Book received from NetGalley.

Another Civil War memoir. This time from the view of someone who fought for the Confederates and had a fairly high rank in the militia but was a common soldier in Lee's Army. I enjoyed reading it especially reading about the writers time in a prison camp waiting for the war to end. This is one of the few ones I have read that goes from the very beginning of the Civil War. Most memoirs start further into the war, due to the person writing it not joining up during the first rush. I appreciated that this showed the festivities that happened during the first days after the secession and how that feeling of superiority and belief in the fast ending of the war slowly died, and the horror once reality set in. I definitely recommend it to the Civil War history buffs, as well as those who want to understand what happened to the "common" soldier during that war.

I received a free electronic copy of this memoir from Netgalley, the descendants of John W. Stevens, and Endeavour Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me. This memoir was originally published in 1902 by Hillsboro Mirror Print, Hillsboro, Texas.

And for the most part this is a frank, well thought out journal of the days of the civil war. Your heart will go out to these southern warriors through the days of battle, the frozen winters, the shoeless marches, the prisoner of war camps. The plight of the wives and children, mothers and girls left behind are heart breaking. And the last three chapters, while contrary to everything I have ever believed, should be read, as well, so you can see just how far we have come in a hundred and fifteen years.

This personal history of the American Civil War, which follows the exploits of John W. Stevens of Texas, gives details of the life of soldiers, on the battlefield, in prison, and travel through the war ravaged South. Stevens largely adheres to the Lost Cause focus of post-war southern writers.