The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy

Very informative look at the everyday life of the southern soldier. It's easy to get caught up in the sweeping movements of the armies and forget that the soldiers in those armies had to cope with flies, find food, write letters home, and keep warm. Relying heavily on letters home, Wiley tells a great story with tons of interesting anecdotes that you'll never find anywhere else.

VERY DRY READING but required for all civil war re-enactors and those who really want to understand the southern soldier

First published in 1943, this is a classic text that dispels many of the myths and legends about the soldiers of the confederacy and reveals their lives during the war as revealed by letters, journals, and primary sources of facts. Facts are good, romanticized notions of history are bad. If you are writing a historical novel dealing with the civil war, then this book is for you. If you are an interested student of history, this book is for you.