What was it like day to day for the soldier in the trenches? Osborn Oldroyd, just shy of 21-years-old, kept a diary during the siege of Vicksburg and published it in 1895.

Far from being mere cannon fodder, many of the soldiers of the Civil War were keen observers of the events that changed America forever. They were capable of writing intimate, engaging prose and they were not insensible to the beauty of the night sky or the awful beauty of destruction. With wit, irony, and fierce patriotism, Oldroyd draws us in.