G. Campbell Brown's eagerness to report all he saw--from the quotidian to the bloodcurdling -- makes his writings among the finest to come out of the Civil War. Brown's fascinating memoir details his service under General Richard S. Ewell during the campaigns of first Manassas, the Shenandoah Valley, the Seven Days, Second Manassas, and Gettysburg, and under Joseph E. Johnston at Vicksburg. His correspondence and memoranda form a suspenseful recounting of the Overland Campaign, the siege of Richmond, and a harrowing retreat that ended with the capture of Brown and Ewell at Sayler's Creek. Such leaders as Ewell, Johnston, Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, and Jubal A. Early come to life in rich anecdotes and occasional critiques of their wartime actions.