Drawing from the primary resource of Charles Judson's diaries from 1863 and 1864, Stewart Petrie incorporates other information concerning the Union VI Corps to paint this picture of Civil War life. The unending problems of long marches, heat exhaustion, poor food, and illness are punctuated with episodes of brutal warfare and stark terror. The Union VI Corps participated in such hard-fought battles as the Wilderness, North Anna River, the slaughter at Cold Harbor, and most notably at Cedar Creek.