From these diaries and letters of a young soldier in the Union Army emerges a revealing portrait of their author, a man caught up in a life and death struggle of national import. Compiled from the diaries kept by Owen Johnston Hopkins while he was on duty with the 42nd and 182nd regiments, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and from letters to his family and friends, this book gives a clear picture of the motives, attitudes, and sentiments of a young man brought to maturity by the agony of war.