William C. Davis is the author or editor of more than twenty books about the Civil War, including the six-volume photographic study The Image of the War, 1861-1865. He is also the author of a prize-winning biography of Jackman's commander, John C. Breckinridge, and of The Orphan Brigade, a history of his command.
Though memoirs of the Civil War abound, Jackman's diary is the only surviving record of a soldier in the fascinating, albeit troubled, First Kentucky Regiment, or ``Orphan Brigade.'' A perceptive diarist, Jackman was involved in action from Shiloh to Vicksburg, from Baton Rouge through all major battles in Tennessee; he fought against Sherman in the March to the Sea and observed the last meeting of the fleeing Confederate cabinet in Washington, Georgia. Insightful, candid, and entertaining, Jackman's words provide an unusually detailed glimpse of life behind the lines in the Army of Tennessee, capturing the essence of common soldiering in the Rebel forces. Davis's introduction is solid and his editing unobtrusive. Recommended for libraries with extensive Civil War holdings and for interested Civil War buffs.-- Jason H. Silverman, Winthrop Coll., Rock Hill, S.C.
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