Here is a young man wanting to start a life with the girl he loves and there is war looming on the horizon. Joseph has big decisions to make for a nineteen year old. He proves himself to be a man, as he fulfills his obligations and duties to family and country in a proud and honorable way. This story is a work of "truth and fiction" It is the truth about my great grandfather and his time spent as a member of the Confederate States of America Army during the Civil War. The battles and places he fought are all recorded in history. His private life with my great grandmother, Sarah, is for the most part, is a creation of what I think their lives could have been. I write from the memory of stories my grandfather, now deceased, told me when I was young. I was never happier than sitting at his knee and listening to the tales he told of his family, all gone before he was a grown man. The location for this piece of history is the marshlands of eastern North Carolina behind Pamlico sound. It is an area that holds its own special beauty and the people are strong and rich in their heritage of the land and waterways. Joseph's love for his country and family are without doubt proven in this story. The trials, suffering of cold, hunger, and agony are brought to life as we live his story. The vernacular and nuances, colloquialism are all intentional, fitting the time and place. After struggling through four long years of battles, wounds, marching and loneliness, Joseph comes home to find his family torn asunder. Bushwhackers have attacked his father's home, leaving death behind and his sister kidnapped. Then he continues on to find Sarah. It quickly becomes clear that the war is far from over for Joseph.