| "In
our youth our hearts were touched with fire." So said
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the future Supreme Court justice,
about his fellow veterans of the Civil War. The 1860s were
a time much like the 1940s, when a generation of idealistic
young Americans answered their country's call, and many made
the supreme sacrifice to preserve freedom and liberty for
all. And among the two million "boys in blue " were
five soldiers whose wartime heroics would take them into national
politics — a ride that would lead, in time, to the White
House.
In Touched
with Fire, James M. Perry reintroduces us to these five
men — Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. "Ruddy"
Hayes, James A. "Jamie " Garfield, Benjamin "Little
Ben " Harrison, and William "Mack " McKinley
— who rose to the pinnacle of American life but are
now largely forgotten. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other
first-hand accounts, Perry recreates the battles that brought
them fame and extols the courage that made them extraordinary
leaders, especially under fire. The Civil War was their finest
hour, and their stories form a vivid reminder of what a truly
great generation can accomplish.
James M. Perry began his journalism career
at Leatherneck Magazine, and then worked for thirty-five
years covering politics for the National Observer
and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of
five previous books, most recently A Bohemian Brigade,
about the reporters who covered the Civil War, and in 1997
he was awarded the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award
for a distinguished career in journalism.
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