The Recollections of a Drummer-Boy

A first-person memoir recounts three years of service with a Pennsylvania volunteer regiment during the Civil War, following a young drummer from enlistment through camp life, marches, picket duty, and major engagements including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Petersburg, plus raids and winter quarters. The narrative mixes vivid camp anecdotes, descriptions of comradeship and hardship, practical details on army routine, and reflections on the human cost of war, concluding with return home. Occasional sketches expand scenes beyond personal experience to evoke the regiment's collective memory and daily life.