Though the Confederate prison at Andersonville is the most notorious of the American Civil War, prison life on both sides was no picnic. Captured at the battle of Yellow Tavern near Spotsylvania, Confederate Henry Dickinson of Company A, Second Virginia Cavalry, determined to keep a daily diary of all that he saw, felt, and hoped for during a year of Yankee incarceration on Morris Island.

A lawyer by training, he was articulate and observant, providing an account that is superior to many others. In this thoughtful, extremely detailed diary, Dickinson records the good and the bad.