An account of the campaigns and battles in which the 122nd New York Volunteers fought forms the major part of this book: it follows the life of the 122nd from its mustering on, to its ultimate discharge and homecoming in the summer of 1865. This account details the extremes of misery and discomfort, the occasional heroism, the long boredom of waiting, which is the lot of all soldiers in all armies, and the numbing fear of battle when every bullet seems to have one's name on it. In the early chapters the story of the regiment is set against the background of the war itself, because what the regiment and its members actually did formed only part of a larger strategy and larger struggle. Later chapters focus attention not on battles but on the day-to-day concerns of army life--conditions in camp, the arms and equipment carried by the men, their entertainments, and private worries. They examine the cause for which this regiment was fighting by exploring the minds and motives of those who fought.