This memoir of the Civil War is written by a private soldier who was both an adept primitive artist and a natural writer. The document is illustrated with drawings by the author and was found in a Pennsylvania attic in 1963, along with a companion volume of letters written by the same man. At the age of 15 he enlisted in the Fifth New Jersey Infantry, saw action in many of the important Virginian campaigns with the Army of the Potomac and was wounded at Chancellorsville.