Curiosity piqued by two poems written by his great-great-grandmother initiated David Thackery's scholarly exploration into the history of the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and the wartime history of Champaign County, Ohio, from which it was recruited.

Not only a military history, A Light and Uncertain Hold is also a penetrating and provocative social history which deals with the homefront, morale, reenlistment, and the memory and commemoration of the war. The words and stories of individual soldiers give depth and substance to the regiment's experience.