Some of the best memoirs of the American Civil War were written for private publication and published in very small numbers. G.W. Booth's narrative is one of them. Though Maryland stayed in the Union, it was full of southern sympathizers, some of whom helped John Wilkes Booth (no relation to the author) escape after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The author of this volume was an educated man with no particular sympathy for slavery. He joined the Confederate army for states-rights motives. His modest account of his time in battle, including Gettysburg, is full of interesting and humorous anecdotes.