American Civil War History in the First Person

Goddard served the Union forces in the cavalry, infantry, general staff, and artillery, all the while also acting as war correspondent for the Norwich Bulletin. He distinguished himself as a skilled journalist, even in the throes of fierce combat, and vividly recorded the prevailing attitudes and motivations in the ranks of the Army of the Potomac as well as the bloody realities of war. For Goddard the miseries of camp life and horrors of combat were overshadowed by a powerful sense of duty and camaraderie that justified the hardships and motivated the Union toward victory.

In the decades following the war, Goddard's newspaper accounts from Connecticut, Maryland, and his travels across the South chronicle the open wounds of war on American society and the unresolved issues of race relations in particular. In his writings and actions, Goddard shows himself to be a staunch advocate for the civil rights of freed African Americans, and he consistently defends their just and fair treatment. In his friendships with prominent former Confederates and high-ranking officials in both the North and the South, Goddard places himself at a nexus of efforts toward national reconciliation, carefully recording the temper of the changing times.

The Good Fight That Didn't End serves as an insightful look into the Union ranks and national postwar tensions as viewed by a stalwart soldier and thoughtful journalist for whom the pen and sword delivered with equal might.