This book contains a selection of "best" stories from Confederate Veteran Magazine.
#1 The Jurist's Opinion of the Fallen Chieftain - A tribute by Judge Turney of Clarksville Tennessee to Jefferson Davis on the occasion of his death.
#2 Members of the Old Guard of the Confederacy - A tribute to Confederate Generals: Pierce Gustave T. Beauregard, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jubal A. Early, John Brown Gordon, Joseph E. Johnston, Stephen Dill Lee, Kirby Edmund Smith, & Ambrose P. Stewart
#3 Dr. H. W. Manson, Tells a Thrilling Story - An account of the fall of Petersburg, VA on April 2, 1865. The author tells of his wounding of a union soldier, then being cared for by that same soldier in the hospital days later.
#4 Battle of Franklin - A first hand account of the Battle of Franklin told by one who was in the center of the line.
#5 Memorial Day, Its Origin - Tells the story of Mrs. Charles Williams of Columbus, GA and her work to establish Memorial Day
#6 The Hero of Pickett's Old Brigade - A tribute to an unnamed Confederate woman who died in Pickett's Charge. She was disquised as a man and died alongside her husband while carrying the flag.
#7 Eli Perkins Talks of the War - Humerous accounts of the war told by Gen. Sherman who was a neighbor of Eli Perkins after the war.
#8 Reminiscences of Lee and Gettysburg - The author tells of overhearing Lee and Longstreet discuss the upcoming battle of July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg. This discussion includes the upcoming Pickett's Charge and the shelling of the Union lines from the top of the ridge.
#9 Snow Battle at Dalton - Account of the snowfall of March 22, 1864 in Dalton, GA and the snowball fight which engaged thousands of Gen. Joe Johnston's army including the officers.
#10 Description of Our Soldiers at Chickamauga - This is an account of Gen. Bragg's forces at Chickamauga as told by Gen. Boynton. "...no American can fail to cherish a certain degree of pride in the fact that men of his own race and nation were equal to such endeavors on the battle-fields."
#11 Battle of Frazier's Farm - The participation of the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Fourteenth Alabama Regiments, under the command of Brigadier-General Cadmus M. Wilcox. "...I'll never forget the groans and the intense agony of my torn and bleeding comrades and our noble Wilcox passing among the hundreds of wounded and dying heroes, wringing his hands and weeping as if his great heart would break, and saying, " My poor boys ! My poor boys ! "
#12 Typical Confederate Soldier - A description of the average soldier's look and attire.
#13 - The Battle of Staunton River Bridge, Va. - An account by J. T. Eason of Cold Water, Mississippi who served in the 17th MS Infantry.
#14 - The Virginia Campaign - A Touching Incident. - This article describes an incident at Fredericksburg, VA in which Capt. John B. Rains of the 11th Alabama Infantry, Company A, orders his men to shoot at a Pennsyvlania Officer on horseback, only to learn that the man they had killed was a classmate from the Philadelphia Law School.
#15 - Letter to President Davis - Capture of Fort Donelson. - A letter by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson, written in 1862, regarding the surrender of Fort Donelson.
#16 - Need of a United States History. - The author makes a plea for a history written from the southern perspective. "Upon our Confederate veterans lies the duty of securing this vindication of their cause from the facts of all our past history. We owe it to our fathers, to ourselves and to our children that the history of our common country should not be left to be told by those who are out of sympathy with our spirit and principles, and so are unable to do justice to our motives or actions; and who therefore fail to record the glorious part we had in winning and developing the country, and fail to understand the meaning of the heroic struggle we made, not to preserve slavery, but to preserve our rights under the Constitution."
#17 - Sam Davis, The Hero Martyr - The story of a 19 year old confederate youth caught behind Federal lines. He was tried and hanged for spying. "Dear Mother-O how painful it is to write to you that I have got to die to-morrow morning. I will be hanged by the Federals. Mother, do not grieve for me, I must bid you goodbye for evermore. Mother, I do not hate to die. Give my love to all. Tell the children all to be good."
#18 - Vicksburg - An account of the siege of Vicksburg as told by Gen. Francis A. Shoup. The article includes descriptions of the siege works around Vicksburg and negotiations with Gen Grant regarding the surrender.
#19 - Scouting in West Virginia - This article provides details regarding spying for the Confederacy and includes a story reminiscent of Rahab and the spies wherein Annie Peterson saves Henry Rader on Christmas day of 1865(?) and Henry returns to be her fiance's best man on Christmas day, 1866.
#20 - Hand to Hand Fight in the Army - - The story of J. T. McBride of the 45th Mississippi Infantry regiment who was famous for his fist-fighting in the midst of battle. This article describes an incident where Federal Maj. Rosegarten attacked McBride on horseback and with a saber. He was subsequently knocked from his horse and McBride killed him with his bare hands.
#21 - Heroic and Patriotic Marylanders - A presentation by Gen. Bradley T. Johnson to the Confederate Association of St. Mary's County, MD. "In the Maryland line there were not twenty men who had any property interest in slavery. There was not a man who sought promotion or advantage of fortune. They went to stand by their friends in trouble, to defend rights inherited from free ancestors..." "That we failed was no fault of ours. We did our full duty, aud we will die in the conviction that if we had it to do over we should do just as we did then, only more efficiently, as experience has shown us how to do."
#22 - Incidents at the First Manassas Battle - - First prisoner and first casualty noted. "One of Company E, I think it was Tom Sears, an Irishman, dropped his gun and grappled with a Yankee Irishman, and with the help of another he brought his prisoner into our lines. He was evidently the first prisoner captured. Maj. Harrison rode into the river, leaving his men, and was the first man killed on our side."
#23 - War of Secession - "The real meaning is embalmed in these words: a war waged by the Federal Government against the asserted right of a State to peaceably or forcibly secede from the Union, the South maintaining the right as a constitutional franchise; the administration disputing the claim, and holding an ordinance of secession to be null and void. I care not for sentimental reasons, but would be pleased to hear any definite objections to the title, 'War of Secession.'"
#24 - Honor to the Third Louisiana Regiment - "The Third Louisiana was away down on our right, the only well-armed and drilled regiment in the whole command. It was commanded by the gallant Col. Hebert, twelve hundred strong, and itching for a fight (they had never seen one). It seems to me now that it was not more than ten minutes after Sigel’s battery opened until, with a wild yell, they were in line and charging up that slope like a pack of hungry wolves. They ran right over Sigel’s Dutch troops, captured the battery, and hurled the Federal left wing back..."
#25 - Capt. Edwin Ruthven Crockett - A tribute to Davy Crockett's son, Capt. Edwin Ruthven Crockett. "God in his infinite wisdom never honored with existence a braver or a nobler man than Ed Crockett. If there was a single fault in his character, it was excessive modesty. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was practicing medicine in Nacogdoches County, Tex..." "A captain of an Indiana regiment, who was slightly wounded, asked me the name of the officer to whom he had surrendered, describing him so completely that I could not be mistaken in his identity. I told him it was Capt. Crockett, and he replied: "Though wounded and a prisoner, it is yet a pleasure for me to say that I surrendered to the bravest man I ever saw on a battlefield."
