The memoir traces the author's life from family origins and pioneer hardships through formal schooling and military training, documenting service during the Civil War and subsequent frontier and engineering work in Texas and El Paso. It describes travels at home and abroad, civic projects such as street railway consolidation and efforts to manage Rio Grande water and boundary disputes, and reflects on social and political subjects including woman suffrage, prohibition, and international peace initiatives. Interwoven are personal memories of marriage and family, military campaigns and honors, practical inventions and equipment, with appendices on army organization and selected addresses.