Brave Men In Desperate Times: The Lives Of Civil War Soldiers

What was it like to be a poorly trained, ill-equipped, militiaman trying to defend your own home?
What was it like to be stuffed into a makeshift submarine--an iron tube no more than 3 feet in diameter and propelled by a hand crank--and sent more than 30 feet below Charleston Harbor to attack the enemy?
What was it like to be a Creek infantryman, riding into a Union post in frontier Oklahoma, carrying the rags of what had been your proud battle flag, knowing you were among the last of the Confederates to surrender?
What was it really like to be a soldier during the Civil War?
Brave Men in Desperate Times tells the stories of twenty-one ordinary Civil War soldiers--men who, by and large, have never had their stories published until now. These vivid, eyewitness accounts culled from battle reports, muster rolls, museum collections, family stories, and a handful of letters and diaries that have survived are a testament to the sacrifice, honor, and service of these courageous men.


What was it like to be a soldier in combat during the Civil War? What was it like to be a poorly trained, ill-equipped, and un-uniformed militiaman in a state "army" trying to, literally, defend your own home? What was it like to be stuffed into a dank, dark, sweltering, three-foot-diameter iron tube, turning a crank to escape an enemy howling after you, all while thirty feet below the surface of Charleston Harbor? What was it like to be a Creek infantryman, slowly riding in to a Union post in the wilds of frontier Oklahoma, carrying the threadbare rags of what had once been your proud battle flag, knowing you were among the very last of the Confederates to surrender? What was it like to be a Prussian-born corporal, barely able to speak English, caught in the midst of a vicious street battle in Fredericksburg? This new book tells the untold stories of the men on the front lines of battle during the Civil War.