A schoolteacher turned soldier, Mississippian William Pitt Chambers served three years in the Army of Vicksburg and the Army of Tennessee, rising in rank from private to sergeant, orderly sergeant, sergeant major and acting adjutant. His 1862-1865 journal, edited with notes by historian Richard Baumgartner (author of Blue Lightning and Echoes of Battle), provides an open window to the hopes, dreams and fears of an intelligent, thoughtful and observant Confederate enlisted man. Blood & Sacrifice also chronicles nearly the entire history of the 46th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry through life and death in camp, on the march and in battles fought at Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Dallas, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Allatoona (where Chambers was wounded) and Fort Blakely.