This memoir is a nostalgic and often amusing collection of essays based on the author's experiences during the War Between the States. Eggleston describes life in Virginia before the war, offers glowing assessments of the men who made up the Confederate army, satirizes the Confederacy's finances and its army's red tape, and recollects the war's end. He provides compelling portraits of his heroes from the war, lavishing praise on Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and especially J.E.B. Stuart.