"As seems to have been the case for many who fought in the Civil War, Vermonter Darius Duty Priest's three years of military service formed the lynchpin of his life. Thirty-four, he had a wife and four children when he enlisted less than a month after the firing on Fort Sumter. As a member of Company I, the Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment, his courage was first tested at Bull Run, and he saw action from Antietam to Spotsylvania. Throughout his tour of duty, D.D.P., a clear-eyed observer of life as he found it, corresponded with many friends and family members, often complaining that he got too few letters in response. Fortunately, his wife Emeline kept her husband's letters, and those letters, as well as his hospital diary, can now be enjoyed"--Back cover.