"You will perceive by this I am at least in the Confederate service…. Since I have been here I have had a severe sickness but am glad to say at present I am well though I fear my sickness would have incapacitated me for active service…. In all probability our regiment will be stationed here permanently for the winter to guard the bridge across the Watauga River…"--Private John H. Phillips, Company E, 62nd Regiment NC Troops, Camp Carter, Tennessee, October 13, 1862

This work presents letters and diary entries (and a few other documents) that tell the Civil War experiences of soldiers and civilians from the mountain counties of North Carolina: Alleghany, Ashe, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Surry, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey.

The book is arranged chronologically, 1861 through 1865. Before each letter or diary entry, background information is provided about the writer.