As adjutant of the Battalion Washing-ton Artillery of New Orleans, William Miller Owen was in an ideal position to observe his unit’s inner workings. During his service, which spanned the entire war, he drafted and received orders; fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga; and endured the siege at Petersburg. Well acquainted with the officer corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, Owen chatted with General James Longstreet, took rides with General Robert E. Lee, and dined with President Jefferson Davis.

Based on Owen’s diary from these years, this volume brings to life the major figures and battles of the Army of Northern Virginia as well as lesser-known Civil War episodes. For this new edition, Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes, Jr., has provided an index and a new introduction that places the diary in the context of Civil War historiography.