg campaign, “If I Have Got to Go and Fight, I Am Willing” covers in depth not just the battles, but also subjects such as motivations for enlistment, ties with home, medical care, religious faith, citizen-soldiers, the 1864 election, prisoners of war, desertion, the post-war lives of the soldiers, and even the weather. A fighting regiment, the 179th New York Volunteers served in the Petersburg campaign from start to finish. The 179th New York was in the first wave at the Battle of the Crater and in the Ninth Corps’ final assault on April 2, 1865.