Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Editor's Note -- Bibliographical Sketch -- 1. Prewar: 14 June 1860 - 11 May 1861 -- 2. Early Months at War: 31 May 1862 - 17 April 1862 -- 3. Battles and Marches: 14 June 1862 - 12 January 1863 -- 4. Prison and Retreat: 1 March - 16 July 1863 -- 5. Home and Sickness: 15 September - 6 November 1863 -- 6. "The Lull That Precedes the Storm": 2 January - 23 April 1864 -- 7. Cheerfuly into Battle: 4 May - 30 June 1864 -- 8. The Fight for Atlanta: 1 July - 5 November 1864 -- 9. "This Trying Time": 10 November 1864- 23 February 1865 -- 10. Postwar: 1865 - 1916 -- Index.

Engaging letters from a gifted and perceptive Confederate cavalry officer. This book contains the letters of George Knox Miller who served as a line officer in the Confederate cavalry and participated in almost all of the major campaigns of the Army of Tennessee. He was, clearly, a very well-educated young man. Born in 1836 in Talladega, Alabama, he developed a great love for reading and the theater and set his sights upon getting an education that would lead to a career in law or medicine; meanwhile he worked as an apprentice in a painting firm to earn tuition. Miller then enrolled in the University of Virginia, where he excelled in his studies. Eloquent, bordering on the lyrical, the letters provide riviting first-hand accounts of cavalry raids, the monotony of camp life, and the horror of battlefield carnage. Miller gives detailed descriptions of military uniforms, cavalry tactics, and prison conditions. He conveys a deep commitment to the Confederacy, but he was also critical of Confederate policies that he felt hindered the army's efforts. Dispersed among these war-related topics is the story of Miller's budding relationship with Celestine "Cellie" McCann, the love of his life, whom he would eventually marry. Together, the letters offer significan insight into the life, heart, mind, and attitudes of an intelligent, educated, young mid-19th-century white Southerner.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.