"Published 117 years after his death, the journals of Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath illuminate the true horrors of war and demonstrate the dignity Gilbreath felt about his service, and the importance he placed on duty to his nation. Gilbreath's accounts of his life of service in the army, traveling through the war-torn South during Reconstruction, the dangerous Texas frontier and wilderness of the West are vivid and compelling. The journals include the story of his intrepid wife and children who also experiences the turmoil and change that were shaping 19th century America, as they followed Gilbreath wherever his orders took them. He continued writing until just days before he died while serving with the 11th U.S. Infantry in Puerto Rico at the end of the Spanish -American War. Many passages, including his firsthand account of the Battle of the Ironclads and his description of reconnecting with a fellow Gettysburg veteran in Chicago 21 years after the battle, are beautifully written, with a personal and emotional gravity found in the best literary works."-- from book flap.