Although a successful businessman in Newark, Ohio, prior to the Civil War, Charles Dana Miller understood the necessity of leaving his business and his home to take part in the "struggle for the life of the republic." His account of what he saw, how he felt, and the hardships he endured as a soldier in the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry are presented in The Struggle for the Life of the Republic.Miller's flair for writing and attention to detail make his memoir an important addition to Civil War history and a welcome primary source of knowledge on the war's western theater.