DREAM'S END: Two Iowa Brothers in the Civil War

Described by Literary Journal as “a spell-binding narrative,” Dream's End tells the heart-rending story of two Iowa boys who fought in the Civil War and their family.
Andrew Brayman signed up first and went off to war with an Iowa infantry regiment. Like so many soldiers in that conflict, with a poor diet and unsanitary conditions, he became ill and spent months in army hospitals where the treatment was often worse than the illness.
He recovered and rejoined his regiment in Little Rock, AK. He was in time to witness the hanging of a 17-year-old boy accused of spying for the Rebels and then to take part in one of the most ill-conceived campaigns of the entire war.
Vicksburg had fallen, the Union controlled the Mississippi and what happened west of the river was irrelevant as far as the outcome of the war was concerned. But an incompetent general, egged on by politicians and cotton speculators, launched a campaign across Louisiana.
Andrew's regiment was ordered to march south and join up with the troops in Louisiana. But things went wrong. Confronted by Rebels and short on food for men and animals, the Union force didn't even get to the Arkansas border. They holed up in the little town of Camden.
In desperation, the Union commander sent a part of his army north to obtain food in Pine Bluff. But they encountered a Rebel force at the tiny settlement of Marks' Mills. They were hammered with artillery and attacked by infantry and cavalry.
It was in this battle that Andrew died. His family was told he had been killed by a gunshot to the heart, perhaps to let them believe he had not suffered. His body was never found.
East of the river, Barney was involved in a more meaningful operation as Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's huge army marched south toward Atlanta. The cavalrymen fought several times with Rebel forces, at least once charging with sabres drawn.
It was during the siege of Atlanta that Sherman ordered two cavalry units to sweep around the city, one to the west, the other to the east, and join up in an effort to disrupt supplies flowing into the city. It was an adventure almost as ill-conceived as that which took Andrew's life. The best the relatively small force of cavalrymen could be expected to do was to tear up some rails and kill some mules, causing the enemy inconvenience for a few days.
Barney and his unit galloped down to the west. Another general went to the east. But instead of joining up with the other column, he headed off to try to rescue prisoners at Macon, GA and cover himself with glory.
When he didn't show up, the other horsemen headed back the way they had come only to run into a heavy Rebel infantry unit. They were quickly defeated.
Barney, along with hundreds of other soldiers, was taken to the notorious Andersonville prison. He was released as the war came to an end. But he died shortly after the war of illness contracted in the Rebel prison.
Louis Brayman, the boys' father, died soon after Barney’s return, leaving their mother, Mary, widowed, destitute and mourning the loss of a husband and two sons.
Reading Dream's End, one cannot help but admire the boys who marched off to war to save the Union But that admiration often does not extend to the senior officers who led them, too often, to their deaths.