ByWay Books & More is excited to host Alexandre Caillot, author of Late to the Fight which explores the experiences and contributions of Union soldiers from the 17 th Vermont and 31 st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiments who entered the Army of the Potomac in time to serve during the Overland Campaign.
This event will be of particular interest to aficionados of the Civil War, military war, and regional history as well as anyone who wants to learn about the Green Mountain State’s final Civil War regiment which endured some of the most intense fighting in the conflict. Caillot will share his research and address the motivations, behavior, and combat performance of the men who filled the ranks left empty by veterans whose three-year terms had expired. There will be time for a Q&A and book signing.
Brian Matthew Jordon, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War says, “…Methodically rich and carefully argued, this is that rare book that challenges readers to rethink their conclusions – as well as their questions.”
Dr. Sodergren, Chair of the History and Political Science Department at Norwich University and Civil War expert, speaks highly of Late to the Fight, and says that Caillot “…explores the combat performance of the Union soldiers who filled newly raised regiments that fought through the Civil War’s final year. Historians have typically regarded these late enlistees as substandard to those who signed on at the war’s start…Caillot shows that these forgotten boys in blue left behind a record of valor and sacrifice essential to achieving the destruction of the confederacy.”
Alexandre Caillot is from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and earned his doctorate in history from Temple University in 2023. He has previously taught at Norwich University and interned in the National Park Service, where he gave battlefield tours. Caillot has had articles published by the U.S. Military History Review and the Modern War Institute, in addition to authoring over twenty scholarly book reviews in print and online.
ByWay Books & More is located at 399 Canal St. Brattleboro, VT and has been in business for just over a year. ByWay Books & More specializes in general new trade books with a focus on the environment, a large children’s books section, many unique finds at a reasonable price, and a growing collection of foreign language and social justice books.