The author recounts five years of travel and residence in Texas and Mexico during the Civil War era, opening with a personal eulogy and moving through vivid sketches of port towns, climate, and social types. He frames debates over secession and describes military presences, captures, and retakings alongside episodes of lawlessness, dueling culture, and the strains of conscription. Journeys into Mexico and dealings with local authorities alternate with accounts of narrow escapes, family hardship, and floods. Throughout are reflections on religion, manners, and morality that illuminate everyday life amid political and military upheaval.