| Introduction | [1] |
| The cause of conflict and the call to arms—Those whoanswered the call—An army of volunteers—Our great leader—Thecall comes home—First Company Richmond Howitzers—Back to civil life—Origin of this narrative. |
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| I. Sketch of Camp Life the Winter Before the Spottsylvania Campaign | [17] |
| Morton’s Ford—Building camp quarters—“Housewarming” onparched corn, persimmons and water—Camp duties—Camp recreations—A special entertainment—Confederate soldierrations—A fresh egg—When fiction became fact—Confederate fashion plates—A surprise attack—Wedding bells and a visithome—The soldiers’ profession of faith—The example of Lee, Jackson and Stuart—Spring sprouts and a “tar heel” story. |
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| II. Battle of the Wilderness | [63] |
| “Marse Robert” calls to arms—The spirit of the soldiers ofthe South—Peace fare and fighting ration—Marse Robert’s way of making one equal to three—An infantry battle—Arrivalof the First Corps—The love that Lee inspired in the men he led—“Windrows” of Federal dead. |
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| III. Battles of Spottsylvania Court House | [96] |
| Stuart’s four thousand cavalry—Greetings on the field ofbattle—“Jeb” Stuart assigns “a little job”—Wounding ofRobert Fulton Moore—A useful discovery—Barksdale’s MississippiCreeper—Kershaw’s South Carolina “rice-birds”—Feelingpulses—Where the fight was hottest—Against heavyodds at “Fort Dodge”—“Sticky” mud and yet more “sticky”men—Gregg’s Texans to the front—Breakfastless but “readyfor customers”—Parrott’s reply to Napoleon’s twenty to two—Thenarrow escape of an entire company—Successive attacks by Federal infantry—Eggleston’s heroic death—“Texas willnever forget Virginia”—Contrast in losses and the reasons therefore—Why Captain Hunter failed to rally his men—Having“a cannon handy”—Grant’s neglect of Federal wounded. |
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| IV. Cold Harbor and the Defense of Richmond | [189] |
| The last march of our Howitzer Captain—The bloodiestfifteen minutes of the war—Federal troops refuse to be slaughtered—Dr. Carter “apologizes for getting shot”—Deathof Captain McCarthy—A Summary. |