Diary of an Enlisted Man

Step into the world of a Union foot soldier through his own handwritten notes. Written during the turmoil of 1862, the entries capture the mundane and the momentous—long marches, campfires, and the simple hope of sending a line home. The author’s promise to his parents to record every wandering gives the diary an intimate, unvarnished tone that historians rarely find. Readers hear the clatter of “Bostwick’s Tigers” as they grapple with hunger, fear, and fleeting bursts of camaraderie.

Compiled from pocket-sized notebooks kept by the soldier himself, the pages were later bound and lay untouched for forty‑five years before being opened again. As the writer rereads his youthful words, he reflects on a shrinking generation of veterans and the quiet loneliness of old age. The collection offers a vivid snapshot of everyday life in the Civil War, letting listeners experience the soldier’s world beyond the grand strategies of the battlefield.