Virginia Gentleman Books' reprint of the 1916 work Brave Deeds of Confederate Soldiers is a fine volume to add to the libraries of those who wish balance in their knowledge and presentation of 19th century history. It's easy to find books that elaborate on the deeds of the Union during the War Between the States since, when the Union won the war, authors went home to virtually untouched states, including publishing houses. This was not so in the devastated South and, therefore, it took years for Southern authors to publish books that would balance the account of history of that time period. So, more than 50 years after the end of the war, Philip Alexander Bruce, LL.D., himself born in 1856, presented 16 chapters with two appendices intended to show why the Southern soldier was prepared to die when "the North invaded his homeland."

Brave Deeds of Confederate Soldiers includes the original dedication and foreword, plus eight original illustrations. The first chapter quickly outlines "Military Influences in the Old Southern Life," as a way of trying to acquaint the reader with the era and area. Dr. Bruce wields his pen gracefully, and the reader easily draws mental images of Southern home and hearth. Since the Bruces lived on a large, generations-old plantation and owned slaves, his perspective is very much in line with that small minority of Southerners who lived as he did. However, he does include in his imagery the more-typical Southerner, who lived on a few acres and tilled his own soil.

Though I imagine the book would most keenly capture the swashbuckling fancy of boys, one of Dr. Bruce's chapters might intrigue girls; he covers the exploits of Belle Boyd, who was a Confederate spy. Another chapter details the construction and use of a balloon for reconnaissance work. Chapter IV paints a colorful picture of J.E.B. Stuart along with the fortitude of Lieutenant Robins. Other chapters outline the exploits of General Morgan, boy artillerist John Pelham, audacious Colonel Mosby and his partisan rangers, and others. Chapter XIII paints a heroic picture of 280 boy cadets of the Virginia Military Institute who were baptized in the fire of battle in Spring, 1864, causing a Union defeat and resulting in several deaths and injuries among the boys.

This 360-page hardcover was reprinted in 1999 with the "editor's hope and prayer, that as young gentlemen read Brave Deeds, it will awaken within them a reverence for our fathers' sacrifice and a passion for our history - that passion that `sleeps uneasily in the grandson's blood."