Reminiscences of a Private by Frank M. Mixson, Company "E" 1st S. C. Vols. (Hagood's)

A young man from Barnwell, South Carolina, recounts his four years of service in the Confederate army, from the hopeful early days of enlistment through the grueling campaigns that shaped his adolescence. His narrative captures the camaraderie of Company “E,” the harsh winter camps, and the relentless marches that tested the resolve of boys turned soldiers, all while preserving a vivid sense of the Southern landscape and its people.

Beyond battlefield action, the memoir offers intimate glimpses of home life—families coping with loss, women maintaining households, and the enduring spirit that kept hope alive amid hardship. Written in plain, unvarnished language, the recollections provide a personal window into the values, trials, and daily realities of a private who witnessed the war’s turning points without revealing later outcomes, inviting listeners to understand a soldier’s perspective of a conflicted era.